Stocking order advice sought

[Eud]

I have a new 75 gallon tank with 40b basement sump that has been set up for about 1 month with one inch of reef flakes for the substrate and mostly dry rock with lots of ledges and hiding places. I seeded it with a little live rock from a lfs and with a bottle of dr tims one and only and mb7. I cycled it with dr tims ammonium chloride drops, and it now can handle 4ppm ammonia in a day. Phosphate is down, nitrate is low at about 8ppm, other parameters seem stable.

I am looking to start adding softies and fish in about a month after quarantine. I dont want any really exotic fish. I plan to eventually have

-tank bred Occ. clown pair
-Royal gramma
-Shrimp goby and pistol shrimp (maybe yasha haze goby and candy stripe shrimp)
-one or more tank bred banggai cardinals
-one or more blue reef chromis
-tailspot blenny
-small kole tang
-skunk cleaner shrimp
-porcelain crab
-various snails and hermits and worms

Also would like an rbta eventually maybe a year down the road and a mandarin down the road too.

Can anyone give advice on what fish should go in first? I know in general the most shy ones first and working up to the more agressive.

Are there fish I should take off my list because it is incompatible with others?

I had been working with a local fish store I trusted, but they are recommending way more fish than I think I am comfortable with (6 cardinals, for instance).

 

[RJT]

You can also post here. Snovich has given me great advice.

What part of MD?

IMO none of those fish are shy. Royal gramma may be aggressive to new fish because they get territorial. I'm sure others will chime in.

 

[Eud]

Ok. Thanks.

I had been assuming that the royal gramma, goby, blenny might be the shy guys and the others would be more agressive, but am hoping that someone who knows about their behavior more than just that coarse grouping could weigh in.

 

[Dmorty217]

I would add the blenny and goby/pistol shrimp first then the clowns, chromis. Lastly add the gramma and the tang since they are the most aggressive

 

[Eud]

Thanks. Any advice for how many cardinals or blue chromis given the other fish I am considering and their behavior? I was thinking about maybe 2-3 of each?

 

[Dmorty217]

The chromis I would honestly stay away from, I bought 25 of them for my tank and a year later I have 10 left. All just suddenly died for no reason I could tell, since all other fish are fine and have been. What kind of cardinals are you going with, that will determine how many you should get

 

[RDtrack]

First of all I like your selection of fish. Not to wild compared to my fish selection sometimes.

I would probably add your banggi's first. I agree with your assessment, six is too many. I would do two, one larger and one smaller, that way they pair better. If you get three you'll normally have problems. Some may say you should add the clowns first as they are extremely hardy. I would agree but they can be aggressive to fish that swim in their same water column. I would then do one blue reef chromis. I know there is advice out there to do more than one but in the wild very rarely do you see more than two together. Also when people speak of chromis dieing they are normally talking about blue/green chromis. I would then add your clown pair, followed by the royal gramma. They can be aggressive but I think they are more shy than aggressive and having other fish in the tank can help with the shyness. Last would be your kole tang. As tang's are the most aggressive. in addition your allowing your algae on your rocks to grow which they need.

The tailspot I would after the tank has been running for six months, which will allow your live rock to have some algae growth on it. In my experience some can be very picky eaters, i.e., only algae.

As for your goby/shrimp combo, you could add them at anytime. No one will really pick on them.

Your snails and hermits can be added at anytime and if the tank has been up for a month I'd add them now to start cleaning it up. if you want a great algae eater look for a abalone snail.

I would wait with the porcelain crab until you get an anemone. That way you can observe their normal behavior.

As for the shrimp, I would add it after about six months. Making sure your water parameters are good.

Good luck take it slow like your doing.

 

[MacWilliams]

I would stay away from the chromis as well. I had 2 in my 60g and they killed each other within 1 month. The rest look good tho I'm sure the tang will get some attention from some ppl on here. I would replace the chromis on your list with a wrasse if your wanting a nice active fish. I have a yellow "coris" wrasse and he is awesome to watch and never stops moving.

 

[Eud]

Wow, thanks for the great advice. I will take it.

I have a rimless tank and would like to limit the known jumpers in there so that I dont have to put on a lid. I may get a wrasse down the road, but they seem a bit more complicated to select and keep than others, maybe just because there are so many of them.