Stocking for 80 gallon mixed reef...

[eschaton]

Hey guys,

After years of begging, I've finally managed to convince my wife to let me set up a reef tank in our (newish) house. It's nowhere near what I'd want in terms of size, since she's restricting me to one corner of the dining room, and even vetoed a 36 inch length tank because twice a year, we might expand the dining room table and it may be a tight fit (seems like a dumb reason to me - it's like people who buy a pickup for a twice-a-year haul, but whatever). Anyway, the system that works with the space she is allowing me is this 80 gallon starfire by SC Aquariums. With the likely sump volume there is likely another 15 gallons or so of water in the system. It's a shame I can't get a Waterbox in those dimensions, but **shrug**

I basically have two very different ideas for stocking, and I'm not sure which of the two is better:

Breeders Heaven: Get a pair of ORA clowns (for the kids, I don't really care) a pair of ORA Orchid Pseudochromis, and 2-3 Banggai Cardinals, and leave it at that. All of them should spawn in the tank, which will give me the ability to attempt to raise the fry for fun and profit. Even if I don't, the tank will have lots of free food. I'm not sure if 6-7 fish in a tank of this size would be overstocking however.

Pod Heaven: Basically, just concentrate on "utility fish" like a Yellow Tang and some blennies which will eat algae/detritus but not really impact the tank microfauna as much, allowing for a thriving pod population in the main display tank. Depending upon how the tank's pod population fares, I might introduce a dragonet, or (if not quite as thriving) just some smaller gobies and see if they can live off of the pod population with limited supplmental feedings.

 

[Bluecbs]

They are instances where tangs bully blennies since they go after the same food. If for me, I d put a biggish blenny first, like starry,. ..last a smallish tang

 

[nereefpat]

Option 1 is best. The 32x24 footprint isn't appropriate for a yellow tang. You could sub in a small species of dwarf angel, like a flame back.

 

[Jesterrace]

Option 1 is best. The 32x24 footprint isn't appropriate for a yellow tang. You could sub in a small species of dwarf angel, like a flame back.

Agreed. Had to boot a 4 inch Yellow Tang from my 4 foot long 90 gallon after it tried to claim the whole tank for itself. Tangs definitely need swimming length. A Cherubfish aka Pygmy Angel would be a better option though (Flamebacks have lots of complaints for aggression). Just be aware they can nip at corals, but they are among the better ones to keep with them.

I'm not sure on the mating habits of Orchid Dottybacks but that is one you definitely would want to make 100% sure you have a male and female pair or you will have a tornado of aggression in your tank. This thread should help as it talks specifically about captive breeding them:

A great article about captive breeding the Orchid Dottyback.

LRS would like to congratulate @chad vossen from Vossen Aquatics for his recent article in Reef Hobbyist magazine showcasing another success in captive breeding. Chad also designs and produces his own line of collecting devices which he uses to collect eggs out of aquariums. In this article...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[eschaton]

I'm not sure on the mating habits of Orchid Dottybacks but that is one you definitely would want to make 100% sure you have a male and female pair or you will have a tornado of aggression in your tank. This thread should help as it talks specifically about captive breeding them:

I've read that article before. It makes it clear that similar to clownfish, Orchid Dottybacks have indeterminate gender when they are young, which means if I get two immature ones, they're fairly certain to develop into a mated pair.

There's a LFS near me with a good number of them right now - including multiple which are clearly juveniles (about half the adult size) so I figure I'd be safe picking up two of them.