What kind and how many fish do we have in our SPS tanks?

[jedi31]

I was always under the assumption that the less fish the better in our reef tanks until recently I got addicted to SPS corals. When I first started SPS in my 90 gallon tank I had 1 purple tang, 1 tomini tang, mandarin, royal gamma, radiant wrasse and 1 chromis a total of 6 fish. I actually thought I was overstocked but after keeping my pars steady for awhile and running 20 radiums my sps seemed to struggle still. Colors were light in color and really never grew. My red planet didn't grow for 6 months until recently and the only thing has changed is fish load I added 3 bartletts and a midnight wrasse and because of the anthias I feed twice daily and my SPS are looking better than ever. The red planet has grow more in the last month than it has in 6 months and the colors are outstanding. I'm thinking about adding a Bellus Angel making it 10 total fish which seems a lot in a 90 gallon but it has worked so far. I still have 0 nitrates and my Phosphate went from 0 to 0.03 since I added more fish. I wonder how many fish and what kinds people keep in their SPS tanks? Are people still believing that the less fish the better?

 

[sportzfish]

I think different types of wrasses are good complements to SPS. They nip and pick at all sorts of things in the tank that may be detrimental to the corals.

 

[gordon2726]

In my 83g SPS tank, I have 1 blue hippo tang, 2 perculas clown fish, 1 purple fire fish, 3 longspine cardinal, 1 barlette anthias, 1 barborus anthias, 1 mystery wrasses. 10 fish total and no problem with keeping my water clean. I like to add 3-5 more small fish in the future.

 

[chessmanmark]

4 fish in my 90, PBT, YT, Flame Angel, and Fridmani psuedochromis. I'm thinking about adding a fairy wrasse and a bangaii that I have in my nano. I get good color and growth of my SPS IMO, but I feed heavily every night with a home made "gumbo" and a cube of something from the LFS. I also add oysterfeast or rotifeast in the am before the lights come on. Then there's always nori on a clip or the PBT will nip my LPS to death.

 

[StrategicReef]

just becareful how many fish you add. It may read no nitrate today, but I think if you don't have good nutrient export methods going on, the nutrient "built up" will come later after some delay. feed the anthias at least 2 times a day you would have plenty of bio load. Next thing you know 3 months later, you forgot to test for a while you might get 20 ppm nitrate.

I have 9 fish in my 80G. Getting a little crowded in terms of traffic could add stress to fishes like Anthias..

 

[LifeAquatic]

180 gal 98% SPS. 1 large purple tang 3-4" ,1 Large Powder blue 5" ,1 large blue hippo 4", 1 anthia, 1 percula clown, 1 green chromi,1 flame angel, 1 misc crap fish ( all black with white dot) 2 fire shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimp.

 

[sedor]

0.03 phosphates is the same level as in the ocean. Its actually considered the perfect balance

 

[jedi31]

Chessmanmark how is your Flame working for you in your tank? I'm thinking about adding a Bellus Angel but afraid their going to some nipping even though they say the Bellus is reef safe. I'm pretty careful when it comes to Nitrates I do skim wet and do weekly water changes since I added the anthias and the wrasse. It's just amazing how much better my tank looks since I added more fish. Probabaly raising the P04 to 0.03 helped because that's the only Par that has changed since the new additions.

 

[kaserpick]

5 fish total in a 30g:

Clown Fairy Wrasse
2 Sunburst Anthias
Lyretail Anthias
Two Spotted Hogfish

I'd like to add 2 clowns (percula or ocellaris sp.), but my skimmer is definitely over-sized. And, I do 15% weekly water changes.

 

[crsaz]

what do you guys think about my future stock list for my 57 rimless zeovit system (240 gal total after frag tanks are included)
all fish will be split up between 3 tanks( I know they will likley outgrow my current tank but I have a 375 in the works:bounce1
1x purple tang(1.5-2")
1x chevron tang(1.5"-2")
1x lavender tang (1.5"-2")
1x scopas tang (1.5-2")
1x half black mimic tang(1.5-2")
1x chocolate mimic tang(1.5"-2")
1.3 sm ignitus anthias
1.2 sm disbar anthias
2x percula
2x mandarin goby
and probably a few other misc fish

 

[seminolecpa]

1- Purple Tang
1- Desarjini Tang
1- Hippo Tang
1- Magnificant Foxface
1- Blackspot Foxface
1- Mystery Wrasse
1- Yellow Choris Wrasse
1- Belarus Wrasse
1- Flame Wrasse
1- Maroon Clown (for the wife)
1- Mandarin Goby

180G SPS Tank

Guess who the bully in the tank is?

