Is my 120G overstocked?

[TatorTaco]

Looking for stocking suggestions for my 120G reef tank, as I'm not entirely sure if I'm fully stocked or not. Tank is approximately 9 months old.

Current inhabitants:
1 Pistol Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Yellow Tail Damsel
1 Falco Hawkfish
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 Starry Blenny
2 Blue/Green Chromis
2 Clownfish
1 Firefish

Skimmer is a Reef Octopus 150INT

I'm looking for reef friendly inhabitants. Could you friendly folks offer any suggestions?

 

[scooter31707]

Far from overstocked. Those are some small fish. IMO, depending on your filtration, you not even touching lightly stocked.

 

[itz frank]

Far from overstocked. Those are some small fish. IMO, depending on your filtration, you not even touching lightly stocked.

Agreed here.

Unless you're having nutrient issues. Not overstocked.


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[TatorTaco]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I was REALLY thinking I could stock it up a bit more.

I have tons of rockwork in there, so I was hoping I could continue taking advantage of small fish vs something larger like a Kole Tang. I have no interest in getting a yellow tang.

Any suggestions on some reef friendly/peaceful fish?

 

[Pericyte]

Kole tang should be fine. I would also suggest cardinal fish, anthias, Royal gramma, reef safe wrasses (do you have a top on your tank?), dwarf angels are hit and miss for being reef safe.

 

[TatorTaco]

I don't have a top, but I'm not terribly opposed to them either.

 

[scooter31707]

Maybe a Flame Hawkfish, and instead of the Kole, I recommend the Whitetail Bristletooth Tang. Very beautiful and graceful fish.

 

[dastrder]

You have many many choices you can add. Not even close to a medium stock list yet.

That's good. Choices

 

[ThRoewer]

I personally wouldn't put a tang in there and rather add a few more small fish.

The one fish I would keep an eye on is the falco hawk. He may start eating small fish and shrimp. I had one in the past and he made firefish and cleaner shrimp disappear. I only caught him with a cleaner shrimp when the shrimp's antenna where still hanging out of his mouth.

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[snorvich]

The one fish I would keep an eye on is the falco hawk. He may start eating small fish and shrimp. I had one in the past and he made firefish and cleaner shrimp disappear. I only caught him with a cleaner shrimp when the shrimp's antenna where still hanging out of his mouth.

This. Hawkfish are ambush predators and will eat small fish and shrimp.

 

[TatorTaco]

Yeah, I'm already not crazy about my Falco Hawkfish.

If I were to get any Gobies, would I ever see them?

 

[dweber618]

I personally wouldn't put a tang in there and rather add a few more small fish.

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+1 to this. As far as adding a goby - I just added a diamond watchman goby and am thrilled! Ton's of personality, he's in QT now. I put a small dish of sand in for him and overnight he carried all of the sand out of the dish and relocated it to the inside of one of the PVC elbows I put in the QT tank. He's always roaming around (which will maybe wear down once he's in my DT, but so far he's awesome).

 

[TatorTaco]

+1 to this. As far as adding a goby - I just added a diamond watchman goby and am thrilled! Ton's of personality, he's in QT now. I put a small dish of sand in for him and overnight he carried all of the sand out of the dish and relocated it to the inside of one of the PVC elbows I put in the QT tank. He's always roaming around (which will maybe wear down once he's in my DT, but so far he's awesome).

I'd love to put another Goby in there (bonus if I can pair it with a shrimp). Should I expect any issues with the existing YWG? My current YWG states within 5 inches of the glass on the long side, so I'd imagine they'd have plenty of rockwork separating them.

 

[ThRoewer]

Get a pair of Yasha gobies or any other Stonogobiops species. They will team up with the pistol shrimp and are usually out a lot. Males will "disappear" regularly for a few days while tending to their nests.

 

[BeanMachine]

I'll go against the grain and say to add a algae grazing tang of some kind. If you get the right fish, they will do wonders at keeping algae at bay.

I personally wouldn't put a tang in there and rather add a few more small fish.

The one fish I would keep an eye on is the falco hawk. He may start eating small fish and shrimp. I had one in the past and he made firefish and cleaner shrimp disappear. I only caught him with a cleaner shrimp when the shrimp's antenna where still hanging out of his mouth.

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I had a falco hawk and it was really really aggressive.

 

[Marshall O]

I'll go against the grain and say to add a algae grazing tang of some kind. If you get the right fish, they will do wonders at keeping algae at bay.

Agreed. A Foxface could work as well.

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[scooter31707]

This. Hawkfish are ambush predators and will eat small fish and shrimp.

Maybe I got lucky, but my Flame Hawk has been a good citizen with the inverts.

 

[solitude127]

I personally wouldn't put a tang in there and rather add a few more small fish.

Just curious as to why you wouldn't add a tang?

 

[ThRoewer]

Maybe I got lucky, but my Flame Hawk has been a good citizen with the inverts.

Flame hawks are one of the less dangerous due to their relatively small mouth, though I would not want to try them with small shrimp like sexy shrimp or tiny torpedo shaped fish.
The least dangerous is the longnose hawk who is more specialized on picking tiny prey out of crevices or corals.

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[ThRoewer]

Just curious as to why you wouldn't add a tang?

120 gallon is too small for active swimmers like tangs. A 6ft tank length should be the minimum for them.
Another reason is that they can be real bullies who can make it difficult to add other fish later.

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