Fish Stock list for new tank!

[cl2ysta1]

Please advise if you see any problems or have any questions. It seems the getting of the tank is definetly a go! I'm already planning. It will be a 280 gallon tank 4ft x 4ft by 28 inches high. We are planning on having open rockwork, with all sides of the aquarium open for swimming. It will be a bare bottom tank b/c of it being acrylic i dont want sand coming up between the mag float and scratching. there will however be sand in the refugium.

Tank 280 gallons
Sump 90 Gallons
Refugium 40 gallons

making the total system about 400 gallons
Lighting. talking about doing 2x400w halides with 2x250w halides. or possibly just 3x400 we'll see what kind of spread we get. also 4 vho actinics
now for my first draft of a stock list!

Anthias:

12 Bartlett Anthias. One male 11 females. Possibly two males one would be a subdom.

12 Disbar anthias. One male 11 females. Possibly two males one would be a subdom.

Wrasses:

*possibly a pair if we can find on all wrasses. otherwise just the male*

1 Mystery Wrasse

1 Labouti Fairy Wrasse

1 Scott's Fairy Wrasse

1 Flasher Wrasse

1 Exquisite Wrasse

1 Lineatus Fairy Wrasse

2 Cleaner Wrasse

Cardinals:

15 Bangaii

Tangs: NO YELLOW TANGS ALLOWED!!!!

1 Achilles Tang *this will be the largest fish in the tank, *5 inches min*and also the first added. It will also be allowed to settle in all by itself before any other fish are added

1 Orange Shoulder tang *already have 3 inch fish*

2 Yellow belly hippo tang *already have one 3 inch fish* will get another similar sized one

1 Blue Eye Kole tang *already have one 3 inch fish*

1 Chocolate Tang



Clowns:

Pair of True Percs *already have these*

Pair of Pink Skunk Clownfish *already have these*


Rabbitfish:

1 Scribbled rabbitfish *already have 5 inch fish* very docile

1 Fiji Foxface

1 Magnificent Foxface

Hawkfish:

1 Flame Hawkfish *already have*

Blennies:

1 Lawnmower Blenny *already have*



I'm so excited I cannot contain myself

[hollback]

Have you ordered the tank yet? If not, check with Cward. He has one of similar size and I'm sure it would be much cheaper getting a used one locally then having one made and shipped.

[capn_hylinur]

You are indeed lucky--a great list of fish--can't wait to see the pics

What no guppies on the list--LOL

[cl2ysta1]

its going to be here in utah. the guy made it himself * he does it for a living. we are getting a steal on it. he is delivering it from 4 hours away for 900. comes with tank, stand, canopy, return pump, oceans motions, two seios, and a ca reactor. 1/2 inch acrylic, and the main piece of acrylic is a 12ft piece bended on the edges. here is a picture

[cl2ysta1]

[cl2ysta1]

The tank has a 5 port delivery system with one constant on port and 4 ports rotating on a switch

[cl2ysta1]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
You are indeed lucky--a great list of fish--can't wait to see the pics

What no guppies on the list--LOL

lucky indeed!!! We still have a 180 and 120 in ohio with kyle. he will be out here in june. so we will need to get rid of those systems by than. as part of the deal of buying this tank he has to work on selling a bunch of the aquarium stuff we still have in ohio and dont need.

There should be quite a bit of swimming room in this tank 4ft sides all available for swimming means 16 feet of swimming room for the tangs!



and definetly no guppies. maybe if they came in pink!

[RokleM]

You'll get mixed reviews on these for aggressiveness:

1 Mystery Wrasse
1 Scott's Fairy Wrasse
1 Exquisite Wrasse

Personally, I'd go for one type of Anthias, but that's me.

[TacoKing]

I would say you are really high in the fish count. 61 fish is really a lot of fish! I've got a 280 and I currently have some where around 25 fish now.
Here's my list:

Green Chromis
Anthias
Mandarin
FoxFace
Tomato Clown
Ranfordi Goby
Yellow Wrasse
Cardinals
Copperband Butterfly


I'm sure I could support probably in the 30 - 38 range but it would start to get crowded.

Cut the anthias in half. Pick either Fiji or Magnificent Foxface not both they'll fight. I'd say no tangs at all... But that's just me. I wouldn't add to any more tangs than you have right now. The foxface will do a great job at algae removal and you won't need more than one for that. Make sure you have a canopy and ZERO holes in it. The wrasses will jump and those are expensive fish.

Alright, that's about it.

[cl2ysta1]

agree it would be a lot of fish.
all of the tangs i am planning on adding are pretty non agressive EXCEPT the orange shoulder. and he is only going to be 3 inches when added

the rabbit fish are all pretty docile. i am not sure on how a magnificent will add to the other two but im unconcerned about the scribbled and fiji

The bangaiis might just be dropped to a mated pair,

as for the wrasses they are imo smaller fish and dont even seem to matter. 6 of them in a 280. i am doubting we will find pairs of them at good prices

I am also thinking about lowering my anthia wants to 8 of each type instead of twelve. between the bangaiis and anthia cut down that would be 21 less fish. bringing the total fish closer to 40.

in our 180 reef at home now we have 2 clowns, a large hippo, a medium hippo, a large naso, a yellow tang, a scribbled, a fiji, and a flame hawk. they all do great, this tank will have double the swimming room as our 180 even though shorter b/c all of the sides will be open for swimming equating to 16 feet of undisrupted swimming room if going around the tank.


