If you were starting a new big reef, what would you have in your stock list?

[Daniel@R2R]

So as I'm getting ready to get my new 225g peninsula reef going, I'm getting really excited thinking about what I might include in the livestock list! The plan is that this will be a mixed reef that will be SPS dominant. I have a few fish that I know for sure I want to keep, and some that I'm still on the fence about. Here are my current thoughts:

Fish I want for sure:

1. Harlequin Tuskfish
2. Japanese Swallowtail Angel pair
3. Pair of clowns (already have one pair...might add a second pair)
4. Blue Tang
5. Yellow Tang (my wife's favorite fish)
6. Purple Tang
7. Other zebrasoma (probably a desjardini sailfin, but I'm open to ideas...I know I want a zebrasoma trio)
8. Mandarin dragonet
9. Various wrasses (I love flasher and fairy wrasses and might have a leopard wrasse as well...the madagascar flasher has been my dream fish for a while, but not sure how available those are...last i checked, they were still super expensive, so not likely...)
10. Various gobies/blennies (I'm thinking a few more sedentary grumpy looking fish would be fun...I also LOVE barnacle blennies)

On the fence:

• Some kind of eel (I'm a bit concerned that having an eel might be a no-go with the gobies/blennies)
• Sohal tang (I LOVE the look of these fish, and this is the first tank I'll have ever had that comes close to being big enough...but I have also heard horror stories about these guys and am thinking that if I get one, I may end up regretting it)
• Achilles Tang (hadn't considered this one yet, but @i cant think mentioned it below...so now I'm thinking about it)
• I feel like there are more that should be included as "maybe" fish here, but this is off the top of my head and all I can think of right now...

So yeah...those are my ideas so far...

I have 2 questions for discussion.

1. What do you guys think of the above lists?
2. If you had a tank around this size, what would be on your wishlist?

 

[Troylee]

1 looks good besides a shoal..
2 being I have a similar tank I’d add a dozen anthias and like 50 chromis.. that’s next for me… I tried a dozen purple queens and that didn’t work out.. back to lyretails for me.

 

[i cant think]

So as I'm getting ready to get my new 225g peninsula reef going, I'm getting really excited thinking about what I might include in the livestock list! The plan is that this will be a mixed reef that will be SPS dominant. I have a few fish that I know for sure I want to keep, and some that I'm still on the fence about. Here are my current thoughts:

Fish I want for sure:

1. Harlequin Tuskfish
2. Japanese Swallowtail Angel pair
3. Pair of clowns (already have one pair...might add a second pair)
4. Blue Tang
5. Yellow Tang (my wife's favorite fish)
6. Purple Tang
7. Other zebrasoma (probably a desjardini sailfin, but I'm open to ideas...I know I want a zebrasoma trio)
8. Mandarin dragonet
9. Various wrasses (I love flasher and fairy wrasses and might have a leopard wrasse as well...the madagascar flasher has been my dream fish for a while, but not sure how available those are...last i checked, they were still super expensive, so not likely...)
10. Various gobies/blennies (I'm thinking a few more sedentary grumpy looking fish would be fun...I also LOVE barnacle blennies)

On the fence:

• Some kind of eel (I'm a bit concerned that having an eel might be a no-go with the gobies/blennies)
• Sohal tang (I LOVE the look of these fish, and this is the first tank I'll have ever had that comes close to being big enough...but I have also heard horror stories about these guys and am thinking that if I get one, I may end up regretting it)
• I feel like there are more that should be included as "maybe" fish here, but this is off the top of my head and all I can think of right now...

So yeah...those are my ideas so far...

I have 2 questions for discussion.

1. What do you guys think of the above lists?
2. If you had a tank around this size, what would be on your wishlist?

How do you not have the urge for an Achilles tang?! That’s the first fish I’d want with that tank size.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

How do you not have the urge for an Achilles tang?! That’s the first fish I’d want with to that tank size.

That would be a great idea too! I honestly hadn't considered an achilles...

I've never kept one. Are they still considered difficult? How well do they play with other tank mates?

Added it to the "maybe" list above.

 

[i cant think]

That would be a great idea too! I honestly hadn't considered an achilles...

I've never kept one. Are they still considered difficult? How well do they play with other tank mates?

Added it to the "maybe" list above.

The ones I’ve looked after were fairly easy and not overly difficult to care for. I’ve never had one for myself though so I only have experience from within an LFS. As long as you get them fat and healthy generally they’re good from the start.

Aggression wise, again I’ve had them not care about other fish but as with all tangs it’s best to add them later down the line if not last.

 

[NotReefsafe]

Consider adding a small group of neon cleaner gobies or eviota gobies!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

1 looks good besides a shoal..
2 being I have a similar tank I’d add a dozen anthias and like 50 chromis.. that’s next for me… I tried a dozen purple queens and that didn’t work out.. back to lyretails for me.

I would love a shoal! However, I'm a little intimidated by that idea to be honest. I have heard that chromis ultimately just kill each other off. I was looking into bangaii cardinals, but it seems those don't do well in groups over the long haul either...but maybe I'll give it a shot if I can find a fish that tends to do well in groups.

 

[Troylee]

I would love a shoal! However, I'm a little intimidated by that idea to be honest. I have heard that chromis ultimately just kill each other off. I was looking into bangaii cardinals, but it seems those don't do well in groups over the long haul either...but maybe I'll give it a shot if I can find a fish that tends to do well in groups.

The anthias will keep the chromis in line.. tangs also keep them in check lol.. at least in my tank.

