Some Thoughts On Stocking

[pirate monkey]

our cycle is progressing and we have been thinking about all the wonderful fish we would love to have (then realising we can't have most of them )

We will be running our 180l tank with a 60l sump. We will be going down the reef route (didn't take much to persuade us )

To confirm: we don't expect to be able to keep all of these, this is just a list of fish we like, so with your help we can create a sensible stocking what would also be helpful is if you could give me an estimate as to cost and availability

We will definitely be having:

tangerine clownfish pair
bangai cardinals - how many?

Others we are interested in:

flasher wrasse - I really like the one I keep seeing in Ben1987's sig better to keep a pair? how aggressive are they?

mandarin - I realise we will have to wait some time for the tank to mature before this addition!

lamarck's angel
flame angel
bicolour angel = although I understand angelfish can#t be guaranteed to be reefsafe?

tomini tang - keep reading differing opinions on tank sizes for tangs, can't seem to get a definitive answer. I'm guessing this is a no for us?

royal gramma - but would prefer the wrasse instead

goby/pistol shrimp partnership - not sure which goby though. Guess it will depend on availability. Are they generally bought as already formed pairs?

Do you have any other suggestions?

As for CUC, how many snails/shrimps/hermit crabs should we have? We really like the fire shrimp, will they be ok together with cleaner shrimp and pistol shrimp?

edit: spelling
then found out who's sig I meant!

 

[ben1987]

tangerine clownfish pair
bangai cardinals - how many? id go for a pair, if you keep a group. you always get a dominant pairing anyway. plus why waste all your room on one type of fish

Others we are interested in:

flasher wrasse - I really like the one I keep seeing in Ben1987's sig better to keep a pair? how aggressive are they? best kept as a single male. You would need a harem (group) for more than one. Females are really hard to find too. PLus it would mean having 3-5 of the same fish so same as above, also good at jumping out.

mandarin - I realise we will have to wait some time for the tank to mature before this addition! Ok but get a pod culture going long before you buy the fish!

lamarck's angel
flame angel
bicolour angel = although I understand angelfish can#t be guaranteed to be reefsafe? thats right non are guarenteed. Although coral beauty seems to be the safest bet.

tomini tang - keep reading differing opinions on tank sizes for tangs, can't seem to get a definitive answer. I'm guessing this is a no for us? 180L is too small imo

royal gramma - but would prefer the wrasse instead like oyu say, may have issues with the wrasse

goby/pistol shrimp partnership - not sure which goby though. Guess it will depend on availability. Are they generally bought as already formed pairs? most people seem to buy them as a pair.

Do you have any other suggestions?

 

[kj23502]

tangerine clownfish pair- I'm not sure what a tangerine is...scientific name??

bangai cardinals - how many?-They just sit there and float. Waste of space, imo

Others we are interested in:

flasher wrasse - I really like the one I keep seeing in Ben1987's sig better to keep a pair? how aggressive are they? You could keep 3. 1m, 2 f. It's up to you if you want to take up that space w/extra fish.

mandarin - I realise we will have to wait some time for the tank to mature before this addition!

lamarck's angel-Gets to big for a 47 usg. Genicanthus is the only genus where angels are deemed reef safe since they are planktivores.
flame angel
bicolour angel = although I understand angelfish can#t be guaranteed to be reefsafe? It's pretty much a 50/50 chance. Some people like hot dogs and some people don't. I believe this fish are the same way.

tomini tang - keep reading differing opinions on tank sizes for tangs, can't seem to get a definitive answer. I'm guessing this is a no for us? Unfortunately, it's a no. Beautiful fish, though.

royal gramma - but would prefer the wrasse instead

goby/pistol shrimp partnership - not sure which goby though. Guess it will depend on availability. Are they generally bought as already formed pairs? You can buy them as individuals or pairs. Ime, it's cheaper to buy them indv and they will usually find each other. I bought a trio.

Do you have any other suggestions?

As for CUC, how many snails/shrimps/hermit crabs should we have? We really like the fire shrimp, will they be ok together with cleaner shrimp and pistol shrimp?


I would stay away from hermits. They decimate the micro fauna and you want to keep that for your mandy. Wrasses will also eat pods n such.

I'd go w/some cerith, astraea, nassarius snails

 

[pirate monkey]

Thanks dor the comments guys!

I realise not everybody likes cardinals, I just find their colours quite striking and my OH really likes them. We may reconsider for more active fish though!

Does a single male wrasse still flash his colours? I had read they need female company otherwise they lose their colours...

Is it a problem to have hermits if we have a refugium for the pods to breed safely? Or could we culture pods anyway? We just find them fascinating!

As for snails, how many of each would you suggest?

tangerine clownfish pair- I'm not sure what a tangerine is...scientific name??

It's just a colour description, I think they are ocellaris. The orange colour is brighter than the 'normal' orange clowns they have in the shop. They're the same price so they're not pretending it's a different fish

 

[ben1987]

My wrasse stayed that colour...

he did flash his fins a lot at first, but it got less frequent before he jumped. Id have loved to have kept a trio. But finding females isnt easy!

 

[seffieuk]

Agree with everything Ben and Kj said - but everyone knows I am going to say the cardinals are the most boring of fish!!!

My flasher hasn't lost any colour either

Seffie x

 

[pirate monkey]

but everyone knows I am going to say the cardinals are the most boring of fish!!!

I know they don't do a lot, we just like the look of them. Have mentioned to Mr PM that we may get bored of them down the line though so we are reconsidering.

what could we have in their place?

It's hard to know what sort of numbers we can have - I like to push the limits with my FW tanks! Pay the price in water changes though...

But obviously want to be much more careful here, knowing the system is rather delicate and less forgiving than FW.

Likely stocking will be:

clownfish pair
flasher wrasse
goby/pistol shrimp
mandy
CUC

Are there any good alternatives to a yellow tang? we thought we were in luck last week when we spotted a yellow mimic tang, only to find out they turn brown when they mature, and are too big for our tank anyway!

 

[kj23502]

A yellow wrasse:

"Halichoeres chrysus Randall 1981 (1), is a fish of two "good" and one bad common name. It should be called the Golden or Canary Wrasse for its bright bold sun-yellow color, but is most often listed as the Yellow Coris Wrasse (Arggghhh!, it is not a Coris genus member of course). This is an exemplary aquarium species that is suitable for peaceful fish-only and reef systems. To a mere 4 inches or so total length. Aquarium juv. (and adult below) & S. Sulawesi photos. Eastern Indian Ocean distribution. http/fishbase.sinica.edu.tw/Summary/spec...e=chrysus"

http/www.wetwebmedia.com/halichoeres.htm

http/images.google.com/images?hl=en&...qi=&start=0