Stocking A 90 Gallon Mixed Reef

[ChiReefGuy3]

Hi Everyone! I am planning a 90-gallon mixed reef build (technically 94 gallons with a couple of half-inch dimensions added) and am trying to figure out which fish I can keep. Any feedback on the stocking list below would be greatly appreciated!

- 2 Ocellaris Clownfish
- Yellow Eye Kole Tang
- One Spot Foxface
- Melanurus Wrasse
- McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
- Marine Betta
- Royal Gramma
- Flame Hawkfish
- Diamond Watchman Goby
- Captive Bred Green Mandarin
- 3 Azure Damselfish

 

[Cali Reef Life]

I have a 90 gallon 14 fish of that size is kind of maxing tank out. Not saying you cant just have a good exporting capability and a way to tame aggression. Id ditch the Beta. The Beta could eat your smaller fish, crabs and shrimp if you get them later. Id start with seeing how 10 -12 of those fish look in the tank and decide if you want to add more. I have the Falco hawk fish and they are pretty awesome. Otherwise most of those fish are great additions.

 

[ChiReefGuy3]

I have a 90 gallon 14 fish of that size is kind of maxing tank out. Not saying you cant just have a good exporting capability and a way to tame aggression. Id ditch the Beta. The Beta could eat your smaller fish, crabs and shrimp if you get them later. Id start with seeing how 10 -12 of those fish look in the tank and decide if you want to add more. I have the Falco hawk fish and they are pretty awesome. Otherwise most of those fish are great additions.

Thank you for taking the time to reply!!

 

[i cant think]

Hi Everyone! I am planning a 90-gallon mixed reef build (technically 94 gallons with a couple of half-inch dimensions added) and am trying to figure out which fish I can keep. Any feedback on the stocking list below would be greatly appreciated!

- 2 Ocellaris Clownfish
- Yellow Eye Kole Tang
- One Spot Foxface
- Melanurus Wrasse
- McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
- Marine Betta
- Royal Gramma
- Flame Hawkfish
- Diamond Watchman Goby
- Captive Bred Green Mandarin
- 3 Azure Damselfish

I’d get rid of the Diamond “Watchman” Goby (This is Valenciennes puellaris and it’s what I would say a trap in the goby world). If you’ve never kept sand sifting gobies these are a bad one to try first, they constantly feed from the sand bed and most of not all of the nutrients they get will come from there. They need Atleast a 3” deep sand bed if not 5” and it needs to be mature by Atleast 2 years if not 4 or 5. These can rid a new sandbed of any life.
If you want a sand sifting goby that’s isn’t too hard to own, look into the Koumansetta or Amblygobius genera. They’re much easier to keep however they do still need Atleast a 2” deep sandbed.

If you want a flasher wrasse, I’d recommend getting 2 males of different species so they can then display to eachother which will cause them to flash more. The Melanurus Wrasse will get rather big and active however if you don’t mind that then it should be alright. These will need a deep but fine sandbed so they can’t tear their scales when they dive into it. Personally, I’d also try get a few more Halichoeres wrasses along with some other Cirrhilabrus and maybe Pseudojuloides however I’m biased when it comes to wrasses.

The rest are alright, however you can’t get the Yellow Eye Kole anymore as Hawaii has shut down. You can collect them yourself but you can’t get them from the LFS. A good alternative is the Blue Eye “Kole” or Twin Spot Bristletooth Tang, Ctenochaetus binotatus. These go through many pattern changes in a day and they are the perfect cleaner, mine will be constantly grazing the rock and sand making sure to get every piece of algae, even grazes on the glass when film algae grows.

 

[ChiReefGuy3]

I’d get rid of the Diamond “Watchman” Goby (This is Valenciennes puellaris and it’s what I would say a trap in the goby world). If you’ve never kept sand sifting gobies these are a bad one to try first, they constantly feed from the sand bed and most of not all of the nutrients they get will come from there. They need Atleast a 3” deep sand bed if not 5” and it needs to be mature by Atleast 2 years if not 4 or 5. These can rid a new sandbed of any life.
If you want a sand sifting goby that’s isn’t too hard to own, look into the Koumansetta or Amblygobius genera. They’re much easier to keep however they do still need Atleast a 2” deep sandbed.

If you want a flasher wrasse, I’d recommend getting 2 males of different species so they can then display to eachother which will cause them to flash more. The Melanurus Wrasse will get rather big and active however if you don’t mind that then it should be alright. These will need a deep but fine sandbed so they can’t tear their scales when they dive into it. Personally, I’d also try get a few more Halichoeres wrasses along with some other Cirrhilabrus and maybe Pseudojuloides however I’m biased when it comes to wrasses.

