My 75g

[wetzel76]

Hey guys my tank just finished the cycling phase, and I have just started stocking my 75 gallon tank and bought a mated pair of clowns, i was wondering what your thoughts were on what would be good tank mates would be for these 2? New to the saltwater hobby and don't have to much experience with the different types of fish available.


Also, my buddy saw my tank recently and now wants to turn his 210 into saltwater, what would your suggestions be on the filtration system for him? Protein skimmer, basically everything I can't really find anything for a tank that big to help him out any.


Thanks guys

[reeferbill]

Hi wetzel76;Any type of blennies or gobies will be great additions to your set-up.These are two groups of personable fish that will get along with other non aggressive fish. I would stay away from tangs,butterflies and any angels except one type of pygmy or dwarf angel.I have a coral beauty and I have allways wanted a flame angel,maybe next time.You do not want to put any fish in your tank that will outgrow it,becase then they will cause problems.kill and harrass other fish.There are also alot of sweet wrasses out their , just get one that does not get to big.3 inches or less(6-line wrasse or any fairy wrasse). As far as your friends 210 gallon tank filter I would just turn a 40-75 gallon tank into a sump and or refugium.I am sure Euro-Reef makes a skimmer that would work great. Happy Reefing!!!!!!!!

[wetzel76]

Thanks Bill, I was hoping to find a flame angel to add to my tank, but the pickings are slim in my area only one LFS in the area that deals with saltwater besides petco and I won't buy from them. Are there any good articles on setting up a sump or refugium because I have no idea where to start with something like that.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Definitely do your research on the fish you would like to keep so you can make sure A) you can provide the correct environment, B) you can be prepared to meet the fish's specific needs like food and nutrition, and C) so you'll know weather all of your fish will get along with each other.
Start by making a list of all of the fish you would like to have, do your research on each fish and it's needs and post the completed list here for others to see if there may be potential problems with what you have chosen.
Try not to make impulse purchases ( I know, it's hard to do) because you might end up in a bad situation with dead fish or having to tear your tank apart trying to catch a problem fish.
Also, if you haven't already, look into using a quarantine process for all new fish. Infecting you tank with disease/ parasites might be enough to knock you completely out of this great hobby. Quarantining is a heavily debated subject but it is safe to say that the most successful hobbyists wouldn't go without.

[reeferbill]

Hi Wetzel76; I just have a refugium set-up made from a 38 gallon tank a 5 pound bucket of live sand and 6 good size pieces of live rock , cheato algea ,a 2 Little-Fishes Phosban Reactor and a 100 gallon rated E-shoppes protein skimmer. It works wonders for my water perameters.It is plumbed into my 46 bow display tank with a mag 7 water pump. If you need some algea I can send you a batch. Happy Reefing!!!!!!!

[wetzel76]

thanks for the offer Bill I don't need any for my tank right now, but maybe when we setup my buddies tank I will take you up on that offer.

I put together a prelim stocking list what do you guys think?

2 clowns (already have)
1 coral beauty or flame (depends what I can find only have one lfs that deals with saltwater fish in my area that I know of)
1 Blue mandarin dragonet
1 6 line wrassel

I'm not sure how many fish I should keep in the tank, Don't want to over do the bio load. I have a marineland bio pro 350 canister, aquaclear 110, and sea clone skimmer despite mixed reviews seems to be working very will with my setup.

Any suggestions?

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

The only thing I see is that people have had mandarins killed by six line erasers. Maybe coloration similarities. The angels may be a problem if you end up adding coral. Some have had no problems while others had to remove them.
I personally would call that a medium Bio load for a 75 if the clowns are a smaller species.

[SaltwaterTruthteller]

I know I'm a newby here but I would strongly suggest ommitting the Manderin completely. They are very difficult to feed/ maintain in a new tank because they will only eat live copipods. In captivity that means having a self sustaining population for a Manderin to feed on. I would choose the Flame over the Coral Beauty. Although CB's are usually said to be easy to keep, in my experience, they die within a few months after you get them. Just my opinion.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Its true mandarins only eat live foods (pods) in the wild. But it doesn't have to be so in the home aquarium. Wild caught mandarins can be trained to eat prepared foods. Its not all that hard either. Since putting my mandy in my DT, she is constantly hunting pods but will also eat frozen food provided.
Also, ORA is now offering tank bred mandarins which have already been accustomed to eating prepared foods. The cost more but I feel they are worth it as with all other captive bred fish.

[Original Fin]

+1 on captive bred Mandarins. This is the way to go.

[wetzel76]

I purchased the CB and mandarin on saturday. The CB is doing very well so far, eating swimming all around the tank. The mandarin is still a little shy ate today though, I purchased Reef Nutrition's arcti pods to feed it. All the other fish love it too, the mandarin kinda picks around after everyone else is finished eating.

[Original Fin]

If you've ever seen a Kestral Falcon hunting, Mandarins to me look exactly the same. They'll sit there above a field and hover in one spot, scanning, and then move a bit, hover/scan some more, etc., till they spot something, and then they dive. It's lights out for some poor little furry creature...or copepod in the case of a Mandarin.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="390" src="YouTube - Kestrel" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>

[wetzel76]

very cool, I would have to say he is my favorite fish so far, so cool to watch.