Stock list?

[davidgnome]

Tank is 120 gallon with aqua max cone skimmer, and 3 inch sand bed, 120 lbs live rock, 40 breeder sump/refugium is about 17 gallons of the sump section.

So is this reasonable? If not what needs to be removed.

1st- Starry blenny, and Red Head salon Wrasse.
2nd- 5-7 Blue Green Chromis
3rd- 3-5 Lyretail Anthias.
4th- 3 Leopard Wrasses.
5th- Possibly a Mandarin of some kind
6th- Yellow Tang, Kole Eye tang, Powder Blue Tang. ( if not the Powder Blue, then perhaps another smaller tang)

Does this seem like a reasonable (heavy Bioloaded tank?) And am I correct on which fish will go in first and last? Thanks for any feedback.

 

[davidgnome]

A little help? I know someone has an excellent opinion!

 

[KabayanReef]

Overstocked.

fyi: There is a sticky/thread for this in the "New to the hobby" section.

5-7 on that tank will murder each other and based on anecdotal reports by members of RC, you will likely lose all of them except 1 or 2. I'd say go for 3-4 chromis.

Lyretail's can be aggresive most especially trying to shoal them with chromis... Bartletts are more peaceful. But i'm strongly against attempting to shoal both on a 120g, ime and imo you can only go with one.

Three leo wrasses can be tricky, imo/ime, these bunch should be avoided by beg./intermediate reefers, leave it to expert/veterans. Getting one leo to survive/thrive a year is tricky enough, what more of 3 leo's.

I assume your tank is fairly new, mandarins dont do well and often die on "young" tanks. They require a healthy population of copepods to thrive.

Tangs. Dimensions of your 120g? Common footprint would be 4x2x2. The yellow tang is already "squeezed" in a 4" tank. A powder blue on the other hand needs 6".

Go for the yellow, kole eye, tomini. Keep in mind these species can be highly teritorrial, size, order of addtion, rockwork etc. So many things to consider.

Rethink about the chromis or anthias.
Imo avoid the leopards.
Avoid powder blue tang.
Avoid mandarin.

I suggest reading the primers on mandarins/leopards on the marine fish section. Research more and take the phrase "I want my fish to thrive not just survive." hth

 

[davidgnome]

Thanks for the input. I agree with what you said. The thought behind keeping leopards was that even among the "elite" reefer the success is variable at best, so from what I read in the primer was basically choosing a healthy specimen locally and make sure they are eating. That to me doesn't necessarily seem like its a question of the skill or method of the reef keeper as much as it is that these fish are very prone to perish if not selected correctly and able to get eating. Its really a game of odds as much as it is the fish keeper. As I would do all I can to make sure the environment is a place for these guys to thrive, that is all anyone can do. I have extensive experience in maintaining great water quality, and in keeping other wrasses. By no means am I among the elite class, but I am no slouch either. Hopefully I can locate a few leopards that are healthy and give a good overall feel for introducing. Also, I did not plan to QT these guys as recommended on the primer as well. With this thinking I may or may not attempt to find 3 healthy fish that fit the above criteria. Undecided...The mandarin I was debating on setting up a 10 gallon for permanent pod production in raising prolly two separate groups in a controlled environment. This and pod condo's in the refugium area and hope I can at least produce some pods, of course not enough to be a primary source of food, but supplemental to my other efforts. The chromis I believed that they will attack one another no matter what the husbandry methods are and eventually their numbers would dwindle down, this is why I picked 7 as a starting number in hopes up ending up with 3-5. This may be a false assumption on my part though in which case I will correct my plan for that. And in terms of the PB tang I agree and just thought I would ask to help solidify the resounding "NO" my conscience was telling me. You certainly helped in that! lol. Thanks.