PLEASE check out your intended fish purchases here first!

[shelk]

i have a 63 gallon tank, finished the cycle, has the clean up crew for a couple of weeks, looking for advice on a couple of fishes to start, herbivores preferable

any suggestions?

 

[kjardine519]

35 gal tank long dt, and 30 gal sump
Bubble mag 3.5 Skimmer
30lbs rock in display tank 15 lbs in sump
soon algae scrubber
Plenty of flow 1500 gph or so
Current fish are striped damsel, six line wrease, scooter blennie
Cuc is turbo snail and 2 hermit crabs,
Future get rid of the damsel. Either get a coral beauty or a flame angel,
It is a reef tank is this possible

 

[snorvich]

i have a 63 gallon tank, finished the cycle, has the clean up crew for a couple of weeks, looking for advice on a couple of fishes to start, herbivores preferable

any suggestions?

As those who follow this thread know, I do not provide recommendations for a variety of reasons. However, I am always happy to evaluate any stocking list and provide compatibility analysis.

 

[snorvich]

35 gal tank long dt, and 30 gal sump
Bubble mag 3.5 Skimmer
30lbs rock in display tank 15 lbs in sump
soon algae scrubber
Plenty of flow 1500 gph or so
Current fish are striped damsel, six line wrease, scooter blennie
Cuc is turbo snail and 2 hermit crabs,
Future get rid of the damsel. Either get a coral beauty or a flame angel,
It is a reef tank is this possible

Dwarf angels are not reef safe especially towards meaty LPS corals. Both the damsel and the six line wrasse are aggressive and will limit future tank mates.

 

[Fishypapa]

Hello and thanks for taking the time to check these lists.

I have a 35g tank, live rock, no skimmer, currently housing:
2 Amphiprion ocellaris (juveniles)
2 astrea snails,
2 narcissius snails,
1 hermit (which I'll probably get rid of)
1 Trochus snail
2 Peppermint shrimp
1 Brittle star
(a few corals frags)

I was thinking of adding:
Skunk cleaner shrimp
Goby of some type (considering Watchman or Wheeler's Shrimp Goby)
Mandarin (after a year at least)
Possibly a scooter blenny.

Would these all play nicely?

Thanks.

 

[snorvich]

Hello and thanks for taking the time to check these lists.

I have a 35g tank, live rock, no skimmer, currently housing:
2 Amphiprion ocellaris (juveniles)
2 astrea snails,
2 narcissius snails,
1 hermit (which I'll probably get rid of) getting rid of it is a good idea since you have snails
1 Trochus snail
2 Peppermint shrimp
1 Brittle star are not reef safe with regard to fish
(a few corals frags)

I was thinking of adding:
Skunk cleaner shrimp
Goby of some type (considering Watchman or Wheeler's Shrimp Goby)
Mandarin (after a year at least) mandarins are not going to survive in this sized tank without exceptional effort
Possibly a scooter blenny. scooter blennies are not blennies but are dragonets and will not do well in this sized tank without exceptional efforts since they are copepod eaters

Would these all play nicely?

Thanks.

 

[Fishypapa]

Thanks a lot Steve! I know it must be a pain to see the same kinds of questions asked over and over again.

 

[SkyJunkie]

120g reef - just ended a 3.5 month fallow period. No fish currently

Thinking:
Sailfin
Tomini
Flame angel
Swallowtail angel
Pair of true percs
Royal gramma
Diamond goby
Yellow watchman goby
Pair of banggai cardinals

 

[snorvich]

120g reef - just ended a 3.5 month fallow period. No fish currently

Thinking:
Sailfin requires a much larger tank (240 gallons). Reef central's recommendation for tank sizes for tangs can be found here.
Tomini
Flame angel not reef safe, especially towards meaty LPS corals
Swallowtail angel
Pair of true percs
Royal gramma
Diamond goby
Yellow watchman goby pick one goby, two will not work in this sized tank
Pair of banggai cardinals must be tank raised and a male plus female

 

[SkyJunkie]

Thank you. If I want to take my chances withy the flame angel, will it get along with a swallowtail?

 

[snorvich]

Thank you. If I want to take my chances withy the flame angel, will it get along with a swallowtail?

flame angel first, swallowtail subsequently

 

[SkyJunkie]

Thanks, you rock.

 

[Fishypapa]

Mandarin (after a year at least) mandarins are not going to survive in this sized tank without exceptional effort
Possibly a scooter blenny. scooter blennies are not blennies but are dragonets and will not do well in this sized tank without exceptional efforts since they are copepod eaters

Steve,

If I add a refugium and able to keep the copepad numbers up could it then support a single mandarin/dragonet. If not could I add a male/female Cardinal instead?

Thanks again.

 

[snorvich]

Steve,

If I add a refugium and able to keep the copepad numbers up could it then support a single mandarin/dragonet. If not could I add a male/female Cardinal instead?

Thanks again.

Dragonets eat constantly. Some people try to keep them by feeding frozen. While this may work temporarily, it usually will not in the long run. The other problem is that frozen food usually is high in fat content which makes the fish appear fat and healthy. However, the nutritional value is different than their natural food so if you are wanting fish to live years rather than months, sufficient copepods are desirable. If you have no other copepod eaters, a refugium of sufficient size should work, and can be made even more effective with the use of "pod piles" in the main aquarium; these are piles of live rock rubble which in effect provide in tank protection for copepods.

