stocking my tank

[slyforestfire]

i am starting to daydream about my tanks inhabitants. i envision it being mostly a coral tank with just a few fish. i want a clown and an anemone thats kind of a given. not sure what else though. suggestion of fish would be appreciated.

 

[Knuckles33]

Sailfin tang

 

[slyforestfire]

says they get large. tanks a 49 bowfront. sure that would be ok?

 

[EcoFrags]

look up some of the smaller wrasse...they are always out and about and make wonderful additions....very colorful also...yellow coris, divided leopard, six line, mystery, most fairy and flasher wrasse also fit this general size range of wrasse aswell

 

[10galclowns]

My dream tank is a bunch of baby clownfish that I raise from my older pair and have like 10 clownfish in a bunch of anemones!

 

[M&M]

Dwarf angel would be ok in your size tank. Very active and colorful.

 

[slyforestfire]

thanks everyone. have yet to find any dwatf angels but the orange peel angel caught my eye. also the mystery wrasse. where can i find a wide sellection of fish? only site i really familiar with is foster smith/ live aquaria.

 

[KoleTang]

Dwarf angels are notorious for biting corals. Mystery wrasse sometimes can get aggressive and they will eat inverts. a sailfin will just freak out in a tank that small.

I'd recommend: Wrasse, blenny, goby, firefish, chromis, clown,

It is actually healthy for a reef to have a lot of fish. The waste is food for the corals. It just gets bad when you overstock and there is too much waste for the tank to handle.

Live aquaria is really the main site with a lot of with listed. If you want more info on fish, then I'd recommend "Marine Fishes by Scott W. Michael" and "What Fish? A Buyer's Guide to Reef Fish by Phil Hunt"

 

[slyforestfire]

thanks koletang. think i have narrowed down my wishlist thanks to live aquaria and your advice. i have chosen fish that all are peaceful reef compatible community dwellers. as i can afford to move to ro/di and led lighting i will add an anemone and coral. so here it is: (1) yellow prawn goby, (2) ocellaris clowns, (8) black axil chromis, (3) carpenters flasher wrasse. is this a realistic list? i know ill only be able to add a few fish at a time, what order should i put them in?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

thanks koletang. think i have narrowed down my wishlist thanks to live aquaria and your advice. i have chosen fish that all are peaceful reef compatible community dwellers. as i can afford to move to ro/di and led lighting i will add an anemone and coral. so here it is: (1) yellow prawn goby, (2) ocellaris clowns, (8) black axil chromis, (3) carpenters flasher wrasse. is this a realistic list? i know ill only be able to add a few fish at a time, what order should i put them in?

That list needs to be narrowed down quite a bit. For a 49 gallon bow front, a good stock list might be the 2 clowns, one wrasse, and the yellow prawn goby. I would add them in that order. The group of chromis would be too many in that size tank.

 

[Jarettc16]

agreed w-list suggestion above. Remember one key word in this topic----REEF Tank
yes you need some fish but not very many. the more you have the more work you create. The more poop in the tank, means the more water that has to come in and out of their to replace it (more maintance). I only have 4 fish in my 110 gallong reef w/ 30 gallon sump. Yeah i might add a one more small fish down the road, but in your size tank i would not put more than about 4 fish total w/ no more than 2 that get very big. Also on your fish selection, some wrasse & blenny are bad about jumping out of the water. Woud def do some resarch before u purchase those guys, u might want to put the caging over the top of water to prevent them from jumping out. Also i would not recommend putting any type of angel fish in your reef tank anytime soon. At anytime you add a angel fish i would recommend having the coral in your tank be very mature & established for an angel fish is known to nip at corals & if your tank is not established he would wipe out small corals in the matter of days. I have put a flame angel in my tank, but it was established w/ corals. He did wipe out a few colonies of my zoas though. It is hit or miss or weather u get an angel that will nip the corals or not. If it was me, i would start out w/ clown fish & anonome.After that start loading the corals in the tank & give about 8 to 10 months to fully reproduce & then start adding ur fish

 

[KoleTang]

That is not true. 5 fish is not too many. We are not in the dark ages here. Use the proper filtration and you will be fine.

Here are some examples of successful heavily stocked tanks just from my local club. Just make sure you have a good skimmer to clean up after them.

It's official, i am a rimless tank club member. - TCMAS

Anthias Heaven - TCMAS

My 180 - TCMAS

New 120g - TCMAS

 

[KoleTang]

57 Reef Tank Dec 2010 - YouTube

My LED 57 rimless setup - Page 6 - TCMAS

 

[slyforestfire]

2- occocellaris clowns.
3- black axil chromis
6- red spotted goby
thats a total of 25 inches of adult fish in a 49 gal tank while still giving me plenty of movement and a variety of colors and patterns.

 

[slyforestfire]

plus the problem of jumpers is gone now. not that it would matter cause the cover is still with the tank.

 

[slyforestfire]

koletang im running a marineland hob 550 canister with carbon and filter pad, a coralife 65 skimmer, and 64 lbs of live rock. not copletely sure but my reading makes me feel i have all the bases covered for filtration.

 

[KoleTang]

There is no such thing as inches of fish per gallon. It is just an old outdated thing people used to say to newbs when there was less understanding of filtration.

I still think you can put in more fish. The clowns will be sitting in a corner not moving. The chromis will be out in the water, but they are very small and not that interesting. I have never kept a red spotted goby, but I imagine they will just be toodling around in the sand.

You could add in a wrasse. Maybe a dottyback (a good one is pseudochromis fridmani).

Just remember to take it slow and make sure your filtration is all good.

 

[KoleTang]

koletang im running a marineland hob 550 canister with carbon and filter pad, a coralife 65 skimmer, and 64 lbs of live rock. not copletely sure but my reading makes me feel i have all the bases covered for filtration.

I'm not too familiar with coralife's skimmers. Canister filters are nitrate factories if not cleaned out very regularly. You might want to look into a BRS Reactor to run carbon and GFO. I am sure you can make it be HOB somehow. Or run GFO and Carbon in your canister filter without the filter pad, (the filter pad and whatever else is in there is what causes the issues with canister filters)

 

[slyforestfire]

i would love to start that way jarettc. problem i have is im still running the factory lighting. no way i can do coral under a normal flourescent bulb, and an upgrade to led is gonna be awhile. so therefore my logic is to get all my reef safe fish established in small groups. once i can afford all the upgrades im dreaming of, ro/di system, led lighting, overflow and sump, etc...... than ill start adding the reef to their home.

 

[slyforestfire]

again the issue of investment capitol comes into play. im starting with a used fw setup that i purchased with what i have saved kicking my nicotene habit. i will take all these things into consideration thanks