 

[jedi31]

crsaz, I will add some wrasses to your list. They make excellent reef fishes. My Radiant cleans my tank of any nuisance snails and bugs that might bother my corals. I just added a Mystery wrasse and so far is a great addition.

 

[jedi31]

1- Purple Tang
1- Desarjini Tang
1- Hippo Tang
1- Magnificant Foxface
1- Blackspot Foxface
1- Mystery Wrasse
1- Yellow Choris Wrasse
1- Belarus Wrasse
1- Flame Wrasse
1- Maroon Clown (for the wife)
1- Mandarin Goby

180G SPS Tank

Guess who the bully in the tank is?

Has to be the Maroon... My wife made me buy one a long time ago as well. He had to come out after I had a sand storm in my tank every night from the constant digging in the tank and not to mention he terrorized every new addition. But we got to satisfy our wives sometimes

 

[crsaz]

I knew I forgot something, I currently have a, yellow coris and a mccoskers fairy wrasse.

 

[jimroth]

250G system,

3 large square anthias
1 powder blue tang
1 copper band butterfly
1 yellow longnose butterfly
1 yellow coris wrasse
1 royal gramma
1 tomato clown

To my eye, It looks pretty lightly stocked at this point. I'm shopping for a majestic angel, and the tang has some growing to do.

 

[jedi31]

Wow how are those buterfly's with your SPS. It likes a lot of us take some chances with some possible coral nipping fish. I think I decided on the Bellus Angel.

Thanks

 

[lostanime]

We've got:
5"+ Yellow Belly Regal Angel
5"+ Yellow Tang
4"+ Purple Tang
2.5" Flame Angel
four 2" Percula Clowns
3" Cleaner Wrasse

and temporarily housing a 2-3" Picasso Trigger

polyp extension's been great for most of the corals, although the trigger has knocked blue tort, hawkins echinata, one of my tricolors and two caps clean off the rocks in the last 48 hours! The echinata and tort are a little ticked, and the tricolor nearly bleached. Let's just say I've already set back up one of my other tanks to house the Trigger until it's new owner picks it up!!

 

[seafansar]

My 150 gallon is mainly SPS. I'm a little over stocked with fish, but everything seems fine so far. I feed my tank a lot, but don't really seem to have nutrient problems. I have a DSB, maybe that helps, and a big skimmer.

5 Carberryi anthias
1 Hippo tang (may remove in the future due to her picking at my favias)
1 Orange shoulder tang
1 Tailspot blenny
1 Sunrise dottyback (would like to remove if I could only catch the darn thing. He's a bully)
1 Purple tilefish
1 Forktail blenny
2 neon gobies
1 Target mandarin (M)
1 Green mandarin (F)

 

[serpentman]

In total, I have 27 fish in my system (300g display / 525g total).

In my SPS display, I have:

1 x Yellow tang
1 x Sohal tang
1 x Vlamingi Tang
1 x Striped Bristletooth tang
1 x Hippo tang
1 x Purple tang
2 x clarkii clowns
1 x black sailfin blenny
1 x two spot hogfish
2 x scooter blennies
1 x mandarin dragonet
1 x lyretail anthias
1 x 6-line wrasse
1 x royal gramma
1 x purple psuedochromis
7 x blue green chromis

In my frag tank:

2 x yellow tangs
2 x tomato clowns

In my Nem Tank

3 x onyx perc clows
1 x yellow tang
1 x orange spotted goby

 

[davenia7]

Not a primarily SPS, but I have a thriving Monti Cap.
3 fish in a 20L.
1- Osc. Clown (The Boss, Danica Patrick)
1- YWG (Sam I Am)
1- Green Clown Goby (Oscar the Grouch)