Looking for some advice for stock list, 375g tank (plus fuge)

sfsuphysics

Active member
Ok display tank outer dimensions put it at 375g (a bit less due to thickness of acrylic and overflow boxes), the dimensions are 6 feet x 5 feet x 20 inches, so 30 square feet of horizontal swimming space. This tank will be a full of reef with corals, shrimp, and snails (fish too), but it is barebottom. The rockwork is set up to give different zones of open space, I mean I can't exactly do a rock wall in a tank like this :D

My "fuge" is a sandy area (1-2") approximately 6 feet x 3 feet x 15 inches tall, currently housing somewhere between 2 - 3 dozen rose bubble tips, they occupy a small area at the front (they love those two rocks they're on and tend not to wander but I still don't trust them in the main tank).

Tank has been up and cycled for a while, there are corals in it (of course I need more :D), and there are three fish in there. Yellow tang, Purple tang, and foxface, and yeah they all get along with each other some minor flaring of fins but for the most part there's enough room that they don't care too much about each other.

So fish, I'm looking to add more, would love some advice as to fish to put in here and some critique on what I have in mind. While I would love to source the fish locally I realize that's not always practical if you have specific fish in mind, other options are live aquaria or diver's den too.


What I'm looking for
- Non-aggressive fish, that do well in a community with others, I understand that between certain species there could be tension between them, minimizing this would be good.
- I like the idea of a good number of fish, just not large fish, those that are small to medium sized. So no more large fish, as much as the temptation to get an Acanthurus tang or 2 is. A couple medium fish would be ok, I know some can get long, and bristle toothed tangs typically don't get as large as other tangs.
- Double digit fish prices only, wife twitched a little when I told her how much the purple tang cost, and has been asking me how much of an upper limit I'm going to put on a fish (I told her $50 per fish max but.... ;))
- A few fish that do well together with other types of that same fish, so like little schools or shoals (that actually stay like that, i.e. no green chromis) or some sort of hierarchy system within the species (i.e. multiple females to a single male).
- No specialty feeders. I will have auto-feeders that feed flake and pellet food multiple times per day, and I will every once in a while throw some mysis into it, but I don't want animals that need to live off (or be trained off) live foods, so as much as I like Mandarin and similar types of fish probably not going to happen.
- Reef safe fish! So angelfish are out, I've had some dwarf angels in the past live in a reef, but they did take out a couple fleshy LPS before settling down. Nothing that will eat my shrimp!

Here's some that I brain stormed up.
Bristle-toothed tang. The last piece of the algae battle tool kit, other two tangs can handle picking, foxface will just chew on everything that fits in it's tiny mouth, bristle tooth will scrape at rocks. To keep in the double digit range, Tomini or Kole probably are my best bet, no way I'm forking over Chevron type of money.
Cardinalfish. There's a few varieties I wouldn't mind having a few of. Any types I should avoid? Will they fight with others of different species? (i.e. Bangai, Spotted and Yellow striped cardinals all in the same tank?)
Wrasses - If possible I can put up vertical netting on the eurobracing on the tank if any become "jumpers". However need to keep away from those that need/want to burrow into the sand.
- Red headed/Solon/Solar wrasse, seems like a peaceful fish, lost mine when my controller power supply stuck on and 2-part made the tank look like a snowy wonderland. I'm not sure how aggressive they are towards other wrasses though.
- Pink streaked wrasse, read this guy is one of the more peaceful wrasse fishes out there, does well with others.
- Flasher wrasse harem, haven't decided on a particular species though, they all have their niceness, the largest problem I see with these is that males are usually the only ones I see available.
- Banded wrasse, another small type of wrasse I've read is peaceful, white, yellow or Tanaka, actual type doesn't matter
Anthias, had a lyretail in a 180g in the past, unfortunately similar to the harem above, finding female fish isn't always easy. 2 males in 180g tank did not work.

That's all I have I thought of so far, damsels are probably out, ditto with chromis, thought about some gobies or blennies (Midas comes to mind), although I don't know much about those fish.

Comments? Additions I should possible consider?

Also, I mentioned the fuge because it's a sandy area that will be somewhat visible (windowed from the stand), it can be used as a time-out area, or an area for fish that do like the sand. I do need/want something that will keep the sand mixed up too whether that's a fish or a cucumber I don't know yet. I probably will put some sort of vegetation here, sea grasses or prolifera (one of the few types still legal in California). And this is the tank where clownfish will be, because of all the damn anemones... I might move the rocks to opposite ends and put two types of clowns in.
 
Bristle tooth and mimic tangs might work for you, I'm not much for anthias myself. You could do a lot of wrasse and some gobys. The 50$ price range is what will cause you the biggest issue:spin2:
 
Hmmm, I thought mimics could get quite large.

The $50 price range is just what I told my wife, however depending upon the fish I can do high double digits, especially if I do more in the low range, cardinals for instance typically aren't that much.
 
Depends on what you consider large... I consider large to be 6-7" or larger, most bristle tooth and mimics won't get larger than that, but it could happen. Typically max size listed is never achieved in the home aquarium
 
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