Stocking Help

[CORAL-KID]

Hello,
I have a Red Sea Max S-500 that I am currently working on the aquascaping, but hopefully at the start of the new year I will start filling it. I am mostly going to do a softy tank but wondering about suggestions about stocking. What is everyone's favorite softy and why? Also looking into fish stocking as I like most of the fish to have a job to do and help with the tank. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[sixline]

I'd recommend some kind of toadstool coral. There are quite a few varieties, and they get big and grow fast. Marine Farmers has a nice selection. If you plan on getting clownfish, I'd put a toadstool in a front corner and hope the clownfish move in. That is always a conversation piece.

Zoas, green star polyps, and Orange Ricordea are great for adding color.

Xenia is fun and adds a great movement to the tank.

And, finally photosynthetic gorgonians. I never used to keep them, but added a few to my recent setup and they really make the aquascape come to life. They add a cool vertical component, the fish love to swim around them, and they really make it start to look like an actual coral reef. I got mine from pacific east aquaculture, but some people also use kp aquatics.

Three of the corals I mentioned can be invasive - Xenia and green star polyps.

 

[CORAL-KID]

I'd recommend some kind of toadstool coral. There are quite a few varieties, and they get big and grow fast. Marine Farmers has a nice selection. If you plan on getting clownfish, I'd put a toadstool in a front corner and hope the clownfish move in. That is always a conversation piece.

Zoas, green star polyps, and Orange Ricordea are great for adding color.

Xenia is fun and adds a great movement to the tank.

And, finally photosynthetic gorgonians. I never used to keep them, but added a few to my recent setup and they really make the aquascape come to life. They add a cool vertical component, the fish love to swim around them, and they really make it start to look like an actual coral reef. I got mine from pacific east aquaculture, but some people also use kp aquatics.

Three of the corals I mentioned can be invasive - Xenia and green star polyps.

A toadstool coral is at the top of my list to get for this new build, I think they look amazing. I also really like the green star and xenia, would it work to put them together on an island because i think both of the colors would look good together. I will have to do some research on the other corals that you suggested as well. Thank you.

 

[sixline]

I also really like the green star and xenia, would it work to put them together on an island because i think both of the colors would look good together.

One would probably overgrow the other eventually; probably the xenia. Green star polyps will stay contained to an island, but xenia has a way of spreading even if you have it on a rock island. small pieces can drift off and attach elsewhere. There are some varieties that spread less - like the giant bali xenia from marine farmers (and elsewhere).

 

[CORAL-KID]

One would probably overgrow the other eventually; probably the xenia. Green star polyps will stay contained to an island, but xenia has a way of spreading even if you have it on a rock island. small pieces can drift off and attach elsewhere. There are some varieties that spread less - like the giant bali xenia from marine farmers (and elsewhere).

Thank you for your help.

 

[EvanDeVita]

Hello,
I have a Red Sea Max S-500 that I am currently working on the aquascaping, but hopefully at the start of the new year I will start filling it. I am mostly going to do a softy tank but wondering about suggestions about stocking. What is everyone's favorite softy and why? Also looking into fish stocking as I like most of the fish to have a job to do and help with the tank. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hello, congrats on a new tank!
IMO, my favorite softies are toadstools, GSP, and green dinner Nepthea. Toadstools and Nepthea give the tank Z-depth, and GSP is beautiful and fast growing. Have you thought of an anemone? They are “soft,” but would obviously need to be the first thing into the tank to eliminate a deadly walk. As for fish, I’m a sucker for bottom dwellers and most ppl like open water fish so I’ll spare you from my list of fish .

 

[CORAL-KID]

Hello, congrats on a new tank!
IMO, my favorite softies are toadstools, GSP, and green dinner Nepthea. Toadstools and Nepthea give the tank Z-depth, and GSP is beautiful and fast growing. Have you thought of an anemone? They are “soft,” but would obviously need to be the first thing into the tank to eliminate a deadly walk. As for fish, I’m a sucker for bottom dwellers and most ppl like open water fish so I’ll spare you from my list of fish .

After looking at a green dinner nepthea I will certainly be looking for one to put into the tank.

 

[Gup]

One would probably overgrow the other eventually; probably the xenia. Green star polyps will stay contained to an island, but xenia has a way of spreading even if you have it on a rock island. small pieces can drift off and attach elsewhere. There are some varieties that spread less - like the giant bali xenia from marine farmers (and elsewhere).

That's what I thought myself, about Green Star Polyps.

My tank was crashing. I needed to save my fish, which I did in a cleaned out sump. Before we drained the tank, my wife noticed several minut Green Star Polyps popping up, around the tank & on
substrate, & on 3 shelfs. Naturally, we were surprised. So with the tank now drained, the substrate & rock being prepared for return to a saltwater cleaning, I'm wondering if those growths will possibly survive on either.

So my question is, has anyone

 

[EvanDeVita]

I had a bit of GSP growing like an arm towards another rock, so I snipped it off and put into a dark hole. Two months later its still in there. hasn't grown, hasn't died