Help me stock my 180!

[QuarantinedCorals]

Hi everyone, I need your help! I recently purchased a 180 which is a nice upgrade from my current 75 gallon DT. I need advice on how and what to stock my tank with so please offer your critique and advice. My 75 has the following:
Super male flame wrasse x1
Katherines fairy wrasse x1
Female blue star leopard wrasse x1
Orange spot goby x1
3 inch yellow tang x1
Yellow fin flasher wrasse x1
So with this in mind, I want to add some more tangs and some active schooling fish
The tangs I want are:
Orange shoulder tang x1
Scopas tang x1
Naso tang x1
Desjardini sailfin tang x1
I have an eshopps s200 skimmer and a 75 gallon sump, as well as a refugium. The tank is not setup yet but hopefully will be soon! How do I add these fish without causing a crisis? How do I go about quarantining all these fish? How do I introduce them? What stages of maturity do i buy the fish? Also a side note, my friend is gifting me his 6 inch naso tang. Will adding all these fish at once be too much bioload?

 

[Chef Mateo]

I would add the fish in intervals so your current fish first then the schooling fish and then the tangs.

My only thing is potentially the naso tang, some will say 180 gal is ok some will say it's not. So it is kind of your judgement, they are my personal favourite tang btw!

You could probably set up some 10 or 20 gal tanks with a simple set up in each or just a slightly bigger one if you would be QTing the tangs together.

I prefer to buy young as it generally is easier to get the fish acclimated to tank life.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I would add the fish in intervals so your current fish first then the schooling fish and then the tangs.

My only thing is potentially the naso tang, some will say 180 gal is ok some will say it's not. So it is kind of your judgement, they are my personal favourite tang btw!

You could probably set up some 10 or 20 gal tanks with a simple set up in each or just a slightly bigger one if you would be QTing the tangs together.

I prefer to buy young as it generally is easier to get the fish acclimated to tank life.

Thanks for all the information, Just to prevent overstocking, what’s a safe number of schooling fish like chromis for example, you would recommend I would add?

 

[CindyKz]

I have 6 blue - green chromis in my 180, with a mix similar to yours but much lighter on the tangs (and a lot more smaller fish overall ). My experience has been that if there is aggression in the tank, they hide all day. At least, I think that's why they are hiding. I only really see mine in the early morning and at feeding time.

I just removed the aggressor a few days ago so I'm hoping they'll start to come out more soon. Prior to going into hiding they would group into one big shoal or a couple smaller ones on and off throughout the day and it was really cool.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I have 6 blue - green chromis in my 180, with a mix similar to yours but much lighter on the tangs (and a lot more smaller fish overall ). My experience has been that if there is aggression in the tank, they hide all day. At least, I think that's why they are hiding. I only really see mine in the early morning and at feeding time.

I just removed the aggressor a few days ago so I'm hoping they'll start to come out more soon. Prior to going into hiding they would group into one big shoal or a couple smaller ones on and off throughout the day and it was really cool.

Who was the aggressor? I’m thinking of lightening my tang list, maybe removing the scopas or the sailfin from the list because I already have a yellow tang and don’t want issues.

 

[CindyKz]

Who was the aggressor? I’m thinking of lightening my tang list, maybe removing the scopas or the sailfin from the list because I already have a yellow tang and don’t want issues.

The aggressor was a huge Magnifice t Foxface. He went after the other fish relentlessly, most notably my powder brown. I think he just got too big.

I posted about it here. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wrasse-behavior-question.742963/#post-7784354

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

The aggressor was a huge Magnifice t Foxface. He went after the other fish relentlessly, most notably my powder brown. I think he just got too big.

I posted about it here. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wrasse-behavior-question.742963/#post-7784354

Do you still have your bellus pair? I really want to add an angel into the mix! At one point I had a lamarcks angel but it would follow my blue star leopard wrasse around the tank all day and it would spook my leopard wrasse out. Have you seen any issues with your wrasses and angels? I’m deciding between a Japanese swallowtail or a bellus pair or just one bellus, not sure yet.

 

[dwest]

I have a 180. I would definitely not do the Naso. They really need a much larger tank. I think the sailfin is iffy as well. I had a sailfin in my old 125, which was still 6 ft long, and my tank was too small. I now have pacific blue that I wish I didn’t have. I think my tank is a perfect size for my yellows and purple though. I didn’t want to be a downer but wanted to share my experience.

 

[CindyKz]

Do you still have your bellus pair? I really want to add an angel into the mix! At one point I had a lamarcks angel but it would follow my blue star leopard wrasse around the tank all day and it would spook my leopard wrasse out. Have you seen any issues with your wrasses and angels? I’m deciding between a Japanese swallowtail or a bellus pair or just one bellus, not sure yet.

I do still have them. I bought 2 females. They were in QT for several months together, then one started to transition to male not long after I moved them to the DT - I think it was only a couple of weeks. They are pretty mellow. The male chases the female quite a bit, and they chase back and forth with my white tail bristletooth some but it's tame - no nipping or anything. And honestly the white tail is kind of a jerk. They don't pay any attention to the wrasses.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I have a 180. I would definitely not do the Naso. They really need a much larger tank. I think the sailfin is iffy as well. I had a sailfin in my old 125, which was still 6 ft long, and my tank was too small. I now have pacific blue that I wish I didn’t have. I think my tank is a perfect size for my yellows and purple though. I didn’t want to be a downer but wanted to share my experience.

I appreciate the advice! So you think I won’t have issues with multiple zebrasomas? I want a yellow, scopas, and a purple tang ideally that would be a dream for me.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I do still have them. I bought 2 females. They were in QT for several months together, then one started to transition to male not long after I moved them to the DT - I think it was only a couple of weeks. They are pretty mellow. The male chases the female quite a bit, and they chase back and forth with my white tail bristletooth some but it's tame - no nipping or anything. And honestly the white tail is kind of a jerk. They don't pay any attention to the wrasses.

I want a bellus or a swallowtail first sure, would you say the bellus are more peaceful?

 

[CindyKz]

I want a bellus or a swallowtail first sure, would you say the bellus are more peaceful?

I dont know, I've never kept a swallowtail.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I dont know, I've never kept a swallowtail.

Gotcha, how many zebrasoma tangs do you think I’ll need to add into the mix to avoid aggression?

 

[dwest]

I appreciate the advice! So you think I won’t have issues with multiple zebrasomas? I want a yellow, scopas, and a purple tang ideally that would be a dream for me.

I keep 2 yellows and a purple. I’ve never had a scopas. The key would be to introduce them all at once (or the smallest first) and have a couple mirrors taped to the sides of the tank to redirect aggression for a few days.

 

[jaxteller007]

The aggressor was a huge Magnifice t Foxface. He went after the other fish relentlessly, most notably my powder brown. I think he just got too big.

I posted about it here. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wrasse-behavior-question.742963/#post-7784354

That's wild (about your foxface). We have a magnificent as well and he's been the biggest guy in the tank since day 1, and will continue to be until the Lt Tang and Vlamingii catch up or pass him. But he's the most chill fish we have too. We call him Ron Swanson aka Duke Silver cause he just wants to hang by himself all day lol.

 

[jaxteller007]

Gotcha, how many zebrasoma tangs do you think I’ll need to add into the mix to avoid aggression?

You'll probably find the most/best tang information in this thread FYI.

Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating So what's the deal with tangs? How do I keep them together? Why are they so aggressive and difficult to keep sometimes? It's a common discussion point. Some may dissent with what I have to share but I've never had less than three tanks running at a...

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