The rest are alright, however you can’t get the Yellow Eye Kole anymore as Hawaii has shut down. You can collect them yourself but you can’t get them from the LFS. A good alternative is the Blue Eye “Kole” or Twin Spot Bristletooth Tang, Ctenochaetus binotatus. These go through many pattern changes in a day and they are the perfect cleaner, mine will be constantly grazing the rock and sand making sure to get every piece of algae, even grazes on the glass when film algae grows.

Thanks for the insight - I appreciate it! Are there other flasher wrasses you would recommend?

 

[Dcal]

Thanks for the insight - I appreciate it! Are there other flasher wrasses you would recommend?

mccoskers is one of my favorite

https://www.liveaquaria.com/category/1378/wrasse-reef-safe?c=15+1378&r=
heres a ton. not all are equal in terms of difficulty tho

 

[i cant think]

Thanks for the insight - I appreciate it! Are there other flasher wrasses you would recommend?

I’d personally go for a Cyaneus or a similar species such as Filamentosus and Lineopunctatus. Or you could go for a rarer species, the attenuatus which is a show stopper!

Here’s a site I use quite a bit for fish IDs.
https://digital-reefs.com/?page_id=1254

 

[JCM]

I have a 90 gallon 14 fish of that size is kind of maxing tank out. Not saying you cant just have a good exporting capability and a way to tame aggression. Id ditch the Beta. The Beta could eat your smaller fish, crabs and shrimp if you get them later. Id start with seeing how 10 -12 of those fish look in the tank and decide if you want to add more. I have the Falco hawk fish and they are pretty awesome. Otherwise most of those fish are great additions.

There's not a fish on that list that a betta would try to eat. Smaller shrimp would be goners for sure though, if the betta didn't get them, the melanurus would.

 

[Zionas]

Clownfish (good)

Yellow Eye Kole Tang (good)

One Spot Foxface (IMO long term they should have a 180)

Wrasses look good

Diamond Watchman (might starve and not take captive foods)

Mandarin Dragonet (if you’re lucky you can get a CB one that takes pellets and frozen but I don’t think it’s guaranteed for the tank bred ones either, either way to play it safe I’d wait a year or more)

Marine Betta (love them)


Also recommend dwarf angels.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I’d get rid of the Diamond “Watchman” Goby (This is Valenciennes puellaris and it’s what I would say a trap in the goby world). If you’ve never kept sand sifting gobies these are a bad one to try first, they constantly feed from the sand bed and most of not all of the nutrients they get will come from there. They need Atleast a 3” deep sand bed if not 5” and it needs to be mature by Atleast 2 years if not 4 or 5. These can rid a new sandbed of any life.
If you want a sand sifting goby that’s isn’t too hard to own, look into the Koumansetta or Amblygobius genera. They’re much easier to keep however they do still need Atleast a 2” deep sandbed.

If you want a flasher wrasse, I’d recommend getting 2 males of different species so they can then display to eachother which will cause them to flash more. The Melanurus Wrasse will get rather big and active however if you don’t mind that then it should be alright. These will need a deep but fine sandbed so they can’t tear their scales when they dive into it. Personally, I’d also try get a few more Halichoeres wrasses along with some other Cirrhilabrus and maybe Pseudojuloides however I’m biased when it comes to wrasses.

The rest are alright, however you can’t get the Yellow Eye Kole anymore as Hawaii has shut down. You can collect them yourself but you can’t get them from the LFS. A good alternative is the Blue Eye “Kole” or Twin Spot Bristletooth Tang, Ctenochaetus binotatus. These go through many pattern changes in a day and they are the perfect cleaner, mine will be constantly grazing the rock and sand making sure to get every piece of algae, even grazes on the glass when film algae grows.

Agree to all of this. (I do have a diamond goby though, and love it - other than the fact that he irritated my elegance coral to the point of stressing it to death... that was bad). I made darn sure he was eating frozen at my LFS for a while before buying him though, and I target feed him at least once a day. Excellent sand cleaner obviously, but I agree - you see a lot starve in captivity.

Another suggestion to @ChiReefGuy3 instead of the yellow eye kole tang, would be a white tail (I don't think those are banned right now as they come from Tahiti not Hawaii?) Though when it comes to Ctenochaetus, I gotta say, I'm partial to the tomini. Mine has colored up a ton and is gorgeous. Blue eye are beautiful as well.

 

[ambuncher]

I have a marine betta in my 90g. Very cool fish, but hides almost all the time. Only comes out when no one has been near the tank for a while. I've had him for almost a year, never seen him eat once. But must be eating something haha. If you can get an active one, definitely a cool fish to have. But like others have said, can and will eat small fish as it gets bigger!