Stocking list/order for a 180g

[Mr.Asbury]

Hello! I'm currently cycling my tank, so I think it's time to start to get the order for stocking my tank set up. It's a 180g tank (6x2x2) and has a 40g breeder for a sump. I have a reef octopus 202-s skimmer and a refugium in the sump. Any opinions, suggestions, or feedback is greatly appreciated!

For some of the fish on the list, I have a generic name. For these, I plan to allow the students to pick between a few options (such as with the anthias).

• Anthias (Will let students vote on type - are there any I should avoid?)
• Cardinalfish
• Chromis (have 2-3 types on the list (blue/green, blue, & black); are they compatible with each other? This will be another for the kids to vote on)
• Clowns (will try to get them to host in an anemone); plan to get 2x. Letting kids pick which colors, leaning towards ocellaris species, though.
• Coral Beauty Angelfish
• Cleaner Wrasse (opinions on which would be best for a reef tank? Want to talk about them in class.)
• Diamond watchman goby
• Engineering Goby
• Orange Stripe Goby
• Pink Margin fairy wrasse
• Powder Blue Tang (nervous about this - have heard they're very disease prone in tanks, but I love their color and need a "show" fish in the 180g)
• Shortspine Urchin (Is an invert, not a fish, but wanted opinions. I originally wanted a Longspine, but am nervous it will be too big)
• Yellow Longnose Butterfly
• Yellow prawn goby (+ pistol shrimp)

Please give any input on what may not be compatible, if there is a certain type of one of these fish that you think would be better, or if there are any I should only get one of or have multiple of. Also, I feel like there's a lot of fish on this list; have I chosen too many that I like? Finally, I'm looking for what order I should add these in at. Thanks for reading!

 

[Reefpuck]

Will this be a fish only tank or reef tank?

 

[Mr.Asbury]

Reef tank, sorry should have put that in my first post!

 

[Maritimer]

For anthias, Lyretails and Bartlett's are probably easiest - but also most aggressive. Others, like Ventralis and Purple Queens can be a ... challenge ... to acclimate. Dispars / Ignitus and Randall's / Resplendent may be a good middle-of-the-road for you and the kids.
Chromis can be touch-and-go. Many, especially of the blue-green varieties, seem to arrive with Uronema, and drop one by one. Many folks also report chromis picking one another off until, like the Highlander, "There Can be Only One!" You might consider some of the Chrysiptera damsels; Rolland's, Talbot's and Azures exist in my tank in boisterous, but generally not aggressive groups.
Cleaner wrasse can be fragile, blue-streak is probably your best bet if you _must_ have one. Other options to consider include cleaner shrimp and neon / sharknose / yellow-line gobies, which are also cleaners.
The diamond goby won't pair with your pistol shrimp ... but your yellow watchman may, so that'll work out.
Engineer gobies tend to disappear under the rockwork, and can get pretty big. They're almost like having a moray eel, in some ways.
Powder-blue tangs are ich/velvet magnets, and can be persnickety, cranky fellows - Quarantine _everything_, and add the powderblue last or close to it - especially if you plan on a longnose butterfly or other tall-bodied but retiring fish.
Tuxedo urchins don't get too big, come in lovely colors as well - but will pick things up and carry them around.
Coral beauty - and any angel, other than those of the genus Genicanthus - are hit-and-miss with corals. More than not are OK, but some will decide those acans of yours are just the _tastiest_ of treats.

This may be one of the biggest challenges for your class - remember to add creatures slowly, and allow the tank's biological systems to build over time.

~Bruce, wishing he was in _your_ class!

 

[Janci]

I would avoid the chromis, especially as this is for a class room. Not many have good results with keeping more than 1 as they tend to attack each other till only one is left.
Instead of the powder blue tang, I would suggest one of the bristletooth tangs like a tomini or a kole tang.

Love the project! good luck.

Jan, wishing to be 11 again and having a cool teacher like you.

 

[YellowFinsReef]

All of these can be kept, but you need to have a plan on how to introduce them and also the intention of having them there.

