80gal Stock List

[nagreen]

I'm in the process of buying a used 80gallon deep blue rimless tank. So naturally I'm starting to think seriously about livestock and plan ahead..
The tank has been up for almost a year and is a mature tank. It currently has a black snowflake clownfish, a dark blue damsel, a six line wrasse, and a 2 foot long snowflake eel (If anyone wants the eel it is definitely for sale -- not my thing)

I think I'm going to sell/trade in most of this livestock.. the only one I might keep is the six line..

I have a start on ideas of what I want for the future of the tank but all advice would be appreciated. What I'm wanting is a lot of moving fish that will be out in the water column and not hiding in the rock. I also want a wide array of color. I want the tank to have as many moving colors as I can! Also, the fish need to be reef safe. Here are some ideas that I had- not all of them of course.

2 Clownfish.. Maroons or Oscellaris
Yellow eye kole tang
Bristletooth tang - I don't know much about tangs - open to suggestions
Coral Beauty Angel
Yellow Angel - not reef safe?
Flame Angel
Foxface
Small school of blue/green chromis
Six line wrasse
Yellow wrasse

What other reef safe wrasses do you recommend? I love how active they are
Are there any butterfly fish that are reef safe?
Send suggestions please! Thanks!

 

[NickNiz]

Congrats on the 80 gallon aquarium!!! Be careful when you set it up because if it's been set up for a year, there is likely a ton of waste under the rock...

As for the stock list, I wouldn't go with maroons as they are very aggressive, especially if they're added to the tank first... Ocellaris or Percs would be good IMO. I've got false Percs and they weren't aggressive until I got an anemone for them...

I would limit the list to one dwarf angelfish. All angels have a chance to eat coral, and there is no completely reef safe angel as far as I know. They are also territorial with other angels and poop a ton, so multiple may not be good, even in an 80 gallon.

As for the tang, look into the Tomini Tangs. Keep in mind that if they don't have algae to eat, you will have to provide them with seaweed.

And for the wrasse, check out Fairy Wrasses. They come in many colors and are great reef inhabitants.

 

[Dilan Patel]

Hello, Im not here to be the tang police but in my experience having two tangs in a 80gallon is not the best idea then again coming from the person who used to have a naso,blue tang,yellow tang,kole tang,heniocus,lunar wrasse and harlequin sweetlips in a 55gallon all fat and healthy. Since then I have learned that tangs really do not care about height, they want length. P.s I have a kole tang love him and used to have a bristletooth was not healthy when I bought him form a lfs sadly it died. So what is the length of the 80gallon anything less than 4ft is less than ideal for even one tang. Yellow tanfg I would stay awys. Also Flame angel if you do not wish to have any problems. I am currently keeping a flame and I do not know how I feel about him yet. Had a lemonpeel which nipped every coral. Again with coral beauty if you want to avoid any future problems I would stick awya from angelfish in general. Green chromis tend to kill each other off aparently people say vgetting a group of 10 or more is ideal since aggressors cannot pick on the same fish over qand over. Also a lot of hiding spaces for the bullied to go get cover. Marroons get mean so either last addition or choose something else. Foxface good choice I urrently have one. Doesnt bother anything and just picks off the rock(make sure to hide dried seaweed to eep him nice and fat). Mine was sorta skinny now he is a pig. Yellow wrasse gfood choice havent had experience but nice and bright. Sixline as you might know can turn aggressive so maybe last fish to be added or add witht he yellow wrasse. Hopefully I did not come off to pushy about your stocking list btu just want to make sure you have some information about the fish from somebody who has kept them and from you to learn from my mistakes

 

[Dilan Patel]

PS the only reef safe angel I owned was the potters angel who never bothered anything even with the other two angelfish.

 

[nagreen]

Sorry! I meant to clarify that those are all just options! I'm not putting all of those fish in! haha

 

[nagreen]

The tank is 48" x 24" x 16"..

My must haves are probably 2 clowns, a tang, and an angel. I think clowns are a must have for any aquarium. My last pair I was convinced saw me as a father figure to them.. haha.. I love the shape and movement of angels, not to mention some of their colors -- if that makes any sense.. and I've never had a tank big enough for a tang so I'm set on owning my first tang!

Thanks for the input so far! You guys rock.

Anyone wanna throw a number out there for how many total fish I might could have eventually?.. 10? 12?

 

[Dilan Patel]

Yeah I figured that! Great options just some fish are better than others for your situation.

Here you go based on your requirements and my ability to fill them

Clowns:
Ocellaris good choice(I must have got a bad bathc cause when I put my hand in the tank they are the only fish to bite me and draw blood. Kepp in mind I have a clown tang who is know to nip at fingers)
or
I also have two black clarki clowns which were cheap and different option from the standard(much nicer as well I might add haha)

Angelfish
first choice is the potters angel. Little bit pricey but lets face it beautiful fish and if it doesnt touch corals great add on
Flam angel for an iffy situation again a little pricey but very bright.

Tang I think if you could live with a yellow tang I believe that and the foxface are usually seen together swimming in formation which is cool. But otherwise the tomini tang will fare good as well loved that fish.

Now I hope this helps.

 

[nagreen]

Yeah I figured that! Great options just some fish are better than others for your situation.