 

[Fishypapa]

Terrific. Thanks again Steve.

 

[woganaga]

Steve - I am considering adding a marginalis butterfly (if i can find one) and a mimic eibli tang to my well established tank but am not sure if I am pushing it. Stocking list

2 black axil chromis
Mated pair ocellaris clownfish
Yellow longnose butterfly
2 henochus diphrutes bannerfish
Mccoskers wrasse
Fillamented fairy wrasse
Red head Solon wrasse
In qt is a court jester goby

Tank is 110 gal (5ft long) with good sized sump, lots of rock.

Thanks in advance

 

[snorvich]

Steve - I am considering adding a marginalis butterfly (if i can find one) and a mimic eibli tang to my well established tank but am not sure if I am pushing it. Stocking list

2 black axil chromis
Mated pair ocellaris clownfish
Yellow longnose butterfly
2 henochus diphrutes bannerfish
Mccoskers wrasse
Fillamented fairy wrasse
Red head Solon wrasse
In qt is a court jester goby

Tank is 110 gal (5ft long) with good sized sump, lots of rock.

Thanks in advance

Bioload is not an issue with adding one of these fish. The tang will approach 10 inches which may make your tank look a bit small but you have no other grazers that would be offended by an inhabitant in their ecological niche. The bannerfish themselves push your tank limitations slightly. The marginalis, is more likely to survive in your tank than the CBB which has a poor rate of survival in comparison. However they are not so easy to find, LA probably being the most likely source. I would not do both, but either one is likely to do ok.

 

[sjs07]

Hello! We have a 29 gal with 30# Carib Sea Aragonite live sand, 43# live rock, CPR Bak Pak 2 Bio Filter HOB Protein Skimmer with Accela Pump, and Marineland LED hood & light bar w/ blue lunar or white LEDs. This system has been running for a month now.

Five days ago we added 2 tank-bred Ocellaris clowns, 1 arrow crab & 1 Haitian anemone. Our LFS recommended these. All seem to be thriving with the exception of the anemone which started out great eating and in full bloom, woke up on day 3 and it was deflated. Day 4 it started getting stringy. Being a holiday weekend i could not contact LFS and after reading as much info online as possible attempted removal from the tank and unfortunately ended up losing him.

Here is a list of fish we like and would appreciate your help in coming up with a good line up. We have experience with freshwater fish, but this is our first saltwater attempt.

Black & White Ocellaris clownfish (amphiprion Ocellaris var.)
Royal Gramma Basslet (Gramma loreto)
Blue Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
Yellowtail Damselfish (Chrysiptera parasema)
Flame Angelfish (Centropyge loriculus)
Orchid Dottyback (pseudochromis fridmani)

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Stepho725]

Ive got a 29g Biocube with 12lb LR and 10lb sugar sand. 1 Koralia 425 and upgraded return pump Cobalt MJ1200. (Need to add another powerhead or two) Running Purigen and Chemipure and some Poly-Fil. Water changes every 1-2 weeks. Plan on increasing that to every 5 days once the fish come in until i get a skimmer. Current stock is: 2 Toadstools, 2 Zoa frags, 1 Pulsating Xenia frag, 1 hitchiker Fungia. 2 Occelarius Clowns 1 Cleaner shrimp 1 Emerald Crab and various snails and hermits for CUC. (Plan on getting rid of 5-6 of the hermits because they poop EVERYWHERE!)

Just ordered Horned Blenny and a Mimic Filefish due in Wednesday. I know the Mimic may bother some of the CUC but most of my research showed that they werent all that interested in them and that their mouths are very small. Also that theyre only interested in SPS and i dont plan on keeping any in this tank.

So anyways, my question is my rockwork is pretty low and and im guessing that the Blenny will want multiple levels? Should I be building it up before they come in?

Added a pic of current rockwork.

 

[snorvich]

Hello! We have a 29 gal with 30# Carib Sea Aragonite live sand, 43# live rock, CPR Bak Pak 2 Bio Filter HOB Protein Skimmer with Accela Pump, and Marineland LED hood & light bar w/ blue lunar or white LEDs. This system has been running for a month now.

Five days ago we added 2 tank-bred Ocellaris clowns, 1 arrow crab & 1 Haitian anemone. Our LFS recommended these.

With a recommendation like that I would change LFS. Your tank can not sustain an anemone yet, if ever, and an Arrow crab can take fish.

All seem to be thriving with the exception of the anemone which started out great eating and in full bloom, woke up on day 3 and it was deflated. Day 4 it started getting stringy. Being a holiday weekend i could not contact LFS and after reading as much info online as possible attempted removal from the tank and unfortunately ended up losing him. Which, of course, is highly predictable.

Here is a list of fish we like and would appreciate your help in coming up with a good line up. We have experience with freshwater fish, but this is our first saltwater attempt.

Black & White Ocellaris clownfish (amphiprion Ocellaris var.)
Royal Gramma Basslet (Gramma loreto)
Blue Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus) Needs a 240 gallon tank as a minimum
Yellowtail Damselfish (Chrysiptera parasema) aggressive, will preclude other fish
Flame Angelfish (Centropyge loriculus) not coral safe, needs a more mature tank
Orchid Dottyback (pseudochromis fridmani) pseudochromis are aggressive and will preclude many other fish, especially in a small tank

Any advice is greatly appreciated!