Stocking ideas for 90 gal reef tank?

[mattc270]

Im buying a 90 gallon tank with 20 gal sump that comes with a clown fish and coral beauty. I plan to start a reef tank and would like some stocking ideas. My gf really wants a yellow tang and i just want fish that are easy to care for and are utilitarian. Any advice and ideas is greatly appreciated!

 

[dwest]

I agree with your gf. But they are expensive now I believe.

 

[mattc270]

I agree with your gf. But they are expensive now I believe.

Do you have any recommendations for fish?

 

[doubleshot00]

A yellow tang will work just fine just add it last as they can be jerks. Maybe add a wrasse.

 

[dwest]

Do you have any recommendations for fish?

I have a gramma that’s more than 20 years. He’s awesome but somewhat reclusive. I also think a flame wrasse would be a great addition. If you go that route, get a juvenile and make sure you have a screened top. There are lots of threads on this topic to read through

fishes for 90 gallon tank reef site:www.reef2reef.com

 

[Super Fly]

instead of yellow tang how about one spot foxface which are WAAAY cheaper, foxface will also keep tank clean. In my 93 cube I have/had the following;

foxface -1
tomini tang - 1 (eats algae)
clowns - 2
firefish - 1
lyretail anthia - 1
chromis - 1 (started w 5 but they kill each other off)
flame angel - 1 (got rid of her bc she started eating coral)
carpenter wrasse - 1 (must have lid)

all the above are hardy and easy to care except for possibly the anthia which can be picky eater. Mine ate pellets/frozen. If interested, ask LF to feed anthia pellets to see if it's already been trained to eat dry food.

BTW - if u decide to go w yellow tang, add it last as once acclimated it won't welcome new additions and bully any new comer.

 

[DavidinGA]

My 90g has:

Powder blue tang
Hippo
Naso
clowns x2
fang blenny
melanarus wrasse
yellow coris wrasse
lawnmower blenny
couple blue damsels

Gonna add a flame angel some time...

 

[Dave1993]

my 90
goldflake angel
powder blue tang
purple tang
lemonpeel angel
midas blenny
poor mans candy basslet (cant remember its name)

everything on this list is pretty easy apart from powder blue tang lots of peoples don't survive and goldflake angels are hard to get eating but mine is captive bred so eats everything

 

[homer1475]

Didn't realize there was so many 90's around.

In my 80G cube I have:

blue eye kole tang, purple dottyback, yellow coris wrasse, black leopard wrasse, ornate leopard wrasse, moyers leopard wrasse, splendid pintail fairy wrasse, starry blenny, lantern basslet, lemon peel angel, one black clown, a pistol shrimp, and wheelers goby pair.

 

[Dave1993]

Didn't realize there was so many 90's around.

In my 80G cube I have:

blue eye kole tang, purple dottyback, yellow coris wrasse, black leopard wrasse, ornate leopard wrasse, moyers leopard wrasse, splendid pintail fairy wrasse, starry blenny, lantern basslet, lemon peel angel, one black clown, a pistol shrimp, and wheelers goby pair.

is your lemonpeel angel aggressive?

 

[homer1475]

She can be, but was the last fish I added.

Her and the tang will squabble from time to time, but nothing serious.

I've owned pretty much all of the common dwarf angels, and the lemon peel I find to be the most docile, and less to eat coral. Plus the large yellow fish, pleases the wife as she wanted a yellow tang, but I feel the cube is not large enough for it.

 

[Dave1993]

was 1 of the 1st fish i added aggressive to all newcomers but does calm down bullied the hell out of my goldflake angel which was smaller than the lemonpeel now he is double the size of the lemonpeel

 

[hockeyhead019]

I would definitely recommend a foxface, helps with any hair algae outbreaks and is a fun vibrant fish.

Another thing to consider would be any sand sifting gobies. I always like having fish in different levels of the tank and having something that's on the floor of the tank has always been fun IMO

 

[zen]

Hello and welcome to reefing!

Here's my two cents. From experience I would take a practical approach at the beginning.

Lawnmower blenny, astrea snails, blue legged hermits and an urchin will clean detritus and green hair algae off the rock and a sand sifting conch will help clean the substrate (all of these are cheaper than tangs and plain-looking but effective and easy to find). Wrasse will patrol for flatworms and pests but they need sand to burrow into at night (again relatively low cost). Yellow coris wrasse are as bright as a yellow tang so your gf should be happy and that opens you up to adding a wider variety of colorful fish options later on.

I recommend adding only a few fish at a time so your bacteria and copepod populations can catch up to the increased bioload from additional waste and feeding (this will decrease chances of out of control algae blooms)

Adding clean up crew (bacteria, copepods, snails, hermits) early as a preventative will save frustration and money down the road. I would also recommend setting up at least a cheap 10 gallon quarantine tank with a heater and HOB filter for fish to avoid introducing marine velvet which can wipe out all of your fish in a matter of days. You can stand it up quickly for any new purchases and store it in between.