fish stocking ideas for a 90? please give me your ideas

[astronaut]

im setting up a regular 90 gallon 48 by 25 by 18, and was wondering what fish you guys would suggest. first is a list of must haves. btw, i will have over 100 lb.s of LR, 70 lb.s LS, sps, some softies, clams, shrimp, an aggressive skimming AquaC EV-180, and these must have fish.

mandarin (synchiropus splendidus)
pair of clowns (amphiprion ocellaris)
yellow tang (zebrasoma flavescens)
lemon clown goby (gobiodon citrinus)
most likely some other gobies, i.e. watchman, neons.
and i want a school of something. i want the highest fish load possible, and so that comes out to 4 small fish and one big fish, plus possibly 2 more small ones. that still leaves room for 3-8 more fish.

hmm... oh the possibilities.

[Portsmouth Reef]

I have a tank the same size which is now 11 months old. I had a mandarin in the early days when the tank had just cycled, and I thought I had enough Copepods. However after 2or 3 weeks everything in the tank kept dying and dissapearing. When I cleaned the whole tank out, all that was left was the Coral Beauty. The Mandarin had starved. What they didnt tell me at the LFS when I bought the fish was, that when they die, they let out a poison which near enough kills everything else. Clarki Clowns are cool. Also a Yellow Eye Tang. These are best put in though when the tank is well matured, and your live rock has started to
mature as well.

[astronaut]

clarkii clowns are cool when they're little, but i dont really like adult clarkiis. How is the coral beauty? and also, i have researched almos everything there is to know about mandarins, so i dont need to be warned. i know that mandarins are dragonets, not gobies. they are from the family callyonimidae. the scientific name is synchirpous splendidus, and they need a well established reef tank (safest adding at 6 months-1 year) with at least 80 lb.s of LR, unless you happen to come across one that eats prepared food, then they are very easy fish to keep, because they dont require a lot of space, stay small, and are very disease resistant because of an oily coating covering their bodies. disease treatment in the main tank, though, will destroy this slime and actually make them much, much more succeptible to disease.

and im only 13

[Portsmouth Reef]

Sorry I wasnt teaching you to suck eggs. It was just such a nasty experience when everything crashed. My Coral Beauty is no longer. When I had rebuilt the tank and added around 60 pounds of Live Rock, the fish was O.K. for a while, but it eventually became paranoid, swiiming round in circles, and hiding in its cave for days on end. It ventured out into the main tank a couple of times, but eventually went round the back of the reef, and never reappeared. I dont know what caused this, as the fish was eating well, and before the new tank layout was acting O.K.

[Jerry W]

Choose one fish as the "centerpiece fish", and build the tank around that specimen. Regardless of your skimming or filtration, having an excessively high fish load is potentially unhealthy. The crowding causes aggression, which in turn can bring out stress. The constant stress can inhibit the immune function and make your fish more susceptible to any number of illnesses. Don't go for "the highest fish load possible" but rather the best combination of fish that can live peacefully together.
So you need a tang, (wouldn't be my choice but..), a pair of clowns, one of the fairy wrasses would be nice, a royal gramma, the citron goby, maybe a purple firefish, and possibly a dwarf angel once the tank has been up and running for a few months. The dragonette might do okay, but why not plan for a fuge to optimize your chances of keeping it long term.
FWIW, my 120 has only 5 fish, the largest of which will max out around 7 inches. Everyone has their own space, and other than the occassional dirty look, no aggression.

[Diehl]

This is my centerpiece fish I have in my 90gal

[Matt Sable]