• Anthias (Will let students vote on type - are there any I should avoid?
• Lyretails or Bartlett's are good. But do know that these require an intense feeding schedule and cannot just be fed once a day.
• Cardinalfish
• Great beginner fish! I have a pair of bangaii that are just breeding.
• Chromis (have 2-3 types on the list (blue/green, blue, & black); are they compatible with each other? This will be another for the kids to vote on)
• It's great that you want input from the students, but honestly all these chromis have different behaviors that do impact the ecosystem you're trying to create in your tank. Blue/green chromis often come sick with uronema and starved, blue reef chromis have a hard time acclimating and if they make it - they kill off one another until there's only 1 left, and black (do you mean damsel?) these can be mean little buggers and harass their tank mates - they're also a pain to remove. I've had all three of them before.
• Clowns (will try to get them to host in an anemone); plan to get 2x. Letting kids pick which colors, leaning towards ocellaris species, though.
• Ocellaris are a great species but they are super picky about hosting nems. I've had some that took 2yrs to host while some others took several months. If you want to create that symbiotic relationship to show immediately, I want to suggest Clarkii (they can have nasty attitudes), maroons (also attitude), or bicinctus (more mellow for me). All of these clowns in my experience took to hosting any kind of nems right away, sometimes in less than two weeks.
• Coral Beauty Angelfish
• I haven't kept one before
• Cleaner Wrasse (opinions on which would be best for a reef tank? Want to talk about them in class.)
• Blue streaks are the easiest from cleaner wrasses (most are expert only), but they still die so much. I've had about 3/12 that makes it. If you really want one, wait until DiversDen has one available, because it'll be conditioned already.
• Diamond watchman goby (+ pistol shrimp)
• Be mindful, this pistol shrimp will dig anything and everything. I've had structures collapse before because they are so persistent. And also, if you want to view the shrimp, it'll disappear and never to be seen again in a 180G. It's just too big. I had mines in a nano and sometimes it was still tough to find it.
• Engineering Goby
• No experience
• Orange Stripe Goby
• Gobies are cool and great sand shifters. Sometimes they can starve if they go into hiding and some require spot feeding if not trained to eat from water column.
• Pink Margin fairy wrasse
• Fairy wrasses can be quite shy the first several days to first several weeks. My concern is that will this impact its feeding behavior.
• Powder Blue Tang (nervous about this - have heard they're very disease prone in tanks, but I love their color and need a "show" fish in the 180g)
• These guys are bullies. They are ich & velvet magnets. They can be fun to keep. I've had them before. Most of them die due to poor quarantine practice.
• Shortspine Urchin (Is an invert, not a fish, but wanted opinions. I originally wanted a Longspine, but am nervous it will be too big)
• Never had any
• Yellow Longnose Butterfly
• Butterfly fish can be challenging to keep. They are also so skinny, so they need a routine feeding schedule so they don't starve out
• Yellow prawn goby
• Again, this is a tiny fish in a big tank. It might just disappear. If you really want to show the symbiotic relationship, I suggest getting a nano for the shrimp and goby pair as they can be closely observed and appreciated.

I have set up a few tanks around a lot of young people. Let me know if you have other questions.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I agree with Bruce that lyretail and bartletts are the easiest, but can be pretty boisterous among themselves. I find dispar or randalls to be much better behaved and a relatively easy species to keep.


Some cardinal species are social, such as pj and blue eyes, others will not tolerate conspecifics unless they are a pr, such as bangaii.

I also agree with Bruce on Chrysiptera damsels over chromis. They are brighter and hardier than chromis, and not as aggressive as other damsels.

I would strongly recommend against a cleaner wrasse. They do better with more large species to act as clients for them. Choose a neon goby or cleaner shrimp instead.

Coral beauty angels are a risk to nip corals.

Engineer gobies get big and burrow ander everything.

Diamond gobies don't pr with pistol shrimp.

Pink margin fairy wrasses are a good, bold fairy wrasse species. Just make sure that you have a tight fitting lid, as fairy wrasses are accomplished jumpers.

Powder blue should be added last and only after all fish have been properly quarantined before it. They are notoriously susceptible to parasites.

Longnose butterflies are a peaceful species.

 

[Mr.Asbury]

For anthias, Lyretails and Bartlett's are probably easiest - but also most aggressive. Others, like Ventralis and Purple Queens can be a ... challenge ... to acclimate. Dispars / Ignitus and Randall's / Resplendent may be a good middle-of-the-road for you and the kids.
Chromis can be touch-and-go. Many, especially of the blue-green varieties, seem to arrive with Uronema, and drop one by one. Many folks also report chromis picking one another off until, like the Highlander, "There Can be Only One!" You might consider some of the Chrysiptera damsels; Rolland's, Talbot's and Azures exist in my tank in boisterous, but generally not aggressive groups.
Cleaner wrasse can be fragile, blue-streak is probably your best bet if you _must_ have one. Other options to consider include cleaner shrimp and neon / sharknose / yellow-line gobies, which are also cleaners.
The diamond goby won't pair with your pistol shrimp ... but your yellow watchman may, so that'll work out.
Engineer gobies tend to disappear under the rockwork, and can get pretty big. They're almost like having a moray eel, in some ways.
Powder-blue tangs are ich/velvet magnets, and can be persnickety, cranky fellows - Quarantine _everything_, and add the powderblue last or close to it - especially if you plan on a longnose butterfly or other tall-bodied but retiring fish.
Tuxedo urchins don't get too big, come in lovely colors as well - but will pick things up and carry them around.
Coral beauty - and any angel, other than those of the genus Genicanthus - are hit-and-miss with corals. More than not are OK, but some will decide those acans of yours are just the _tastiest_ of treats.

