Upgraded from 55 to 150. Time to stock.

[Crete]

Hi everyone,

I have recently finished building cycling and transferring my fish from my old 55Gal to a new 150Gal cube with a large sump and refugium. I am trying to plan out adding stock from my fish wish list.

Can anyone help me out with input on incompatibility issues and properly spacing out the addition to avoid aggression and territory issues? I realize that my wish list is probably overkill and that is why it's only a wish list.

I am using 1" of fish per gallon method to calculate my max fish. I also have a rollermat and an overkill skimmer and sump, so those may give me some wiggle room. I've included the Medium to Large size ratings for all fish listed to allow for growth. I plan on adding corals 6-8 months down the road so everything I've picked was listed as reef safe or with caution.

I have two other smaller reeftanks that I can move things around into and I am making the old 55Gal into a QT.

Tank Info
36"x36"x27" Display Cube 150Gal
60"x20"x20" Sump 60Gal Actual Water Volume
Skimmer Rated for 400Gal Plus Rollermat Filter

Secondary Tank Info (Not Running)
30"x30"x16" Bottom Display 62Gal
(Not included in fish max total.)

Using 1" per 5 gallons I come up with 42" Total Fish Max

Existing Fish
1 x Royal Gramma 3"
1 x Sailfin Blenny 2"
2 x PJ Cardinal 2-1/2"
4 x Blue Green Chromis 1-1/4"
15" Total

Wish List
2 x Banggai Cardinal 1"
1 x Lemon Peel Angel 2-1/2"
1 x Coral Beauty Angel 2-1/2"
2 x Anthias 2-1/2"
3 x Agile or B&W Chromis 2"
1 x Magnificent Foxface 5"
1 x Powder Blue Tang 5" (Tank maybe too short at 3'x3')
1 x Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse 1.5"
1 x Fairy Wrasse 2"
31.5" Total

While I am not completely new to the hobby, many of you have a lot more experience than I and any input would be helpful.

 

[wcu]

Lemon peels are supposed to be one of the more notorious coral nippers. I have a fishers Pygmy angel that has left everything in my tank alone. African flameback could be a good option.

 

[wcu]

Also, I added a group of black and white chromis to my tank a few years ago and hated them. They fought incessantly and stressed out the other fish around them. I really resented the fact that I wasted so much fish space on them.

 

[Crete]

My wife used to work at a LFS and when I showed her my list last night she said the same thing about the B&W Chromis. She suggested swapping them out for three Firefish.

I did just read that the Lemon Peel requires more algae and seaweed that most angels, maybe that's why it nips? I thought about replacing that angel with two Blue Eyed Cardinals so I could have six cardinals consisting of three different variations to display the variety of the species.

 

[Valentini89]

No puffer? How sad.

 

[Crete]

No puffer? How sad.

Although they pull at my heart strings every time I look at my LFS stock, I just can't see them as trustworthy around corals.

My wife told me that she sees me eventually building a FOWLR just so I can get a spiny one. Blame it on growing up loving the underwater levels in Super Mario World.

 

[mike61289]

I kept a lemonpeel angel a few years ago and would never keep one again. It destroyed my coral and was extremely aggressive towards many of the fish in the tank. It nipped at my clowns' dorsal fins relentlessly. I returned it to the lfs after 2 weeks.

 

[marleesan]

No tang belongs in a 3 foot tank

 

[BigBlueTang]

Good list so far, except for the tang. No tang will really be happy in a 3ft tank, even if the tank total volume is 150 gallons. I would cut the lemon peel, and the foxface, and get some more wrasses. Pictures online do not do any of the Cirrhilabrus wrasses justice. They're amazing, and just as active as a tang. If you really, really, really want a tang, you could probably get a bristletooth of some sort. Two spot bristletooths are cheap, and have a unique beauty that you have to own to appreciate. If you want a bristletooth that's a showpiece, I'd recommend a white tail, but they can get pricey. Again, I do not recommend getting a tang, it'll only get stressed out and aggressive in your tank.
Here's what I would do with your list:
2 x Banggai Cardinal 1"
1 x Coral Beauty Angel 2-1/2"
3(Trio is better) x Anthias 2-1/2"
3 x Agile or B&W Chromis 2" (Problem with Uronema, look it up.)
1 x Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse 1.5"
2 x Cirrhilabrus(Fairy) Wrasses
Adding in some flasher wrasses, and some bottom dwelling fish will really make your tank come to life.

 

[mrhighline]

Also, I added a group of black and white chromis to my tank a few years ago and hated them. They fought incessantly and stressed out the other fish around them. I really resented the fact that I wasted so much fish space on them.

I've never had success with Chromis either, always end up with one fat one. LOL ...

 

[mrhighline]

No tang belongs in a 3 foot tank

I would disagree. A small Tomini tang would be acceptable IMO. I Kept one in a 93 cube for a couple years, he now lives in my 60 gallon frag tank.

 

[Crete]

Ok well I've went through enough headaches in the past in this hobby so I'm not going to be too in love with any kind of fish to buy it an regret it later.

SO this is what I will probably change to:

2 x Banggai Cardinal
2 x Blue Eyes Cardinal
1 x Coral Beauty Angel
3 x Anthias
3 x Firefish
1 x Squaretail Bristletooth Tang
1 x Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse
2 x Fairy or Flasher Wrasses (I'd love to have a Mystery Wrasse but they seem hard to find.)

Why was the Foxface not good if I may ask?

Also, I've never kept any "boss" fish like tangs or angels so is there a certain order I need to add these in? I am of course going to do this slowly and I am about to go on vacation so I'm not even going to start adding them till I get back.

Thanks for all you guy's help. I really wish I had found this place before I started my first tank (the one I broke down to build this one). I would had done it radically different. Of course if I hadn't made all those mistakes my wife wouldn't have made me build this new tank.

 

[mrhighline]

Ok well I've went through enough headaches in the past in this hobby so I'm not going to be too in love with any kind of fish to buy it an regret it later.

SO this is what I will probably change to:

2 x Banggai Cardinal
2 x Blue Eyes Cardinal
1 x Coral Beauty Angel
3 x Anthias
3 x Firefish
1 x Squaretail Bristletooth Tang
1 x Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse
2 x Fairy or Flasher Wrasses (I'd love to have a Mystery Wrasse but they seem hard to find.)

Why was the Foxface not good if I may ask?

Also, I've never kept any "boss" fish like tangs or angels so is there a certain order I need to add these in? I am of course going to do this slowly and I am about to go on vacation so I'm not even going to start adding them till I get back.

Thanks for all you guy's help. I really wish I had found this place before I started my first tank (the one I broke down to build this one). I would had done it radically different. Of course if I hadn't made all those mistakes my wife wouldn't have made me build this new tank.

FoxFace's grow rather large and can be coral eaters. There great to eat algae but have a taste for zoa's sometimes IME.

 

[Thornbreaker]

If you're aquascape keeps the diagonal length clear on your cube, you'd have a ~4.2' length to play with instead of 3'. Might open up a tang option or two.

New to the hobby, so someone may overrule me.

With the size of your system and a sump, you can consider a mandarin for down the road as your tank matures.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[sdbc]

When I was researching firefish, I read they were very territorial and keeping even 2 was a challenge in many tanks. Research it more before you go for 3.