Hypothetical 280 stocking

[Claus84]

Hi all,

I’m in the very early planning stages of an upgrade to a 280G reef (96”x28”x24” LWH) and I’m thinking/dreaming of the stock I may be able to have. Tank would be soft coral only and I like to stick to captive bred stock where possible. At the moment this is just for fun really as the upgrade is a good 12-18months off all being well.

Currently split between a 90 reef and 55 fowlr I have:

· Biota coral beauty
· Biota mandarin (male)
· CB flame angel
· Yellow eye kole tang
· 2 x CB common clowns
· 1 x CB banggai
· 1 x CB orchid dottyback

At the moment, depending on availability here in the UK I’m thinking I would like to add:

· Biota mandarin (female) to hopefully make a pair
· 2 x CB flame angels to make a harem
· Royal gramma (CB if available)
· CB aip eating filefish
· Possibly another centropyge, I love Eibli’s and Tigerpyge but seem they may be less than reef-safe, maybe a CB multicolor if they make their way to the UK
· Naso tang – either lituratus or elegans
· Foxface lo
· Desjardini sailfin tang
· Atlantic blue or hippo tang
· Achilles tang
· Regal angel (I’d be willing to play the coral lottery in order to keep one of these stunners!)

My main concern is to not stock anything that would give my mandarin(s) any grief and I also don’t want to have an overstocked or crazy aggressive, stress filled tank all the time.

Appreciate any thoughts but like I say this is just a hypothetical at this stage so please don’t go out of your way to respond

Cheers
Nick

 

[Tahoe61]

Bump for Nick.

 

[Maritimer]

Hi, Nick!

I do see a couple of potential issues ...

Though there ought to be plenty of space for both of them, you may run into a spot of friction between the dottyback and the royal gramma, as they're somewhat similar in their niche.

Between the naso and sailfin tangs, you've got some big boys there. I have a slightly smaller 220, and I'm not really considering those tangs for my system - but that's just me. I like smaller fish in bigger environments. (Love the fact that you want to try a harem of flames and pair of mandarins! I think you'll enjoy those a lot, if you can get them working!)

I recently read a report that achilles tangs are the only ones in Hawaii for which the current harvest (both aquarium and local food markets) isn't sustainable. Given your admirable desire to go with CB where possible, you might want to look into that as a possibility before tracking down that achilles. (Kind of hurts, because they're _so_ beautiful; both dramatic and elegant.)

~Bruce

 

[Claus84]

Hi, Nick!

I do see a couple of potential issues ...

Though there ought to be plenty of space for both of them, you may run into a spot of friction between the dottyback and the royal gramma, as they're somewhat similar in their niche.

Between the naso and sailfin tangs, you've got some big boys there. I have a slightly smaller 220, and I'm not really considering those tangs for my system - but that's just me. I like smaller fish in bigger environments. (Love the fact that you want to try a harem of flames and pair of mandarins! I think you'll enjoy those a lot, if you can get them working!)

I recently read a report that achilles tangs are the only ones in Hawaii for which the current harvest (both aquarium and local food markets) isn't sustainable. Given your admirable desire to go with CB where possible, you might want to look into that as a possibility before tracking down that achilles. (Kind of hurts, because they're _so_ beautiful; both dramatic and elegant.)

~Bruce

Thanks Bruce! I did wonder about the gramma and dottyback as I know they are fairly similar but wasn't sure if 8ft would be enough room, in the interests of avoiding friction I may just stick with my dotty.

I'll have a think about the naso and sailfin, maybe just do one of the two as a centrepiece fish or scrap the idea completely. Do you think the tank would be big enough to house 2 Ctenochaetus species? A chevron might make a nice, slightly smaller alternative centrepiece. I hear you re keeping smaller fish in bigger tanks, I hate seeing big fish pacing back and forth and certainly wouldn't want to inflict that upon any fish in my care!

That's good to know re the achilles thanks, they are officially off the list. I was on the fence anyway as I have read they can be tricky to keep and i'm not willing to kill a few in the process of finding a winner. For that reason I may re-think the regal angel too, I've got my fingers crossed that some of the captive bred bellus angels make their way over here as a trio of those would look awesome instead!

Thanks, Nick

 

[Maritimer]

Having had a look around, it seems that some folks have had success with the orchid dotty / royal gramma pairing in larger tanks, so you might consider it. My own desire for grammas is to obtain three or five smaller ones, and to maintain them in a "harem" style.

Ctenochaetus are milder-tempered than many tangs - I suspect that if two were added at the same time, you might be able to pull that off.

I've just recently lost my own regal angel while fallowing my display - and will have a try at another. Simply lovely fish.

~Bruce

 

[Claus84]

Having had a look around, it seems that some folks have had success with the orchid dotty / royal gramma pairing in larger tanks, so you might consider it. My own desire for grammas is to obtain three or five smaller ones, and to maintain them in a "harem" style.

Ctenochaetus are milder-tempered than many tangs - I suspect that if two were added at the same time, you might be able to pull that off.

I've just recently lost my own regal angel while fallowing my display - and will have a try at another. Simply lovely fish.

~Bruce

That would be awesome setting up a gramma harem, something I may consider if I can get my hands on small captive bred specimens.

Brilliant, thats food for thought as I have always liked chevron tangs. Sorry to hear about your regal that must have been a tough loss

Thanks

Nick