This may be one of the biggest challenges for your class - remember to add creatures slowly, and allow the tank's biological systems to build over time.

~Bruce, wishing he was in _your_ class!

Thank you for the feedback, and for the recommendations for things that may not work! A lot of these are able to be removed if they pose an issue, and I may just do that with the anthias.

With the cleaners, I just wanted something that would be an example of a cleaner in an aquatic ecosystem, and my mind immediately went to the cleaner wrasse(and the blenny's that pretend to be a cleaner to get a quick meal). I was going to use them as examples when talking about various biotic interactions, as these are obviously always more fun for the kids if they can see them.

Thanks for the tip on the diamond goby not pairing - but I'm glad something else on the list will.

For the engineer goby, I wanted that because it does have that eel-like appearance. I did all of my rock work directly on the glass, then put sand around it - will this help with them not taking out my rockwork while tunneling?

The tang is one of my "show" fish, and the powder just happens to be the favorite one I've seen. I'll definitely take the advice on adding (whatever tang I end up getting) last. I'd hate to see one get a disease from something new. On a side note, I do have a quarantine tank (35g) ready to go.

Again, thanks for all of the feedback!

 

[Mr.Asbury]

I would avoid the chromis, especially as this is for a class room. Not many have good results with keeping more than 1 as they tend to attack each other till only one is left.
Instead of the powder blue tang, I would suggest one of the bristletooth tangs like a tomini or a kole tang.

Love the project! good luck.

Jan, wishing to be 11 again and having a cool teacher like you.

Thank you for the feedback. I'll check into some other tangs, and weigh the options to see what to do! After all the comments, I think we're gonna skip the chromis, not worth the risk of them killing each other off and causing a nutrient spike.

 

[Mr.Asbury]

All of these can be kept, but you need to have a plan on how to introduce them and also the intention of having them there.

• Anthias (Will let students vote on type - are there any I should avoid?
• Lyretails or Bartlett's are good. But do know that these require an intense feeding schedule and cannot just be fed once a day.
• Cardinalfish
• Great beginner fish! I have a pair of bangaii that are just breeding.
• Glad to hear these would work well. I've heard to get 2-3 of them; any opinion on that with your experiences?
• Chromis (have 2-3 types on the list (blue/green, blue, & black); are they compatible with each other? This will be another for the kids to vote on)
• It's great that you want input from the students, but honestly all these chromis have different behaviors that do impact the ecosystem you're trying to create in your tank. Blue/green chromis often come sick with uronema and starved, blue reef chromis have a hard time acclimating and if they make it - they kill off one another until there's only 1 left, and black (do you mean damsel?) these can be mean little buggers and harass their tank mates - they're also a pain to remove. I've had all three of them before.
• I've seen all negatives about these, I'm just going to play it safe and eliminate them from the list.
• Clowns (will try to get them to host in an anemone); plan to get 2x. Letting kids pick which colors, leaning towards ocellaris species, though.
• Ocellaris are a great species but they are super picky about hosting nems. I've had some that took 2yrs to host while some others took several months. If you want to create that symbiotic relationship to show immediately, I want to suggest Clarkii (they can have nasty attitudes), maroons (also attitude), or bicinctus (more mellow for me). All of these clowns in my experience took to hosting any kind of nems right away, sometimes in less than two weeks.
• Choosing a clown has been a lot more difficult of a decision than I had anticipated. It seems all of the good ones to take to an anemone have terrible attitiudes (maybe that nasty attitude is a territorial thing and why they take better to the anemones?), but it may be better to have one host to something else and not terrorize the other inhabitants. I like the coloration on some of the percula clowns as well - have you heard any positive/negatives about this species?
• Coral Beauty Angelfish
• I haven't kept one before
• Cleaner Wrasse (opinions on which would be best for a reef tank? Want to talk about them in class.)
• Blue streaks are the easiest from cleaner wrasses (most are expert only), but they still die so much. I've had about 3/12 that makes it. If you really want one, wait until DiversDen has one available, because it'll be conditioned already.
• Are there any cleaner shrimp / gobies that you would recommend instead? I also saw a comment on my lack of large fish for them to clean, which is another problem I'd like to adress as well.
• Diamond watchman goby (+ pistol shrimp)
• Be mindful, this pistol shrimp will dig anything and everything. I've had structures collapse before because they are so persistent. And also, if you want to view the shrimp, it'll disappear and never to be seen again in a 180G. It's just too big. I had mines in a nano and sometimes it was still tough to find it.
• Engineering Goby
• No experience
• Orange Stripe Goby
• Gobies are cool and great sand shifters. Sometimes they can starve if they go into hiding and some require spot feeding if not trained to eat from water column.
• Pink Margin fairy wrasse
• Fairy wrasses can be quite shy the first several days to first several weeks. My concern is that will this impact its feeding behavior.
• Powder Blue Tang (nervous about this - have heard they're very disease prone in tanks, but I love their color and need a "show" fish in the 180g)
• These guys are bullies. They are ich & velvet magnets. They can be fun to keep. I've had them before. Most of them die due to poor quarantine practice.
• I really like these, and need a "show" fish for this tank. Most of what I have is rather tiny. I'll start looking at some other tangs as well, but was really looking forward to this one. It's going to be the last fish to be added, most likely, and I'll do some serious thinking prior to pulling the trigger on a purchase.
• Shortspine Urchin (Is an invert, not a fish, but wanted opinions. I originally wanted a Longspine, but am nervous it will be too big)
• Never had any
• Yellow Longnose Butterfly
• Butterfly fish can be challenging to keep. They are also so skinny, so they need a routine feeding schedule so they don't starve out
• I could easily feed them early morning(~7) and late afternoon(~3:30) - would this be sufficient?
• Yellow prawn goby
• Again, this is a tiny fish in a big tank. It might just disappear. If you really want to show the symbiotic relationship, I suggest getting a nano for the shrimp and goby pair as they can be closely observed and appreciated.
• This is a problem that I was noticing as my wife and I were looking through various online sites for ideas - a lot of what we liked is very tiny.