 

[i cant think]

Wrasse wise, write a list of the ones you’re considering or just like the look of and then we can help further and give species with similar appearances/characteristics.

My first one I’d think of though would be a Radiant. And a Harem of Black Leopards.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Consider adding a small group of neon cleaner gobies or eviota gobies!

Would love a small group of these! This will probably depend on where I land on the eel. Speaking of which, anyone got experience keeping an eel with smallish fish. Is it doable, or is it just a set up for an expensive snack?

I'm thinking a snowflake moray or something similar.

 

[exnisstech]

You may have trouble keeping inverts with the tusk. Personally I would pass on a mandarin but that's based on my trying them in larger tanks where they just disappear. I like them in smaller tanks.

I have heard that chromis ultimately just kill each other off

I tried groups of 7 chromis twice and ended with a single fish both times. These were 6ft tanks with plenty of rock. Unfortunately I had similar luck with a group of lyre tails only instead of one I ended with none. They all did well for a few months then started to disappear. Guess it's just not in the cards for me to have a shoal of fish. I'm tempted to try a group of something in my new build but haven't decided yet.

 

[steveschuerger]

Aside from a ton of wrasses, probably would love to try a clownfish harem. And yeah my favorite wrasse is leopards , any variety @i cant think

 

[steveschuerger]

I would love a shoal! However, I'm a little intimidated by that idea to be honest. I have heard that chromis ultimately just kill each other off. I was looking into bangaii cardinals, but it seems those don't do well in groups over the long haul either...but maybe I'll give it a shot if I can find a fish that tends to do well in groups.

Anthias.

 

[exnisstech]

Anthias.

Not trying to hijack your thread Daniel. This could be useful info for you too
What anthias do folks find to be the hardiest? Also I wonder if adding them first would be better to let them settle in before bringing the big fish over.

 

[Reefer Matt]

So as I'm getting ready to get my new 225g peninsula reef going, I'm getting really excited thinking about what I might include in the livestock list! The plan is that this will be a mixed reef that will be SPS dominant. I have a few fish that I know for sure I want to keep, and some that I'm still on the fence about. Here are my current thoughts:

Fish I want for sure:

1. Harlequin Tuskfish
2. Japanese Swallowtail Angel pair
3. Pair of clowns (already have one pair...might add a second pair)
4. Blue Tang
5. Yellow Tang (my wife's favorite fish)
6. Purple Tang
7. Other zebrasoma (probably a desjardini sailfin, but I'm open to ideas...I know I want a zebrasoma trio)
8. Mandarin dragonet
9. Various wrasses (I love flasher and fairy wrasses and might have a leopard wrasse as well...the madagascar flasher has been my dream fish for a while, but not sure how available those are...last i checked, they were still super expensive, so not likely...)
10. Various gobies/blennies (I'm thinking a few more sedentary grumpy looking fish would be fun...I also LOVE barnacle blennies)

On the fence:

• Some kind of eel (I'm a bit concerned that having an eel might be a no-go with the gobies/blennies)
• Sohal tang (I LOVE the look of these fish, and this is the first tank I'll have ever had that comes close to being big enough...but I have also heard horror stories about these guys and am thinking that if I get one, I may end up regretting it)
• Achilles Tang (hadn't considered this one yet, but @i cant think mentioned it below...so now I'm thinking about it)
• I feel like there are more that should be included as "maybe" fish here, but this is off the top of my head and all I can think of right now...

So yeah...those are my ideas so far...

I have 2 questions for discussion.

1. What do you guys think of the above lists?
2. If you had a tank around this size, what would be on your wishlist?

 

[steveschuerger]

Not trying to hijack your thread Daniel. This could be useful info for you too
What anthias do folks find to be the hardiest? Also I wonder if adding them first would be better to let them settle in before bringing the big fish over.

Saw this on R2R

Easiest Anthias

I'm looking to add 3 or 5 Anthias to my 125g system. Any thoughts on which ones the easiest to are for would be?

www.reef2reef.com

 

[bakbay]

What about a magnificent foxface? She's one of my favs -- big algae eater and super friendly! Oh btw: she's gorgeous, too.

 

[bakbay]

+1 on Achilles. Mine got along fine — occasionally would chase down the purple tang but otherwise peaceful. Just keep your tang gang well fed with nori sheets and they’ll get along fine. (Or I’ve been lucky?) — ich magnet? Lucky there too! Ha

 

[bakbay]

I have a juvenile vlamingii that I might regret soon! Anyway, I would add a Gem Tang and Naso Tang to your list…

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Wrasse wise, write a list of the ones you’re considering or just like the look of and then we can help further and give species with similar appearances/characteristics.

My first one I’d think of though would be a Radiant. And a Harem of Black Leopards.

Ugh. I'm so indecisive. I have a hard time committing to a list. LOL

Here are the ones I'm thinking about currently (in no particular order):

Flashers:

• madagascar flasher (already mentioned this is one of my dream fish, but cost prohibitive, so extremely unlikely...)
• McCosker's Flasher
• Carpenter's Flasher
• Diamond Tail Flasher
• ...I'm honestly open to most any variety. I just know I want to see these guys flashing at each other. LOL So throw out some suggestions.

Fairies (definitely not necessarily going with all of these...just undecided atm):

• Johnsonii
• Rhomboid
• Flame
• Lineatus
• Exquisite
• Pylei or briangreenei
• Orange Back
• ...open to more suggestions

Others:

• Potters or other leopard (I like bluestars too)
• Tamarin of some kind
• who knows... LOL