Upgrading in the near future, thinking about stock

[MikeandNicole]

So I am patiently waiting for the Elos store to open up in Short Hills NJ so I can go up and see the tanks first hand and (most likely) fall in love with the 160xl and purchase it. They are supposed to open this month, I am waiting with baited breath. Anyway when my wife and I have time to kill we talk about fish and what fish we would put in a tank if/when we upgrade. Now the tank dimensions are so 63x31.5x23.6 202 gallons and I am a tang police training academy so I am not going to ask if I can put 25 sohal tangs in there. And this will be a full reef tank, looking to run it around 75 degrees.

Thoughts so far:
What I have already:
1 pair of clowns (maybe two if I can get it setup right, and yes I know once they start spawning this could be a huge issue, and they would be a pair of ORA picassos and a pair of wild caught picassos not GSM or tomatoes)
Pair of captive raised bangaii cardinals
1 Sunbust anthia
1 Sailfin (suzukii) anthia (try and find a female for the male)
1 Pair of Helfrichis
1 Pair of mandarins (3 year old female and 2.5 year old male)
1 ORA gold assesor basslet
1 Yellow watchman goby

The direction I would like to go:
Wrasses, bunch of flashers in pairs maybe a fairy pair. Looking at the bells, mckoskers, attentus (if I can even find them). Maybe a flame wrasse pair or trio or and earlie's pair if I can get the funding
Anthias, pair of bimaculatus, bourbonius maybe some more salifins if I can get a group
One tang, I don't have great love for tangs but I know they can be good with algae and they are fun to watch. Either a kole or tomini. I would love a black tang but I know they can get very big and was thinking a 5 foot tank might not be enough.
Pyramid butterfly: This is a huge maybe, would have to do a ton more research on them.

So I throw myself at the mercy of the reef central reef fish forum for any thoughts or suggestions that you might have. I am 99.999999% sure this is my big tank so I am not playing the "well it will fit for now and then I will upgrade later" game. I will have some smaller tanks still kicking around and a frag tank but that is really it.

(Sorry for the loquacious post, once I get rolling it can be hard to stop)

[MikeandNicole]

Forgot to mention a pair of semifasciatus angels are probably on the list as well.

[MikeandNicole]

Ok so no responses so I guess I was going in the wrong direction.

New plan:
Pair of clown tangs
3-4 sohal tangs
A shoal of yellow tangs
A blue tang
Conspic angel
Queen angel
Blue spotted octopus
Flamboyand cuttlefish.

How does the new list look?:jester:

[rssjsb]

Ha ha. Your last pose, along with your use of the word "loquacious" compels a response, even though I can't provide all the information you're looking for.

Your list looks good to me. There have been some posts on here recently about people's long-term success (or lack thereof) with harems of wrasses and mixing wrasses. Maybe SDGuy or someone with actual experience with that will come along and share.

A couple of comments. Pyramid butterflies are great fish. Pretty, hardy, and, while there's never a guarantee, very reef safe. I highly recommend them. Yellow long-nose butterflies are also great fish to consider.

I love borbonius but understand they can be kind of aggressive. I would do some more research on mixing these and/or other anthias with your suzukis, which are kind of passive (as are your other fish).

[snorvich]

So I am patiently waiting for the Elos store to open up in Short Hills NJ so I can go up and see the tanks first hand and (most likely) fall in love with the 160xl and purchase it. They are supposed to open this month, I am waiting with baited breath. Anyway when my wife and I have time to kill we talk about fish and what fish we would put in a tank if/when we upgrade. Now the tank dimensions are so 63x31.5x23.6 202 gallons and I am a tang police training academy so I am not going to ask if I can put 25 sohal tangs in there. And this will be a full reef tank, looking to run it around 75 degrees.

Thoughts so far:
What I have already:
1 pair of clowns (maybe two if I can get it setup right, and yes I know once they start spawning this could be a huge issue, and they would be a pair of ORA picassos and a pair of wild caught picassos not GSM or tomatoes)

I doubt that you can get two pairs of clowns to exist in the new tank

Pair of captive raised bangaii cardinals
1 Sunbust anthia
1 Sailfin (suzukii) anthia (try and find a female for the male)
1 Pair of Helfrichis
1 Pair of mandarins (3 year old female and 2.5 year old male)
1 ORA gold assesor basslet
1 Yellow watchman goby

The direction I would like to go:
Wrasses, bunch of flashers in pairs maybe a fairy pair. Looking at the bells, mckoskers, attentus (if I can even find them). Maybe a flame wrasse pair or trio or and earlie's pair if I can get the funding
Anthias, pair of bimaculatus, bourbonius maybe some more salifins if I can get a group

I love anthias so additional peaceful ones would be great from my perspective

One tang, I don't have great love for tangs but I know they can be good with algae and they are fun to watch. Either a kole or tomini.

Either would be good but you might consider a Chevron

I would love a black tang but I know they can get very big and was thinking a 5 foot tank might not be enough.
Pyramid butterfly: This is a huge maybe, would have to do a ton more research on them.

So I throw myself at the mercy of the reef central reef fish forum for any thoughts or suggestions that you might have. I am 99.999999% sure this is my big tank so I am not playing the "well it will fit for now and then I will upgrade later" game. I will have some smaller tanks still kicking around and a frag tank but that is really it.

(Sorry for the loquacious post, once I get rolling it can be hard to stop)

[snorvich]

Ok so no responses so I guess I was going in the wrong direction.

New plan:
Pair of clown tangs a mated pair would be terrific
3-4 sohal tangs odd numbers work best
A shoal of yellow tangs be sure to add them all at once
A blue tang yellow bellied would be great
Conspic angel
Queen angel gorgeous fish
Blue spotted octopus blue ringed? Cute and cuddly
Flamboyand cuttlefish. I have never seen them in the trade but a pair would be terrific. They mate at dawn.

How does the new list look?:jester:

I hope noone takes either of us seriously.

[MikeandNicole]

Thank you both for your responses.

We will not be going with the two pairs of clowns. Unfortunately my black and white female , the first fish I ever bought in this hobby 4 years ago died and the male followed several days later. We added nothing new to the tank and have not in about 6 months. Very unexpected and saddening. The very very narrow silver lining is that we do not have to try and place 3 pairs of clowns.

I will take a look at the chevron, love the juveniles will have to see how I feel about the adults.

BTW my local LFS actually had the flamboyant cuttle fish in a few weeks ago. They were gorgeous but I do not have anywhere near the setup to handle them.

[snorvich]

I will take a look at the chevron, love the juveniles will have to see how I feel about the adults.

I prefer the adult coloration even though the juveniles are very pretty. Excellent behavior.

BTW my local LFS actually had the flamboyant cuttle fish in a few weeks ago. They were gorgeous but I do not have anywhere near the setup to handle them.

I have spent a lot of time diving with them and photographing them during their mating. I do not think normal home aquaria would provide an appropriate home for them. I am amazed that they were brought in.

[Dr Colliebreath]

Ok so no responses so I guess I was going in the wrong direction.

New plan:
Pair of clown tangs
3-4 sohal tangs
A shoal of yellow tangs
A blue tang
Conspic angel
Queen angel
Blue spotted octopus
Flamboyand cuttlefish.

How does the new list look?:jester:

This would be my choice, but you probably need a pair of powder blue tangs in the mix as well plus a clown trigger.