Here you go based on your requirements and my ability to fill them

Clowns:
Ocellaris good choice(I must have got a bad bathc cause when I put my hand in the tank they are the only fish to bite me and draw blood. Kepp in mind I have a clown tang who is know to nip at fingers)
or
I also have two black clarki clowns which were cheap and different option from the standard(much nicer as well I might add haha)

Angelfish
first choice is the potters angel. Little bit pricey but lets face it beautiful fish and if it doesnt touch corals great add on
Flam angel for an iffy situation again a little pricey but very bright.

Tang I think if you could live with a yellow tang I believe that and the foxface are usually seen together swimming in formation which is cool. But otherwise the tomini tang will fare good as well loved that fish.

Now I hope this helps.

Thanks! I'd love a potters angel for the price of a coral beauty haha.. I like yellow tangs and foxface but just seems like too much yellow to me.. have you heard bad things about the kole tangs? I love his colors. Or the squaretail bristletooth tang?

 

[Dilan Patel]

nope have him in a 180 nobody messes with him. Hav enot had any experience witht he squaretail yet.

 

[nagreen]

are anthias difficult to keep? i've been told you have to feed them several times a day?

also, i'll bump the question "are any butterfly fish reef safe?" I've seen pictures of them in peoples reef tanks

 

[Will Milberger]

are anthias difficult to keep? i've been told you have to feed them several times a day?

also, i'll bump the question "are any butterfly fish reef safe?" I've seen pictures of them in peoples reef tanks

I have a lyretail and only feed once a day. He's great. Swims all over the tank. No difficulties at all. As far as the Butterflies, I heard they are not good for reef tanks, so I've always stayed away from them.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Although not all are 100% reefsafe, longnose and copperbands, are butterflies that are mostly reef safe, and size appropriate for a DB 80g.

For a tang, I would stick with a species in the genus Ctenochaetus. They stat smaller, and visually look more appropriate in a shorter tank.

Rehome the sixline. They get more aggressive as they mature, particularly to fish added after them, and even worse to other wrasses. Having a sixline will prevent fairy and flasher wrasses, which are good candidates for adding color and activity.

 

[nagreen]

Although not all are 100% reefsafe, longnose and copperbands, are butterflies that are mostly reef safe, and size appropriate for a DB 80g.

For a tang, I would stick with a species in the genus Ctenochaetus. They stat smaller, and visually look more appropriate in a shorter tank.

Rehome the sixline. They get more aggressive as they mature, particularly to fish added after them, and even worse to other wrasses. Having a sixline will prevent fairy and flasher wrasses, which are good candidates for adding color and activity.

Just read a little about both.. The copperband is a very pretty fish. But the tank also has BTA that's bigger than a softball.. I read that the copperbands would pick at anemones but would that include one that's as big as that?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Just read a little about both.. The copperband is a very pretty fish. But the tank also has BTA that's bigger than a softball.. I read that the copperbands would pick at anemones but would that include one that's as big as that?

It won't pick on a bta

 

[nagreen]

It won't pick on a bta

Great! Well I'm going to look more into those, thanks for your help. Pretty sweet fish! Seems like most people say to quarantine them and teach them to eat frozen in the QT or else they're very picky eaters and will starve..

 

[nagreen]

I went to the LFS yesterday and checked out a few tangs too.. My favorites were the yellow eye kole and the convict, though they didn't have any bristletooth tangs in.
Anyone had any experience with convict tangs?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Great! Well I'm going to look more into those, thanks for your help. Pretty sweet fish! Seems like most people say to quarantine them and teach them to eat frozen in the QT or else they're very picky eaters and will starve..

Wait until your LFS gets one in that is eating.

 

[nagreen]

New Question!! - but I'll keep in in this thread because it's still about stocking.

The tank currently has a full grown (the current owner said 2 ft long) snowflake eel, a black snowflake clown, a blue damsel, and a six line wrasse.. I'm getting it all tomorrow. If I trade in all of these at the same time, could I restock the tank a day or two later without shocking the tank? It shouldn't be any more of a bioload should it?
The reason I'm asking is because liveaquaria is having a deal where $99 qualifies for free shipping.. I figured I would go ahead and get my clowns, a school of 4 or 5 chromis, and maybe even a tang with it?
I know if this were a new tank, that would end up in a disaster but should I be worried about it here? I feel like the bioload from that eel has to be worth 5 or 6 small fish haha.
That would put me right at about $100

 

[NickNiz]

I wouldn't because nitrates will likely be high after dismantling the tank.

The last tank I got from someone else had 80ppm of Nitrate when I set it up due to the detritus under the rock that was released when moving the tank. I had to do huge water changes for a week before it even got to 30...

I would personally set up the tank and do water testing for a few days after to make sure parameters are good.

 

[nagreen]

I wouldn't because nitrates will likely be high after dismantling the tank.

The last tank I got from someone else had 80ppm of Nitrate when I set it up due to the detritus under the rock that was released when moving the tank. I had to do huge water changes for a week before it even got to 30...

I would personally set up the tank and do water testing for a few days after to make sure parameters are good.

Ahh didn't even think about that.. I'm glad I asked; I was ready to order haha.. I probably need to take it slow anyways and take my time setting the tank up how I like it. A little patience would be good for me in this hobby