Stocking ideas for heavily stocked peaceful reef

[drunkenclown]

I have a 125 6ft long tank

My current fish are:
2x yellowtail blue damsels
Yellow tang
Hippo tang
Purple dottyback
Goldbar marroon clown
Yellow watchman goby
Coral beauty angel
Purple firefish
Male & female ruby red dragonets

My idea is to have a heavily stocked tank with mostly smaller peaceful reef fish. What I was thinking and please tell me if this will work and make some suggestions:

Add:
Royal gramma, a tiger watchman goby?, some small gobies like yellow citron n panda, some anthias that are most likely to school? One or two wrasse? And last a flame angel

Please tell me what the possibilities are and some ideas. Is this something that would be possible overtime? What fish won't get along or might I have issue with?

 

[Dmorty217]

With the dottyback the royal gramma won't be advisable, neither is a 125g for a hippo...
Flame angel may or may not work with the coral beauty

 

[drunkenclown]

Thanks for the help:

Hippo is about 4" now but probably most aggressive at feeding time was wondering if maybe getting close to time to find him a new home?

Was also worried about the dottyback royal gramma combo. Only reason I considered it was the dottyback didn't harass the firefish or the yellow watchman.

Any suggestions for another dwarf angel that is most likely not to nip coral that would be suitable or less likely to want to have a death match with my coral beauty

What about the tiger watchman and the yellow goby will they be ok as long as they don't notice each other or not adviseable

Any suggestions on other fish or how you would stock this size tank. How many more fish can I have? How much of a factor is tank size vs nutrient export like protein skimmers and refugium? What problems would one encounter having a high bioload or what would I watch for?

 

[Dmorty217]

How big is your sump? How much live rock/rock do you have ? Any Genicanthus angel is mostly considered reef safe (just like your coral beauty) and stay smaller for large angels. Refugium/sump and protein skimming is a big part of bio load ability, along with rock and obviously water changes help

 

[Deinonych]

The dottyback is going to be the limiting factor, as they can be very aggressive. Any small wrasse, basslet and possibly anthias will get picked on due to similar body shape. I'd be concerned about gobies getting the same treatment as well.

Frankly, I would say you are already pushing the limits of a "peaceful" tank with two damsels, a dottyback and a maroon clown. Yellow tangs can get pretty ornery as well (although usually with conspecifics).

 

[drunkenclown]

thanks dmorty
refugium:
i have an aqueon pro flex 4 sump with a reef octopus sro 2000int 6"skimmer and a two fishes phosban reactor with a mj1200 pump. the middle section of the sump is setup as a refugium the bottom has 15lbs of two fishes refugite live refugium sand about 15lbs of small rubble rock pieces. their is a strawberry crab and a small purple lobster living down here. some calerpula? and a tiny piece of chaeto growing. and i have the coralife fixture that is recommended to go with the sump i leave it on all the time. my only complaint is it comes with a 10,000k and actinic blue which i switched out for another 10,000k but wouldn't two 6500k's be better and has anyone seen them? so far i have added two jars of tiger pods to this section with pumps and lights off...see critters in sump but not in dt?

the main tank:
has about 150 pounds of live rock and about 150-175 lbs live sand.
2x hydor koralia 1500's connected to smartwave alternating 15 secs
i have an aquatic life 6ft t5 fixture with the following bulbs 2x 10,000k, 2x 460 blue, 4x 420/460 blue bulbs

coral/anemone/inverts:
approx;
20 blue hermits(little one)
9 trochus snails
6 bumble bee snails
6 large nassirus snail
sand sifting starfish
2 red blood shrimp
4 cleaner shrimp
rose bubble anemone
orange ricordea
rainbow acans
zoas/palys
candy canes
star polyps
christmas favia
pink zenia

tank params:
temp 78-79
ph 8.0-cant seem to hold an 8.2 or 8.3 more than a day or two
amm 0
nit 0
nitrate 0
phosphate 0-0.5
alk 12-13
calcium 375-400
mag?

change 10 gals water every week use instant ocean reef crystals i mix about 2 2/3 cups per 5 gals water. topoff with a little less than 5 gals ro/di water weekly

dose: 6 teaspons seachem ph, 30ml two fishes a&b, 30 ml aqua vitro fuel & ions and 5 drops kent lugols solution weekly when i do water changes.

i'm open to any and all sugestions about my setup and stocking ideas. want to take my tank to the next level and provide my fish and corals with as close to a natural living reef as i can.

 

[Dmorty217]

The dottyback is going to be the limiting factor, as they can be very aggressive. Any small wrasse, basslet and possibly anthias will get picked on due to similar body shape. I'd be concerned about gobies getting the same treatment as well.

Frankly, I would say you are already pushing the limits of a "peaceful" tank with two damsels, a dottyback and a maroon clown. Yellow tangs can get pretty ornery as well (although usually with conspecifics).

^This. Really you should rehome the dottyback, damsels and clownfish. Then you open yourself up to many more possibilities

 

[Triggerfish]

the angels reportedly will harass sps/lps.

 

[kw22]

I would not recommend you add any more fish.I would add 1 or 2 gobies MAX.

I would recommend you increase your water changes by 5 percent.

 

[eatbreakfast]

^This. Really you should rehome the dottyback, damsels and clownfish. Then you open yourself up to many more possibilities

^ This if ou want a heavily stocked peaceful tank.

I would not recommend you add any more fish.I would add 1 or 2 gobies MAX.

I would recommend you increase your water changes by 5 percent.

Your parameters are fine, so fish bioload isnt an issue, even with current stock. The limiting factor will be aggression with the dottyback, maroon clown, and damsels.

 

[79chopperdr]

Any suggestions for another dwarf angel that is most likely not to nip coral that would be suitable or less likely to want to have a death match with my coral beauty

Dwarfs don't care for other dwarfs, I've kept flames, coral beauties, potters and bi colors. In every case and combination they beat the crap out of each other for the first couple days, then they tolerate each other.

Coral issues are more hit and miss. Most likely to harass LPS.

I have a 210 for reference