700 gallon Stocking

[volitan24]

Call me crazy but I am planning a FOWLR 700+ gallon aquarium (96"Lx48"Wx36"H).
I dont know about this stock list, but I would like to come as close as possible to it.

Angels:
Emperor Angel
French Angel
Blueface Angel
Flame Angel
Coral beauty

Tangs:
Blue Tang
Yellow Tang
Purple Tang
Sailfin Tang
Tomini Tang

Butterfly Fish:
Auriga Butterfly
Saddleback butterfly
Pakistan butterfly

Triggers:
Picasso Trigger
Niger Trigger

Eels:
Zebra Moray
Snowflake

Other:
Midas Blenny
Harlequin Tusk
Volitan Lionfish
Maroon Clown
Moon Wrasse
Dragon Wrasse
Marine Betta

The biggest issues are probably the number of fish, and some of the smaller ones (flame, coral beauty, maroon clown). If I absolutely had to eliminate some it would be the marine betta, midas blenny, niger trigger, coral beauty and finally the Pakistan butterfly.

Opinions, thoughts, suggestions?

[Michael cicco]

can u put a yellow tang thats already in a tank then add a hippo if u wanted with out have to move all the rocks around

[Texas]

When all these fish grow up the tank will be really over crowded. I thought when I got my 600 (130" long) that I would be able to have more fish but since I have angels, butterflies and a tang that get big and they are pretty big now I find the tank full with only:
Scribble Angel
Personifier
Flame
Saddleback BFY
Yellowhead BFY
Lattuced BFY
Mustard Tang
Blue Ring Angel
Moorish Idol
Schooling bannerfish
blue reef chromis
brown bar goby to stir the sand
cleaner wrasse
yellow coris wrasse

I would say start slowly knowing that you may have to remove fish as they grow.
Good Luck,
Pam

[volitan24]

Ok thank you for the input. Im think I would like a lot of variety, so I think I would limit my angels to 1 or 2 and see if i can get away with more butterflies and tangs, maybe some wrasse and 1 trigger instead of 2.

There are just so many unique fish it is hard to not overstock

[humaguy]

just my 2 cents...i am doing the same thing...just get the tank first...lol...i began last march and am just adding saltwater this weekend, it can be a long process! check out my build at 130 x 36 x 36 inbound.....good luck...great livestock wishlist, but imo, cut ti in half...

[FishGuy5]

What about a cool puffer too?? :)

[namxas]

Nobody has mentioned it, but large angels will harrass a lionfish to death.

[sandwi54]

Nobody has mentioned it, but large angels will harrass a lionfish to death.

+1. large angels are very curious animals and almost always pick at anything and everything. do avoid lionfish with angels.

also, i would not combine an emperor angel with any other angels. emperors are very territorial and will probably not mix well with other angels, even in a 700g. if you are set on mixing angels, i would stay away from emperor, queen, and passer. french angel is also aggressive but in my experience is a little milder than the three angels above.

i think you'd be ok with a french and blueface together in a 700g. you only have one large tang (salfin) and your show piece will be the french angel when it grows up. If you have not seen a fully grown french angel, go see if anyone locally has one. it's gigantic and will look much bigger than fish that have similar adult size, simply due to its unique body shape. When the fins are extended the french angel will be as tall as it's long.

i think your list is actually ok, a little bit on the crowded side but not too bad, since you don't have very many "large" fish. i'd say reduce the stocking by 25% and start from there.

[jjk_reef00]

I would remove the Auriga Butterfly, IME they will not tolerate other B/F's.

[volitan24]

Thank you for all the insight. I am not going to go with the emperor, niger trigger, Lionfish and midas blenny. And I will consider eliminating the auriga

Angels:
French Angel
Blueface Angel
Flame Angel
Coral beauty

Tangs:
Blue Tang
Yellow Tang
Purple Tang
Sailfin Tang
Tomini Tang

Butterfly Fish:
Auriga Butterfly
Saddleback butterfly
Pakistan butterfly

Triggers:
Picasso Trigger

Eels:
Zebra Moray
Snowflake

Other:
Harlequin Tusk
Maroon Clown
Moon Wrasse
Dragon Wrasse
Marine Betta

[Dussumeiri]

Emperor angels is my all time favorite ones. With that tank size and current stock list you should be fine. Add it last though. I have no aggression issues. Just occasional grunting. Letting anyone knows he is the Boss. Mixing angels can be done. I'll recommend reading Scott Michael's Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes to get more pointers.
Will caution with the harlequin tusk since the their sharp teeth can scratch up acrylic tanks.