First, the "watchman" gobies you mentioned are most likely a species of shrimp goby{in my experience, every "watchman goby" I've seen has been a shrimpgoby{to be specific, Cryptocentrus}. There are three kinds of shrimp goby commonly available to the hobby. These are Cryptocentrus, Amblyeleotris, and Stonogobiops. Cryptocentrus are more aggressive and stockier{warning: be very careful with other bottom-dwelling fish because Cryptocentrus are more aggressive, and definitely don't add more than one species of Cryptocentrus to a tank of less than a 150}. Amblyeleotris are probably your best bet, because they are less aggressive and less of a threat to ornamental shrimp than Cryptocentrus{which have quite large mouths}. Stonogobiops are one of the most attractive shrimpgobies, and therefore one of the most tempting; but they are alot more sensitive and shy. They definitely need to be added before any fish that are large and\or fast-swimming. Once they acclimate they can tolerate larger, more active fish. Don't just buy any snapping shrimp, they are specific about which species they associate with{ although they have associated with snapping shrimp in the aquarium that they don't associate with in the wild}.
You need to add the snapping shrimp and shrimpgoby at the same time. You can actually buy shrimpgoby-snapping shrimp pairs. If you get a pair you will need at least a 4-5in. deep sand bed. To make acclimation easier, you can make your own burrow for your goby\shrimp pair. That way you can deside where you want them to be in your display.If you would like to know how to do this PM me, because it's alot of typing, but it is not hard to make at all. A small group of fairies or flashers would be cool. In groups I mean only one species of fairy or flasher, and 1 male and 2-3 females. They are both peaceful and need to be added before more aggressive species. Anthias are really awsome, but you have to be careful because they aren't just peaceful, shoaling fish. Alot need a 180g just to have a group. Angels are another fish that I like. First, there is Genicanthus angels which are the most reef-safe angel{don't get more than one,you need at least a 100g for that}. They are also zooplankton feeders like fairies,flashers,and anthias;and need to be fed at least 2 times a day{3-4 small feedings are preferable}. Then there are Centropyge, they are a risk to corals and clams{some alot more than others},but some are very beautiful. Then there are regals. There is a thread on these very beautiful fish that may give you all the info you need to keep these somewhat demanding angels. Hope this helped. Good Luck!!!

[mdiack77]

In my 90g I have:

Mandarin, Yellow Tang, Long Nose Hawkfish, 3 Yellow-Tail Damsels, 6-Line Wrasse, Clownfish, Coral Beauty, Diamond Goby.

All are A-OK. I've had the Coral Beauty since the beginning, right after the 3 damsels. I'm now offically stocked, waiting for the next upgrade to 210g.

[astronaut]

a six-line and a mandarin? wow. from what ive heard, six-lines eat pods, dont they? anyways, i forgot to mention that the tank is going to be built around the mandarin. mandarins are whatcsingle-handly got me into the hobby, and i am doing everything i can to set up a reef for them. i dont know if i want a watchman, but would like a few neons. updated it seems like...

mandarin
pair of clowns
pair of firefish
tang (yellow or mimic?)
lemon clown goby

thats 7. i think i can definitely fit more than 7 since i am not going to have large fish. if you notice, besides the tang, none of those get over 4 inches, but should i get a school of (chromis or anthias, i would say anthias) or just leave the room for more ideas?

[mdiack77]

Well, I am now one less damsel! Amen. I was able to catch him this evening during a waterchange. AWESOME! He's free to anyone interested in Long Island, going to the pet store tomorrow night!

[Sting]

Don't go for Anthias, they are way to difficult to keep. Chromis would be nice, Green are pretty, peaceful and easy to keep. You could do like, 5? Maybe even more. Also look into diffeent kinds of Cardinalfish on www.liveaquaria.com -lots of them school nicely. Another safe bet would be a harem of Flasher Wrasse. You could get maybe 5, and it'd be really cool cuz they'd flash with eachother. However, you'd have to do more research on their compatibility in groups and make sure you know what you're doing.

IMO I'd can the Mandarin and the Firefish. Both are uninteresting and boring. The Mandarin has cool colors, but believe me- been there done that, it gets old fast. And always having to provide for them and make sure they are alive and well? Not worth my effort. Saltwater tanks are supposed to be enjoyable right? It's just not my thing. And Firefish, they just sit there. They aren't active and most of them are quite shy and timid. And who knows if the two you got would actually pair up.

Just my thoughts...

[Matt Sable]

Anthias aren't really "way to difficult to keep". In alot are quite hardy if you feed them 2-3 small meals a day. The problems with anthias probably start from trying to group WAY territorial anthias in tanks WAY to small. Alot of anthias peope try to group,in say, a 90g. really need at least a 180g. Some examples of these are as follows: lyretail, squareblock, redcheek, etc.. The fish go on and on. Then they need a group of 1 male and 7-9 females. One anthias I'm struggling with "the tank size for a group", is the bartletts. They are very hardy and might fit in your tank{just do the research first}. Well, Good Luck!!