75 gallon stocking questions.

CaBrowne · Apr 13, 2018

Hey everyone,

First time reefing on my own (my parents had a reef aquarium when i was growing up), and I am working on setting up a 75 gallon with 20g long sump. I am looking to eventually have a mixed reef aquarium with mostly Soft, LPS, and maybe a few SPS like Montipora Capricornis if possible. So far I have 60 lbs of bahama's ooilite with 40 lbs of aragonite mixed in. I have about 80 lbs of CaribSea Life Rock I plan to put in 2 Island like formations. I know I am no where near getting fish yet, but I would like to have a plan when my tank is fully cycled and I can start adding them later. I have ideas about what I would like in the tank, and would like some input on if they are compatible, and what order I should Ideally get them in.

-McCosker's Flasher wrasse ( really like to look of this one, as well as the price

)
-Kole Tang (or possibly a Tomini Tang)
-Yellow watchman goby
-Exquisite Firefish (or Purple)
-Clownfish pair (I like the look of the black ice, or Picasso Perc)
-Trio of Blue Reef Chromis

For inverts:
-tiger pistol shrimp
-Fire shrimp if possible
-tuxedo urchin
-Nassarius Snails (unsure on how many for my tank) or Trochus Snails (or should i get both?)
-do i need hermit crabs?

Corals:
Soft
Thought about maybe one of the beginner coral packs from LiveAquaria
Finger Leather Coral
Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral
Blue Sympodium Polyp
Zoanthid colony (mixed)
Mushrooms like Rhodactis or hairy

LPS
Candy Cane Coral
Branching Hammer
Torch Coral
Favites
Blastomussa
Duncan

SPS
Montipora
any other suggestions for beginner SPS

I know this was long.. Thanks for any Help ;Cat

Ezrunner23 · Apr 13, 2018

Looks good to me i don't see any problems with this stocking list.

DSC reef · Apr 13, 2018

Welcome to R2R! I'd ditch the trio of chromis and blue sympodium but the rest of the fish list looks great. The chromis will kill eachother off, the 75 is not big enough for any school, we've tried in our 75 reef. The sympodium can take over a tank quickly.

Lovemyreef2015 · Apr 13, 2018

Welcome to R2R! I agree with @DSC reef

CaBrowne · Apr 13, 2018

DSC reef said:
Welcome to R2R! I'd ditch the trio of chromis and blue sympodium but the rest of the fish list looks great. The chromis will kill eachother off, the 75 is not big enough for any school, we've tried in our 75 reef. The sympodium can take over a tank quickly.

Ok Thanks! Would there be any bluish fish that you would recommend to replace the Chromis that would be compatable?
Also with the sympodium can you isolate it on a single rock in the sand bed? I know you can sorta do that with some corals like the GSP right?...I'm not stuck on having it, just curiosity.

Bayareareefer18 · Apr 13, 2018

Sounds similar to what I am looking to do with my 75 that's currently cycling although I have my eyes set on more fish than that lol

I only used 30# sand for my 75 but have quite a bit of rock. Thought I would need more but the 30 gave me a nice thin layer

CaBrowne · Apr 13, 2018

Bayareareefer18 said:
Sounds similar to what I am looking to do with my 75 that's currently cycling although I have my eyes set on more fish than that lol

I only used 30# sand for my 75 but have quite a bit of rock. Thought I would need more but the 30 gave me a nice thin layer

I'm planning on going with a deep sand bed and I got the sand that I have heavily discounted.

So I bought more. Also want to use it in my sump refugium if possible.

Jesterrace · Apr 14, 2018

CaBrowne said:
Ok Thanks! Would there be any bluish fish that you would recommend to replace the Chromis that would be compatable?
Also with the sympodium can you isolate it on a single rock in the sand bed? I know you can sorta do that with some corals like the GSP right?...I'm not stuck on having it, just curiosity.

You could go with a Melanurus Wrasse:

norfolkgarden · Apr 15, 2018

Skip the tiger pistol shrimp with the fire shrimp.

Unless maybe it's a Randall's pistol shrimp, gobie combo from Divers Den?

No personal experience with the Randall's. They are supposed to be 'safe'.

Getting the "red" pistol shrimp out of our tank (full rebuild) was a happy day.

The pistol shrimps constant night time clicking wasn't a big deal because I snore louder than that.
[emoji17]
But the loss of a cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp and possibly some tiny sleeping fish and claiming a full square foot of sand space was a problem.

75 gallon tank.

CaBrowne · Apr 23, 2018

norfolkgarden said:
Skip the tiger pistol shrimp with the fire shrimp.

Unless maybe it's a Randall's pistol shrimp, gobie combo from Divers Den?

No personal experience with the Randall's. They are supposed to be 'safe'.