I might however still order the 12 anthias of each in case we have any deaths in arrival, acclimation, and QT

[cl2ysta1]

Originally posted by RokleM
You'll get mixed reviews on these for aggressiveness:

1 Mystery Wrasse
1 Scott's Fairy Wrasse
1 Exquisite Wrasse

Personally, I'd go for one type of Anthias, but that's me.

our LFS has the mystery and exquisite in a tank similar in size. she said they hang out on opposite sides of the tank with no problem. i might think about dropping one of those in that case. definetly not the mystery. I am stuck on him. as for anthias woudl you only do one type to cut down on number of fish or b/c of compatibility?

[cl2ysta1]

so with my mental changes to the list

1 mated pair of bangaiis (-13 fish)
8 bartlets anthias (-4 fish)
8 disbar anthias (-4 fish)
no more fiji *kyle really likes them, but i'd rather have scribbled and magnificent*


so 61 fish were counted initially this will bring the count down to 38

I am a tang fanatic and these are the exact tangs I want, I will definetly not be adding any more than these. The LFS in salt lake city here has consistently been getting in achilles for the past month. All are still alive and doing well i am hoping they can get me a 4-5 inch fish. the last two they got in were about 15 inches.

I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING ON THE 15 INCHES!!! this fish was larger than a dinner plate.

[cl2ysta1]

also thanks for reminding me about covers!!!! i need to talk to tourkid about the material she made hers out of. it will definetly be up before any of the jumpers are added

[cl2ysta1]

Originally posted by TacoKing
I would say you are really high in the fish count. 61 fish is really a lot of fish! I've got a 280 and I currently have some where around 25 fish now.
Here's my list:

Green Chromis
Anthias
Mandarin
FoxFace
Tomato Clown
Ranfordi Goby
Yellow Wrasse
Cardinals
Copperband Butterfly


Alright, that's about it.

what type of anthias do you have? do you have a picture?

[cl2ysta1]

if i go to one type i think i like the dispars better

[uztaryn]

I have close to 100 fish in my system and it is 1000g. I think you are wise for bringing down your fish count. Word of caution on the anthias... they will switch more males from the females. I started with 8 anthais and only 1 male and ended up with like 5 males later on. I had to buy 6 more females and one of those switched too.

I have a mystery wrasse and exquisite wrasse with no issues other than the occasional jump (they keep falling back in so far) but would agree that only 1 rabbit for that size tank. I have only one in my 500g and have 0 algea with it and the tangs.

I will have some tank raised bangai cardinals ready soon, mine have babies like nobodies business.

[cl2ysta1]

Originally posted by uztaryn
I have close to 100 fish in my system and it is 1000g. I think you are wise for bringing down your fish count. Word of caution on the anthias... they will switch more males from the females. I started with 8 anthais and only 1 male and ended up with like 5 males later on. I had to buy 6 more females and one of those switched too.

I have a mystery wrasse and exquisite wrasse with no issues other than the occasional jump (they keep falling back in so far) but would agree that only 1 rabbit for that size tank. I have only one in my 500g and have 0 algea with it and the tangs.

I will have some tank raised bangai cardinals ready soon, mine have babies like nobodies business.

Ive been researching on these anthias. there is a really good thread in the reef fish forum on it. it seems that if you have MORE in a smaller tank they are less likely to switch sex. they seem to switch sex when there is more territory. which causes the females to turn into males and stake out their own territory. so maybe for the anthias it is better to have more. meaning there would be no unclaimed territory which would discourage them changing to male. here is a link to the thread.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...tletts+Anthias

[cl2ysta1]

I was going to just go to one type of anthia and only do about 6 but after reading that thread i think i am going to stick with both types and about 8 of each. Hopefully this should discourage them from switching sex

[cl2ysta1]

oh yeah! do you have any updated pictures of your tank>? havent seen any updates in a while

[sammie]

I hate to ask but have you added up what this list will cost? Also I hope you plan on back-up's for your back-up not only including a generator so you don't have a large loss after your stocked.

[cl2ysta1]

well thankfully we are getting almost everything at cost. I am not planning on adding these fish all at once. and yes we are planning on a generator. the most expensive fish on this list will be a few of the wrasses i have picked out which run over 100.00. the achilles should only cost us around 70.00 as that has been the cost they have been offered for out here. and that is around what I am expecting to pay for the magnificent also.

not including any of my wrasse wants we are looking at about 500-600 for fish (rough estimate) and the adding of all of these fish is going to take us well over a year. and i may decided to do less wrasses but of course my favorites i wont give up are the most expensive.

[dew2loud1]

I leave for three days and shes spending 5k on fish,

yeah don't worry this isn't a wait to see my tank next month and see 50 fish in it, this is her dream list, I don't overstock and I build ridiculously big skimmers, we aren't putting in $2000 worth of fish, we don't have anywhere near that, this is 2-3 years down the line and the system volume will most likely be over 500 gallons when its hooked up, the skimmer holds 25 gallons alone....

Crystal calm down with the fishes!!!!

We currently have 12 fish in our 180 (300 gallon system)
and 6 fish in our 120 (250 gallon system)

Obviously you can't compare anthias and tangs when talking about both bioload and stocking, anthias school and in the wild exhibit completely different behaviour than tangs and angels,
You can put 100 damsels in a tank and it doesn't look that full but in my opinion three nasos in any tank will be crowded....

sammie, I appreciate the comments, we will definately have a back up system in place, Not only to safe guard economic loss, But I'm a firm believer in being biologically ethical, we've all yanked these animals from the wild and the least we can do is ensure them a natural and safe environment