Livestock

[Chief501]

What's the best livestock to start with? Fish or corals? And how much, I have a 75 gallon tank.

 

[Drewbe147]

As far as coral goes you need to decide if you want softies, LPS, or SPS, or a mixed reef. After your confident in maintaining stable parameters you can pretty much start adding coral. I added fish first personally but either can be done. You need to decide what type of fish interest you and do research on them and their specific needs. Places like live aquaria has many photos and information. They also have tank size recommendations and full adult size. When buying fish plan for their adult size not purchase size. When adding fish (after your fully cycled) go slow to ensure your bioload has a chance to catch up 1-2 fish starting then wait monitor your parameters in a week or 2 or a month whatever add another 1-2 etc. Try not to massively increase your bioload at one time so you dont get an ammonia spike. As for how many their size will determine that. Swim space and bioload. As far as order of adding them your most peaceful first your more aggressive at the end. Just research each thing you plan to put in for fish and coral. Some are peaceful some aggressive in both categories as well as the requirements to keep them healthy. Goodluck

 

[reeefninja]

Start with a damsel first once tank is cycled. That's what I did.

 

[laverda]

Take your time and give your tank plenty of time to cycle. If done properly there is no reason to use a sacrificial starter fish. Once it is fully cycled add items slowly until your tank becomes established. I personally prefer live rock over dry rock. If using dry rock many people have found it takes longer to cycle and much longer to become established.
I agree 100% you should research any fish your considering Consider its care and feeding, how big it will get when fully grown and compatibility with other fish you like. Do not trust most LFS sales people when it comes to what fish to buy. While a fish may be small enough for your tank when you get it, many can quickly get too big for even a 200 gallon tank.

Start with a damsel first once tank is cycled. That's what I did.

many people end up with a fish they really do not want in there tank this way. Damsels can be aggressive and often should not be the first fish added even if you want to keep them.
Enjoy your new tank!

 

[Uncle99]

In my 75g, I added a nem first and a mated pair of Darwin clowns as this important to me, and I needed to make sure the nem stayed put.
Then slowly added some corals every two weeks or so and least agressive fish first, one at a time, took a year, last fish was the mandarin and the red scooter.
My DT now has 60 mixed corals, 5 fish, a fire shrimp, a skunk and a pep....
I resist tangs....it's tough....but They all get big fast, require algae, and are Ick prone...