fish in a 120sps tank

[brandon7491]

hey guys ima about to go buy a 120gallon drilled tank standard. i will be transfering my stuff from my 29sps tank into the 120.
i was wondering if this list is ok. as most of you guys know u want to kinda overstock ur tank so there is more coral food aka fish poo for the corals. here it is

1) 3 lyertial anthias, or sunburts
2) powder blue tang
3) purple tang
4) hippo tang
5) mystery wrasse
6) lepard wrasse
7) 2 clown fish true percs
8) 1 6 line wrasse

thxs alot guys

[lvreefer]

Two things stand out; the sunburst are solitary unless you can guarantee a trio and the powder blue needs at least a 5' long tank. Other wise all else looks good.

[brandon7491]

alright man. do u think i should just go with a 125? but then again the more cubed shape and the dimentions of the 120 are better for a reef. but i really do want a pb tang. how unhappy do u think it would be in a 120?

[mike888705]

What about a chevron tang?

[Monstrigity]

I have a PBT in a 120gal reef. Not a good Idea. I got him very small a year ago and he has quickly outgrown my tank. I'm in the planning stages for something 300 gal+. I have seen these fish full grown and after observing mine for the last year, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable keeping one in anything less than a 180 at full size. A 125 would be fine for a couple years with a small enough specimen, but I would go for a 180 gallon. You and your tangs will be glad you did!

[brandon7491]

so what tangs would u reccomend for a 120 if any at all

[Monstrigity]

I personally like to see tangs in 6'+ tanks, but some of the zebrasoma species like the purple you have listed should do fine, a Kole tang would work. I tend to look at the long term with these fishes. I believe that a lot of fish like tangs and angels can live for 20+ years in captivity given optimal care and should be able to meet or even exceed their maximum stated size. I'm not sure on the statistics but my guess would be somewhere around 1 in a million fish taken for the industry actually achieves those standards. I guess my point is that you can keep any fish you want in any size aquarium you want. The question is how long do you want to keep it and what are your long term goals with the animal? If your goal is to keep a fish alive as long as possible permanently in a 120 gallon then I would pick only one tang specimen (out of the three you stated I would go with the purple). If you plan to upgrade your tank in the next year or two yoyr current stocking list could work out for you. I am happy that you are doing your research before you purchase. Keep it up!

[brandon7491]

thanks alot for all ur info man yea yea i always reasearch before i buy n e thing. b when i first got into the hobby i kinda rushed it with a 14gallon nano but the reasearched day nd night nd now have a 29 lol. i hope to have the 120 sometime this year and the actual tank before december. its gonna cost me for everything around $2000.00 us dollars. i am going with 2 400watt 20xm bulbs and if i can fit 1 hanging aquamedic 150watt 10k mh.,geo calcium reactor,2 little fished phos reactor,euroreef rs135 skimmer,40gallon fuge,40gallon sump,lifeguard 25watt uv sterlizer,2 tunze 6060 power heads,closed loop system. also i will have a 3 inch sand bed of fine carib sea live sand,150lbs of marshal,fiji,and tonga live rock. this tanks is hopefully going to be awsome cuz all the fish i have in my 29gallon tank are 3 yellow tail damsels and 3 domino damsels lol. n e ways i think i will go with a

1 regal angel
purple tang
1 six line wrasse
7 anthais of some type
1 fox face
1 mystery wrasse
potters wrase
fairy wrase
that is prob it.

[Monstrigity]

Just a suggestion, but the equiptment and design you mention would work perfect on a 180. If you have the room a 180 gallon percto will not set you back that much more than say a 120 RR Oceanic and that extra 2'' will make a big difference in your stocking choices. Forget the 150 and just use the 2 400's in lumenark reflectors. Either way sounds like a nice system. Good Luck.

[brandon7491]

i thought for a 180 i would have to get 3 lumenark reflectors?

[Rickyrooz1]

These are the three tangs I keep in my 120g reef with 18 SPS corals.

Purple Tang
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/YellowBellyTang/purpletang01.jpg

Spotted Kole Tang
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/YellowBellyTang/spotkole1.jpg

Desjardini Sailfin
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/YellowBellyTang/sally02.jpg

[brandon7491]

thats a nice sellection. n e ways yea a 180 would be nice but my parrents say i have to get a tank that would fit the space where my 29gallon is which is about 4ft.

[Bax]

I have 4 x 2 x 2, 120 reef and really like the dimentions. That said, as for tangs, it's limiting. I have only one tang a yellow, and I don't think I could bring myself to add another. I probably "could" get away with it for a while, but don't think it's a good idea long term. I do have two rabbit fish, but they don't need the room to bolt that a tang does IMO. I also have plans to move one of the rabbits to a new display pretty soon.

[brandon7491]

sigh u r right i guess ill only add a purple tang to the display.
im getting the actual tank on saturday or sunday then i have to save up for the actual equiptment. i dont wanna go used becasue i wanna be absolutely positive that all my equiptment will work and last long term. so ill go with a

1) regal angel
2) purple tang
3) 5-7 anthias of some sort
4) six line wrasse
5) 2 perc clown fish to host my rbta
6) 1 flame hawk
7) watchman goby with pistol shrimp

[raddogz]

Are you sure you want to go with a six line wrasse (unless you already have one)? I have found very few reefers who have kept them successfully and then added similar shaped fish without the sixline killing them or simply driving them out of the tank.

A friend of mine's six line drove all four of the firefish out of the tank, and just recently drove a flasher wrasse out of the tank.

[brandon7491]

yea i have always like the personality of a 6line and they control pests and such btw ricky beautiful tangs

[Rickyrooz1]

Thanks! I really want to add a Yellow Belly Hippo Tang but I know my tank can't have four tangs. Plus the Tangs I have get along so well I don't want them to bully a new member. I did have a fourth tang (Yellow Belly Hippo) but it got crushed by a falling piece of live rock. It was my favorite fish and I've always wanted another one but maybe when I upgrade I'll get one.

Here is a picture. He was 2" long so his belly wasn't very yellow yet.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/YellowBellyTang/yellowbelly.jpg

[brandon7491]

wow that sucks man but he was a beautiful fish, what size tank r u planing n doing for ur upgrade?

[Rickyrooz1]

I would love a 84"x48"x24" Rimless Starphire Glass with Black PVC bottom and Black PVC back panel unless A.G.E. has a Blue PVC color. I may want to go 96" but I am not sure about what lighting I will get with. If I use four Lumenarc III's (19.5"x19.5") with T-5 supplementation it will cover an 84" better than a 96".

[brandon7491]

taht would be sooooo nice i want dimentions similar to taht in the future. i just have ordered 2 of the tunze units today so things are moving along

[Rickyrooz1]

What Tunze did you get? Do they come with the controller to make waves?

[brandon7491]

na no controler they are just the tunze turbelle stream pump 6060