Getting the "red" pistol shrimp out of our tank (full rebuild) was a happy day.

The pistol shrimps constant night time clicking wasn't a big deal because I snore louder than that.
[emoji17]
But the loss of a cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp and possibly some tiny sleeping fish and claiming a full square foot of sand space was a problem.

75 gallon tank.

I don't know if it matters behavior wise, but did you have your pistol shrimp paired with a goby?
I have read mixed things about pistol shrimp.

CaBrowne · Apr 23, 2018

Jesterrace said:
You could go with a Melanurus Wrasse:

Thanks, these do look pretty awesome! Do you think I would have any issues with the Flasher wrasse and the Melanurus wrass together?

CaBrowne · Apr 23, 2018

Also wondering, Is there a particular order I need to add the fish I'm planning to get?

declanisadog · Apr 23, 2018

CaBrowne said:
Thanks, these do look pretty awesome! Do you think I would have any issues with the Flasher wrasse and the Melanurus wrass together?

They should do fine togeter. You just want to avoid other halichoeres with the melanurus (six line, eight line, mystery...).

declanisadog · Apr 23, 2018

tang and non fairy wrasse last. Kole tangs can definitely be jerks

madweazl · Apr 23, 2018

norfolkgarden said:
Skip the tiger pistol shrimp with the fire shrimp.

Unless maybe it's a Randall's pistol shrimp, gobie combo from Divers Den?

No personal experience with the Randall's. They are supposed to be 'safe'.

Getting the "red" pistol shrimp out of our tank (full rebuild) was a happy day.

The pistol shrimps constant night time clicking wasn't a big deal because I snore louder than that.
[emoji17]
But the loss of a cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp and possibly some tiny sleeping fish and claiming a full square foot of sand space was a problem.

75 gallon tank.

I have a tiger pistol with a Randall's goby, two or three peppermint shrimp, and a skunk cleaner in a 75g. None of the shrimp mess with one another nor the fish. The pistol will snap at some fish that get too close but not all. It doesnt mind the coral beauty angel at all (can literally be touching one another), been interesting to watch the interactions between it and various other critters in the tank.

norfolkgarden · Apr 23, 2018

madweazl said:
I have a tiger pistol with a Randall's goby, two or three peppermint shrimp, and a skunk cleaner in a 75g. None of the shrimp mess with one another nor the fish. The pistol will snap at some fish that get too close but not all. It doesnt mind the coral beauty angel at all (can literally be touching one another), been interesting to watch the interactions between it and various other critters in the tank.

I am glad you are not having problems.
[emoji4]
I can't tell you what variety of pistol shrimp we had.
At the full break down it was approximately almost 2" long. It wasn't that perfect white and red color that I've seen in the LFS since then. It was more red with peach color?
I can just tell you it will never happen in my tank again.
[emoji4]
Tank is 75 gallons.

I may be that crazy in a 10 gallon species only tank. They were cool when they weren't so expensive in killing stuff, otherwise *NO*.
[emoji4]

madweazl · Apr 23, 2018

norfolkgarden said:
I am glad you are not having problems.
[emoji4]
I can't tell you what variety of pistol shrimp we had.
At the full break down it was approximately almost 2" long. It wasn't that perfect white and red color that I've seen in the LFS since then. It was more red with peach color?
I can just tell you it will never happen in my tank again.
[emoji4]
Tank is 75 gallons.

I may be that crazy in a 10 gallon species only tank. They were cool when they weren't so expensive in killing stuff, otherwise *NO*.
[emoji4]

Highly likely it was being blamed for something it didnt do.

norfolkgarden · Apr 23, 2018

madweazl said:
Highly likely it was being blamed for something it didnt do.

LFS is selling them again.
"Red" pistol shrimp, "max size 4 inches".

This kind is definitely a bad idea outside of a species only tank.

Pretty cool for a little while, but never again.

madweazl · Apr 24, 2018

norfolkgarden said:
LFS is selling them again.
"Red" pistol shrimp, "max size 4 inches".

This kind is definitely a bad idea outside of a species only tank.

Pretty cool for a little while, but never again.

Not sure on the specific species of that one but it isnt a tiger pistol (pictured below).

CaBrowne · Apr 24, 2018

norfolkgarden said:
LFS is selling them again.
"Red" pistol shrimp, "max size 4 inches".

This kind is definitely a bad idea outside of a species only tank.

Pretty cool for a little while, but never again.

Yes, it defiantly doesn't look like any of the common one's I've seen, like the Tiger and the Candy Cane. Also seems to get way bigger! Think the tiger maxes out at 2 inches? Maybe it's one of the ones that doesn't pair with gobies? I know that some pistol shrimp pair with anemone's and do get bigger.