Stocking a 90 Gallon. Fish Only.

[L98-Z]

I'm helping a friend setup a 90 gallon tank in his living room. Pretty much the last 8 years or so I've been into salt water aquariums has been with reef tanks. He's leaning away from a reef, so we thought we'd go with a fish only tank.

I thought we could go with the Papuan Puffer as a showcase fish. It's a relatively small puffer that's very colorful.

Other fish I've thought about are:
-Flame Hawkfish
-Tang variation or Trigger Fish or FO Wrasse
-Flame Angel
-Group of some fish: I was thinking Yellow Tail Damsels for their colors, but perhaps blue/green chromis, or some type of cardinal fish
-Lastly a large sand-sifting goby for keeping the sand mixed.

Any issues or problems with this? Other recommendations?

Also, can urchins survive against a small puffer or trigger? I realize crabs/shrimp/snails won't make it.

[Puffer29]

Stocking list seems fine. I have a similiar set up in some regards. I have about a dozen yellow tail damsels with a 12 inch porc puffer.
I would not add the urchin with the puffer or trigger. Triggers are naturally curious and will eventually begin to bite the urchin. I would recommend one of the less agressive triggers, humu humu or niger.

[L98-Z]

Thanks. You have a dozen within a 90 gallon? I was thinking 5-7, I don't want to overstock the tank for him. Since this is his first aquarium and all. If I do go with a trigger, I was looking at the Humu Picasso.

I like the triggers because of their unique personality but I don't want them causing any problems with the other fish. I'm not familiar with them at all.

[jwm2k3]

Make him quaranteen new fish. As a new guy in the hobby the first time he gets ich or velvet, hes gonna add new fish as soon as the others die...before the parasite is dead. I know because I did.

[L98-Z]

I'm not so much worried about that. Not that it's not valid, I just mean I'm worried about overstocking his tank or mixing incompatiable fish. I'm not familiar with pufferfish at all.

The current end stock list we're thinking is something like this:
Other fish I've thought about are:
-Papuan Puffer
-Flame Hawkfish
-Flame Angel
-FO Wrasse (maybe Pinkface Wrasse?)
-Group Yellow Tail Damsels (5 or 7)
-A diamond goby to keep the sand nicely turned
-and lastly (and may required a reduction in yellow tails to meet), an Ocellaris Clownfish, pair.


Any issues here? Too overstock? Aggression issues?

[jwm2k3]

If he dosent quarantine, overstocking will never be a problem.

[L98-Z]

I have no idea why you're bringing up the quarantine issue. I understand the importance of a quarantine method, my focus was on overstocking/compatability issues.