Hi, I needed help with stocking ideas for a 75 gallon tank. I will eventually get into coral and make my tank a reef tank. As of right now, I have two ocellaris clownfish. Eventually I want to have a small yellow tang but that will be the last fish I add. It's just the inbetween that I need help with. I want 5-6 fish total including my clowns and the tang if that's possible. I would prefer some medium sized fish if possible. I prefer not to have wrasses because I like my CUC. I don't know about any gobies because my sand is very thick grained. I considered a small group of the same fish but I hear chromis aren't a good idea and anthias may not work in a 75 gallon. Any ideas?
Stocking for 75 gallon?
- Thread starter jvmesle
- Start date
Might as well start coral now. Add a couple zoanthids or palythoas you think are pretty on an isolated small rock on sand bed - very hardy, usually only a couple bucks a polyp and will grow quickly. Can do softies/LPS just isolate them so they do not get out of control (i.e. xenias)
CrayolaViolence
New member
There are a ton of wrasses that will not harm your CUC.
What kind of wrasses would you recommend? Id prefer ones that are somewhat peaceful to each other
CrayolaViolence
New member
Leopard wrasses, melanarus wrasse, just for starters. With leopard wrasses a nice group of females would look lovely in a tank. One of them will turn male in time.
Most of the Halichoeres wrasses will get along quite well and not nearly as difficult to acclimate as the Leopards are. If your looking for something very peaceful in a wrasse then look into the Possum or Pink streaked wrasses, they are much smaller but need to be kept in a system with other peaceful tankmates.
The only thing is i cant have sand sleeping wrasses because i have a large grain sand almost like crushed coral. And eventually all my cuc will probably be eaten by the melanarus
monkeysee1
Member
Blue Zoo and Live Aquaria have lots of nice reef safe wrasses to choose from! 
You also might want to reconsider Anthias, which are quite pretty, reef safe, and won't get too big for your size tank! Nice temperament too!
And Pyramid Butterfly fish are reef safe!
Dotty backs and Basslets would work in a reef too!
You also might want to reconsider Anthias, which are quite pretty, reef safe, and won't get too big for your size tank! Nice temperament too!
And Pyramid Butterfly fish are reef safe!
Dotty backs and Basslets would work in a reef too!
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Blue Zoo and Live Aquaria have lots of nice reef safe wrasses to choose from!
You also might want to reconsider Anthias, which are quite pretty, reef safe, and won't get too big for your size tank! Nice temperament too!
And Pyramid Butterfly fish are reef safe!
Dotty backs and Basslets would work in a reef too!
What kind of anthias would you recommend? I just didnt consider them initially because I dont think I could keep up with feeding them multiple times a day
The melanurus is a Halichoeres wrasse and also requires sand to sleep in as do the rest of the halichoeres wrasses so that rules all of them out. The earlier mentioned Possum and Pink Streaked wrasses do not require sand nor do any of the flasher or fairy wrasses. BTW, Possum, Pink Streaked and flasher wrasses wont harm your CUC.
Javeo
New member
I have 3 resplendent and 3 diadem anthias in my 90g and I feed twice a day, 1 cube of mysis at a time and thrice on weekends. All fish are fat and happy. These anthias stay small and are very hardy, one of my diadem females was emaciated when I got her and she's put on so much weight in the last month I've had her.
Would a harem of three mccoskers flasher wrasses work, 1 male, 2 females? I just dont know if it would affect clownfish or a yellow tang at all
Sounds like a good idea and they wont bother the clowns or the YT. One thing you will need for certain though is a tight fitting lid to contain them. All fish will jump but flashers are especially prone.
Would a glass lid be bad for them?
I agree with Javeo, a glass lid can certainly lead to other issues.
Lots of people, myself included make our own mesh tops and there are commercial ones now available but they are rather costly. If you dont already have a cover of some sort I strongly suggest getting one. The entire fishing jumping thing is more about "when" a fish will jump than it is "if" a fish will jump. Hop over to the BRS site, they have the materials needed to make a screen top and some DIY video on how to make one.
CrayolaViolence
New member
A malenarus is not going to touch your CUC. I have two in a tank with everything from astria snails to brittle stars, to tube worms, as long as they are well fed they shouldn't bother your CUC. The only thing I have had them prey on is flat worms, zoe eating nudibranch, and other small creepy crawlies that are not beneficial.
Thank you, I'll definitely look into this!
Also, considering that attaining female flasher wrasses can be difficult, I am thinking about a trio of anthers as an alternative to the flashers if I cannot find females. What anthers would you recommend as a trio in a 75 gallon? I'd prefer to feed a max of 2x daily as I do want to keep coral soon.