[angelfish7]

Did you consider a Scribbled, Personifer, blueline or Chrysurus angels? These dont grow as big and are more tolerable towards other angels.

[volitan24]

Im thinking I would approach the situation by starting off with maybe an emperor blueface and french and testing it out. From there I would look to sell one (sounds like it would be the emperor) when/if it becomes a troublemaker.

On a second though I was wondering about a Regal and French pairing. I think the Regal is a great looking fish, but I know they are much more difficult to keep.

And yes I considered other angelfish. I guess I kind of went with what caught my eye, while taking into account size.

[volitan24]

I do think the scribbled angel looks great and I may consider it to replace one of my angels

[clekchau]

skip the butterflies, i tried that and had to remove them. i would do 3 big angels, 3 big tangs, a couple big wrasses, a big trigger and maybe a puffer.

[Dr Colliebreath]

I would do the blueface angel plus the regal and a scribbled.

I would substitute a raccoon butterfly for the saddleback. I have a saddleback but prefer the raccoon. I think you can keep the auriga and they tend to be hardy fish, but if you decide to drop it I would substitute a falcula (or cut another fish out and add the falcula).

[Dragon moray ki]

Wow i ordered a tank that size just six inches shorter. I was going to get the 375 from glass cages, but called and cancelled my order after i asked for a progress report and got a very rude answer. So i now ordered a535 off fishtanks direct. Anywya i would cut soem of e larger tangs and angels.

[HASBRO]

skip the butterflies, i tried that and had to remove them. i would do 3 big angels, 3 big tangs, a couple big wrasses, a big trigger and maybe a puffer.

That what i would do but maybe 3 more tangs. Unicorn and maybe a fowleri Dussumari tang. Make it something out of the norm.

[mattsilvester]

Thank you for all the insight. I am not going to go with the emperor, niger trigger, Lionfish and midas blenny. And I will consider eliminating the auriga

Angels:
French Angel
Blueface Angel
Flame Angel
Coral beauty

Tangs:
Blue Tang
Yellow Tang
Purple Tang
Sailfin Tang
Tomini Tang

Butterfly Fish:
Auriga Butterfly
Saddleback butterfly
Pakistan butterfly

Triggers:
Picasso Trigger

Eels:
Zebra Moray
Snowflake

Other:
Harlequin Tusk
Maroon Clown
Moon Wrasse
Dragon Wrasse
Marine Betta

The list is reaonable, but in time it will become crowded.

I think your french and blue face pairing is a good one - stick with that.

Tangs seem reasonable too.

Tusk and moon wrasse may lock horns - the moon wrasse is one of my favourite fish, but they are evil spiteful creatures and can have a terrible mean streak. Best not mix with the b'flies or morays.

Pakistani b'fly is variable in its hardiness.

[Lord_Blackadder]

As long as you don't mix the butterfly subgenera (closely related species) you should be ok. I've had 9 species together in a small holding tank for 4 months with no fighting. Just be sure to add them at the same time, or small species before big species. Selecting smallish specimens helps too. Here is my current selection (some endemic species that you won't find, but gives you an idea):

C. auriga
C. guttatissimus
C. madagascariensis
C. xanthocephalus
C. blackburnii
C. marleyi
C. lunula
C. kleinii
H. acuminatus

I've tried keeping C. auriga and C. vagabundus together several times and it just doesn't work, they absolutely hate each other. Even two tiny juveniles in a 250g tank just spend the whole day fighting.

[WuHT]

My opinion: you can go for 3 large angels that you originally wanted (french, emperor, blue face) and you can drop a couple of tangs to make room.

If you ultimately feel you do not want an emperor angel, I'd say drop a couple of tangs (1 zebrasoma and the atlantic blue) and get a clown tang instead. Would be a shame if a nice 700 gallon tank did not feature a large bold active fish.

[one clownfish]

I tried a blue face and an Emp and it didn't go so well. I still have the Emp and the BF is gone. They were good as juveniles but as they grew it just didnt work. If you decide to get the Emp I would ditch the sailfin, he will chase it all over as they mature, I think it's the stripes on the sailfin that makes him go crazy. I would get a Sohal instead of the blue and sailfin.