Long term stocking plan

[Silly clownfish]

After 15 years, I am in the process of upgrading my 30 g sumpless reef to a 75g with a 20g sump and Reef Breeders LEDs (photon 32 on order). *My experience with the 30 g was that 3 was the optimal number of fish. *Due to attrition (I lost my 7 yr old cherub angel late last year), I only have 2 fish currently. *So after I have new new tank up and stable, the old 30g will become my QT tank and I will start slowly adding stock. *With only one organism at a time in QT (ok, I'll probably have more than one coral in there at a time), I'm planning on at least a year before the 75g will be "fully stocked". *I am not in any rush - I learned the hard way when I got into this hobby. *Some of these critters won't be introduced for a long time, if ever, but I want to think things through so I don't add something early on that precludes something I would rather have later.

Current livestock (I have had everything on this list for at least 7 years and intend to keep everything in the new tank)
Ocelaris clown
Flame hawk
Coral banded shrimp
Serpent star
Brittle star
Misc small snails
Frogspawn coral (will probably take about half to LFS to make transition easier - I typically take about 1/3 to them several times a year as it outgrows the tank)
Umbrella leather ~8" span
3 different colors of corlimorphs, probably about 30 individuals
Colony of mermaids fan algae (came on live rock and thrives)

Things I would like:
Clam (probably crocea for size)
Mixed corals - not real picky, considering montipora, birdsnest, plate, star polyps (will probably look for nice specimens at LFS, then research, then buy)
Mandarin dragonet?
Some variety of Fairy wrasse
Some kind of blennie and/or goby (I like the candy cane goby and had success with one of those in the past)
Orchid dottyback - will this be too aggressive?

I would like to get as much tank raised as possible.

The 2 things on this list I am most hesitant about are the clam and the mandarin. *

I am not sure that a 75g even with a sump will produce enough copepods for a mandarin with a hawk in the tank plus the other fish I am considering? *My 30 g has copepods, but not IMO enough for a mandarin. *I know the hawk keeps this population down. *Thoughts?

The clam is the reason I don't have a pygmy angel on my list. *I really like them and have successfully kept them - one for 3 years *and one for 7.5 years. *Neither bothered my corals, but I don't think I would take a chance with a new one if I hope to have a clam. *My CBS does not bother my corals except in walking on them. *The hawk sits on things of course, which might annoy a clam, but I doubt it would be detrimental. *Anything else on my list raise a red flag? *

Any other suggestions/ replacements?

 

[Silly clownfish]

Bump - feedback anyone???

 

[ca1ore]

Mandarins are tough. You really do need to have a lot of productive live rock and no competitive fish for the pods to have even a reasonable chance of success.

Clams should do fine. I have a Squamosa under a P32 LED and it is doing well.

 

[Silly clownfish]

Thanks. I figure a mandarin will be a long term maybe. I'll need to see what kind of pod population I can sustain after whatever else I get has been in there for a while. At the rate I plan to stock, that is a least a year away.

I appreciate the input on the clam -especially since it is confirming that I can aim for it:dance:

Kim

 

[footballdude2k3]

You should be fine with the mandarin, but I would not add that for a minimum of a year, the dottyback might be too aggressive, personally, I would get rid of that one.

 

[DopeCantWin]

The hawk and the shrimp might not get along too well. The hawks will bite off the shrimp's antennas, if not worse.

 

[Silly clownfish]

I was wondering about the aggressiveness of the dottyback, i heard the orchid was the least aggressive. It only made it on the list because its commonly available TR. but I don't know that I want to take the chance.


The hawk and the shrimp have been in the same 30g tank together for over 7 years with no problems. The CBS is bigger than the hawk and was back when he was introduced. I think that helped.

 

[footballdude2k3]

There are also less problems if the tank is well fed