Adding the Fish

[nitratehater]

I've had my tank set up for about 8 weeks now, and all parameters are doing well. I have one percula clown and a watchman goby. I want to start putting in my big personalities, my prize specimens. I have a 75 gallon reef. I want to add a clown to have a pair. so that makes three. I'm aware of overloading, but here are the others i want to add:

1. Powder Blue Tang
2. White Cheek Tang
3. Hippo
4. Mandarin FIsh

now here's where i think it may cross the "too many fish" line:

5. Yellow Tang
6. Purple Tang

My main source for fish is a small shop run by a retired guy who is genius with this stuff. he has very successful tanks and feels that simple is better. he has a 65 gallon tank with a huge naso (6 inches), huge sailfin (bigger than the palm of your hand), huge purple tang, and various other small fish like 5 skunk clowns, 2 chromis, hawkfish, two gobies, all in this one 65 gallon reef, and it's beautiful. nothing fancy as far as technology, though. i don't even think he runs the nautilus skimmer all the time. he just does water changes, and he has maybe 80-100 lbs of rock in it. many soft corals too. How does he do it?! all he says is : "I don't even touch that thing." it's just the show tank at his shop, which is an old house.

that makes me think i can at least go with my first 4 choices. I have basically the same set up: big sump with bioballs (and by the way, he only has about 1/4 of the bioballs that the sump can hold) my sump is an amiracle mr 200, aqua-UV 15 watt sterilizer, and nautilus TE skimmer.

My concern is not only how many of these characters, but how to add them. I know it's wise to add the tangs at the same time to avoid them getting too territorial. What sequence would you use in adding these specimens? I also don't want to shock the biological system by adding too many too quickly.

Thanks!

[saltjunkie]

thats alot of fish.. i would only put one of those tangs in there..
otherwise your screen name will be a self fulfilling prophecy..

[nitratehater]

ok, how about a powder blue, a yellow tang, a mandarin and another clown?

[klasikb]

IME a yellow tang is not going to want another tang in "his" tank, not a tank that small. I would stick with just one tang. They may be fine at the start but when they grow up, they are going to fight.

[nitratehater]

sounds logical. i know yellow tangs are fiesty. i've had one before.

so, not a powder blue and a white cheek together either?

you're all being very helpful.

Thanks.

[James]

Hippo tang is your best bet. Yellows can be bossy, but are the hardiest. Powder blues are very delicate, reserved for those who have alot of marine tank experience and perfect water conditions. In a 75gal. tank you should only have one tang (though I have a yellow and a hippo in a 50 gal., shame on me ). If you decide to have 2 tangs, go with a yellow and a hippo, best combo. Be sure that the hippo is larger than the yellow, and placed in the tank first. This way the yellow won't lay claim to the tank and intimidate the hippo tang. good luck

also-

1) add your fish one at a time with at least a few days in between, this will allow your tank to adjust and balance itself to the new bio load.

2) Do yourself a favor and ditch the bio balls and UV sterlizer. You'll have better success and less problems with 75 - 100lbs of live rock.

good luck, and weclome to Reefland!

[Ninong]

My suggestion is that you avoid any tangs for a 75-gal tank but if you insist on getting one, I think the best choice for that size tank would be a yellow tang.

[nitratehater]

this is my second tank. i started over because i had saltwater with freshwater technology and started to suffer with nitrates, but only after 2.5 years. that was a 45 gallon non overflow tank with a canister filter. In it i had a purple tang, yellow tang, and a hippo for the 2.5 years, give or take a month or two. they were lost last december when my wife got me a powder brown (sissy) that brought in ich. i therefore started over with a larger tank, reef ready, with UV.


in short, i know about hippos, yellows, and purples. i started this tank so i can have the one i always wanted, but was afraid to get: the powder blue. my fish man said he would n't recommend the powder blue without uv.

[nitratehater]

oh, and i currently have 85 lbs of live rock.

[samsreef]

I can't believe you squeezed all of those tangs in a 45g tank, I feel bad enough have a Purple in a 55g so I'm moving it to a 4' 65 gallon.

I would say go for just the 1 yellow. Purple tangs can be quite nasty, adult hippos can be a nuisance (my dad's adult hippo likes picking things up and dropping them at the other end of the tank, especially star fish, snails, crabs and urchins. Its taken a liking to the buttons as well.) and I don't know about the rest.

[WHOSYOURDADDY]

Hippo tang is your best bet. Yellows can be bossy, but are the hardiest. Powder blues are very delicate, reserved for those who have alot of marine tank experience and perfect water conditions. In a 75gal. tank you should only have one tang (though I have a yellow and a hippo in a 50 gal., shame on me ). If you decide to have 2 tangs, go with a yellow and a hippo, best combo. Be sure that the hippo is larger than the yellow, and placed in the tank first. This way the yellow won't lay claim to the tank and intimidate the hippo tang. good luck

also-

1) add your fish one at a time with at least a few days in between, this will allow your tank to adjust and balance itself to the new bio load.

2) Do yourself a favor and ditch the bio balls and UV sterlizer. You'll have better success and less problems with 75 - 100lbs of live rock.

good luck, and weclome to Reefland!

Agreed that is quite a bit to add - if you want to do so it would be over a period of a couple of months. Add them slowly 1 or 2 at a time then allow about 2 weeks before adding any more. In the long run they will be happier and healthier. You would create to much stress on the fish and the environment. Your bio-load would not have enough time to adjust to the increase in load the the new inhabitants would create.

Anything you do in a reef - the slower the better

[WHOSYOURDADDY]

this is my second tank. i started over because i had saltwater with freshwater technology and started to suffer with nitrates, but only after 2.5 years. that was a 45 gallon non overflow tank with a canister filter. In it i had a purple tang, yellow tang, and a hippo for the 2.5 years, give or take a month or two. they were lost last december when my wife got me a powder brown (sissy) that brought in ich. i therefore started over with a larger tank, reef ready, with UV.


in short, i know about hippos, yellows, and purples. i started this tank so i can have the one i always wanted, but was afraid to get: the powder blue. my fish man said he would n't recommend the powder blue without uv.

What type of water are you going to be using? If you don't have one invest in a good RO/DI system

[nitratehater]

i use water that's called "H2O to GO". Weis Supermarkets has fill stations outside of their stores. it costs $.30/gal. it is RO, UV sterilized water. you can fill gallon jugs or water cooler jugs (the blue ones). i take a few 5 gallon pails. i've been using it for about 3 years and no problems.

[Poseidon]

I would NOT squeeze all those tangs in there! I have a 90 that I just set-up, but all the inhabitants and Liverock came from my 135. In my 135 I had a Naso and a Yellow, they were quite happy. In the 90 I still have the same fish, but the Naso is not so happy. I am trying to convince my family it is the best interest of the Naso to move him to a larger tank, like my buddies 150!