Fish or Corals first in a new tank?

[FindingNem0]

HEY R2R,

What's everyone's first stocking for a brand new tank after cycling.

Would you focus on fish or would you have it full packed with corals.

I think personally I would like to keep a low bioload and stock heaps of corals, then slowly as the tank is filling with corals add my fish in.

 

[Lavey29]

Fish first, tank needs 3 months before corals to allow for microfauna and biodiversity to develop first. Fish feed the corals.

 

[NonstopSoda]

Fish first!

 

[RSNJReef]

If it’s your first tank ever, I’d start slow, and it depends on what you started with.

Did you cycle the tank with dry rock or established live rock from another system?

I personally would start with a few fish, then get some cheap beginner lps like Duncan’s, once those are flourishing and you’ve added more fish (which we all inevitably do), then move onto slightly more difficult corals like montipora or torches. Go slow, because your corals thrive off the natural bacterial biome of the tank, and it takes time before you can get the bacterial load to do higher end stuff.

The exceptions to this is if you add a decent amount of established live rock from a 4+ year old system, then have fish in the tank for at least a couple of months, then go to town, but, since it’s still early on, go slow so if you do loose coral you don’t loose a lot of cash. If it were me, I’d never keep acro in a tank that’s less than a year old.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Uncle99]

I do the Fish only for 8 months and stabilize the waters.

Then I add corals. Then they don’t die.

 

[frydaddy]

I do coral first, but I’m usually moving established rock and coral over then adding live rock and live sand.