I have set up a few tanks around a lot of young people. Let me know if you have other questions.
Anything you recommend as a "must-have" for a tank designed for a classroom setting?

 

[Mr.Asbury]

I agree with Bruce that lyretail and bartletts are the easiest, but can be pretty boisterous among themselves. I find dispar or randalls to be much better behaved and a relatively easy species to keep.


Some cardinal species are social, such as pj and blue eyes, others will not tolerate conspecifics unless they are a pr, such as bangaii.

I also agree with Bruce on Chrysiptera damsels over chromis. They are brighter and hardier than chromis, and not as aggressive as other damsels.

I would strongly recommend against a cleaner wrasse. They do better with more large species to act as clients for them. Choose a neon goby or cleaner shrimp instead.

Coral beauty angels are a risk to nip corals.

Engineer gobies get big and burrow ander everything.

Diamond gobies don't pr with pistol shrimp.

Pink margin fairy wrasses are a good, bold fairy wrasse species. Just make sure that you have a tight fitting lid, as fairy wrasses are accomplished jumpers.

Powder blue should be added last and only after all fish have been properly quarantined before it. They are notoriously susceptible to parasites.

Longnose butterflies are a peaceful species.

I have a closed canopy over the top - should I still look into a screen to keep them out of my overflow, or will the canopy suffice? Also, I'll look into the other cleaners as a replacement for the wrasse. For the side note on that comment - are there any larger fish you recommend with the others in this list?

 

[Jesterrace]

If you want to add some Yellow to your tank, a Foxface/Rabbitfish would definitely add some color and "wow factor" to the tank. My One Spot continues to surprise me with it's behavior and the way it goes into a sort of snow camo color configuration at night and will "sleep" sometimes standing on it's tail. It's also great for helping with algae control. As for replacing the cleaner wrasse, I would strongly suggest one of the Halichoeres Wrasses (ie Melanurus, Red Lined, Christmas (particularly the claudia). They are generally peaceful and will add tons of color and personality to the tank and are easy to care for. They won't clean the way a cleaner wrasse will but they will periodically perform a cleaning peck here or there. Strangely, my Yellow Tang knew my juvie Melanurus Wrasse was a cleaner more than the Wrasse did and would actually follow it around and tilt sideways to let it take a few pecks at it. One of the strangest things I have seen. Then again, both my Blue Star Leopard Wrasse and Melanurus Wrasse love seaweed (they are supposed to be carnivores). I just have weird fish.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I have a closed canopy over the top - should I still look into a screen to keep them out of my overflow, or will the canopy suffice? Also, I'll look into the other cleaners as a replacement for the wrasse. For the side note on that comment - are there any larger fish you recommend with the others in this list?

The canopy itself will not completely prevent jumping. Fish can be very accurate jumpers, getting out of spaces big enough for their head to get through.

Some "larger" fish that would work: foxface or rabbitfish, pyramid or zoster butterfly, mono, marine betta, scat.