fish list feedback??

[prow]

hey everyone, i am hopping to get a little feed back on my fish list. the tank is 72x18x20"H with a 45gal sump. here is the current list.
1-Green clown goby (Gobiodon atrangulatrus)
1-Yellow clown goby (Gobiodon okiwawee)
5-Dispar anthias (Mirolabrichthys dispar)
2-Lineatus fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus lineatus)
1-Canary blenny (Meiacanthus ovalaunensis)
1-Regal angel (Pygoplites diacanthus )
2-False percula clown (Amphiprion ocellaris)
1-Kole yellow eye tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus)

i want to add an orcid dottyback (fridmani pseudochromis). how do you think he will do in the mix. thinking i might boot the percula clowns if room is needed. any ideas??
on a different subject what do you think is best stocking fish first or corals first. or both as i go? mostly thinking of the angel and corals, but over all aswell.

[Ninong]

I have an orchid dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani) and he has not caused any problems. He was the second fish I added to my tank, following a foxface rabbitfish (Siganus vulpinus). I would avoid trying to keep a dottyback with anything too similiar, like a royal gramma. My dottyback does not bother my Cirrhilabrus spp. wrasses but they were much larger than him when they were added to the tank.

My suggestion would be to go with three, or even four, fairy wrasses of the same species instead of just two. Be sure that only one of them is a male. Either that or just get three females and let nature take its course.

You could use the same approach with the orchid dottyback(s) but with these you should start with captive-bred fish that are no more than several months old. If you start with two captive-bred juveniles, you will end up with one male and one female. This is just a suggestion. You can do just fine with a single orchid dottyback. I have just one and I wouldn't even think of trying to add another one at this stage because of the difficulties involved in trying to get a mature male to accept a newcomer. I wish I had started out with two juveniles instead of just one individual.

Fairy wrasses are not aggressive fish but they can be somewhat active once they settle in. It takes them a few weeks to get used to their new environment. They can be aggressive with other members of the same genus, so I would recommend that you not try to keep more than one species in a tank the size of yours. If you get two or three females, you can add them all at the same time. If one of them is a male, it would be better to add him a few days after the females but NOT too long after. If you wait more than a week, one of the females (if she is a mature female) could start to change sex. This would result in something you don't want to deal with, believe me! Been there, done that.



P.S. -- I would add at least one or two fish before adding the first coral. I added my first fish about five weeks after setting up the tank. Of the fish on your list, I would add the regal angel last.

[prow]

nice thanks, do you think the dottyback will hide most of the time with the angel and tang in there? if i get 2 dottybacks and 3 wrasse IYO should i leave the rest of list. a little worried about swimming room for them. or would it be a good idea to leave out the clowns?

[Ninong]

My orchid dottyback doesn't hide. I have two wrasses (one Lineatus and one Scott's -- it's a long story), one foxface rabbitfish and a coral beauty angelfish in a 120-gal tank. The Lineatus wrasse (probably still female) avoids the male Scott's but there is no real aggression there. Not anymore, anyway.

I don't have any tangs because of the small size of my tank. I figured the foxface rabbitfish might be a better choice. He probably needs a larger tank than I have but my options were limited and I wanted a good herbivore. My foxface rabbitfish is probably a better all-around herbivore than any of the tangs. He's very friendly and a bit shy and not aggressive at all, which is another plus compared to most tangs.

P.S. -- There are so many variables when it comes to how many fish you should keep in a given size tank that I am reluctant to get into specifics other than to point out the obvious fact that my foxface rabbitfish represents about as much mass as ten orchid dottybacks. The orchid dottyback is an ideal size fish for a small (less than 200 gallons) tank because of it's size and behavioral patterns. Tangs and rabbitfish need a lot more swimming space, as do fairy wrasses but for different reasons. I find that my wrasses are very active. I would hate to try to confine them to something as small as a 40-gal tank even though they are often suggested for tanks that small.

The most important thing to remember is to add your fish gradually over several months and not all within 30 days.

[prow]

this is what i am thinking. tell me what you think. The big plan. Got most of who how thought out. The tank is six feet long 115ish gal with a 45gal sump/refugium. Total water volume is 145gal measured. didnt know if you thought this was a 45gal tank or not. 165lbs live rock. The tank has been going for 3.5 months now with 5 chromis lots of pods, mysids and things. The tank will be going for 9 months before stocking. About another 4-5 months. Will start by taking the chromis out and back to LFS or fellow reefer. Then add the 5 dispar anthias and both clown gobies. After about a month will add the 2 linteatus fairy wrasse. one month after that will add the percula clowns/or flame angel not sure which IYO which which do you kike here. Add some corals at this point. Here again I am not sure. The tang first then the regal angel or both at the same time. If both i will wait couple months while stocking corals after adding the clowns/flame before adding these guys. Depending on if it looks crowded or not will add 1-Orchid dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani) or 1-Canary blenny (Meiacanthus ovalaunensis) later sometime. So what do you think? What would you do differently? Percula clowns or flame angel?=1 fish with a risk vs 2 taking up more swimming room. will the kole tang be cool in this tank?

[Ninong]

I was aware of the size of your tank because you gave the dimensions previously. There is no one-answer-fits-all response to your questions about how many fish you should keep. This is another one of those personal decisions. The same goes for whether you should keep a tang in that size tank. Most people would agree that one tang would be acceptable but more than one would be overdoing it.

As far as the Flame Angel is concerned, that's another personal choice decision. They are beautiful but they are risky. Many people choose to keep them in reef tanks and then just avoid corals that they seem attracted to. Individual Flame Angels are unpredictable. Some may cause little or no damage while others may be holy terrors. I would tend to take a chance on one but many people would not.

I think your riskiest bet is the dispar anthias. They do better in larger tanks and they require frequent feedings. You may be able to get by with feeding them twice a day but three or four times a day is recommended.

I hate to tell other people how many fish they should keep in a particular size tank because the best answer is not something any of us want to hear. I will probably never add a tang to my 120-gal tank but I would probably add a Regal Angel if I ever came across a very nice one from the Red Sea.

[prow]

yeah i agree. just can make up my mind. i want them all hehehe.

[dougc]

If you really want to stick to a stocking plan, it may require patience, since Doug's Law states that any given fish on your list will be available from every LFS and online source as long as you are not ready for it yet. The same fish will become unavailable at any price the day that your quarantine tank is ready to receive it.

[prow]

lol, yup no dout. i am sure it will happen to me.