Stocking 6 foot tank - help please

[glenlikes_stuff]

Hello,

I have kept a 2 foot saltwater tank in the past and am upgrading to a 680 litre 6 foot tank. It will be fish only with live rock... (for now anyway).

I am thinking I would like the following fish:

Moray Eel
Lion Fish
Powder Blue Tang
Yellow Tang
Emperor Angel
Coral Banded Shrimp

Do you see any issues? Will the Shrimp be OK? And in which order should I introduce them?

Thanks.

[kingfisher62]

Forget about lion and the moray unless you want to make it a predator tank. All the others are good picks but you might want the tank to mature. I would wait at least months so they will have some algae to graze on .
The shrimp, you can get as soon as the tank is cycled.

There are plenty of smaller hardier fish you can throw in after cycling.

[Clay]

Probably best to choose between the lion and the moray, and if you keep 1 of those, remove the shrimp. If you want to keep the shrimp, remove the lion and moray. If you want to keep the lion, remove the moray and the shrimp. If you want to keep the moray (depending on species), remove lion, shrimp, and all other fish unless you don't mind their eventual disappearance.

[namxas]

Actually, you'll want to rethink keeping a powder blue tang in a 6 foot setup. They're one of the tang species that has a habit of developing "cabin fever", so at least an 8 foot setup is recommended for them. I also think your tank will be too small for a full-grown imperator angel.

The other fish will be fine, but as mentioned, the CBS may or may not end up as food, depending on whether it's recognized as a cleaner. Unlike many of the cleaner shrimp, CBS tend to lose their desire to groom their tankmates in captivity, which may have an impact on whether or not it's viewed as a prey item (they do become big and cranky/aggressive, however).

HTH

[glenlikes_stuff]

Thanks guys. This is really helpful.

I've heard that the Zebra Moray Eel is quite peaceful and so he would be OK with the Lion?

What about a box or puffer fish? Some people have suggested them but I'm scared they will get upset and poison my tank.

[namxas]

A puffer won't nuke your tank like a member of family Ostraciidae. Certain puffers are poisonous when eaten, but none release poison into the water column like Ostraciidae. To be honest, one rarely hears of a tank being nuked by a cowfish/boxfish/trunkfish, altho it can happen.

Ostraciidae tend to be fin nippers, but are pretty slow moving. I've never personally kept one with a lion, so I can't speak for their propensity to nip a lion's fins. Additionally, I can say that IME, Arothron sp. (dogface) puffers get more nippy than Diodon (pocupine) or Canthagaster (tobies) puffers.

The zebra moray is about as mellow as they come...moreso than a SFE>