Hardy fish,inverts and corals

[MikeP471612]

I'd like to start looking into what livestock to first put in my reef tank. Could you guys give me suggestions of some of the hardiest fish, inverts and corals to start out with.

Thanks

[drummereef]

What size tank is it? The 30 or 190 listed below?

[boxfishpooalot]

Yea for the 190 gallon i would get a naso tang. Those are very strong, or yellow tangs. Regals are pretty tough too.

But as drummereef said, need to know the tank size :)

[juice454]

I have a Lemon Peel Angel that is an extremely hardy eater. Very outgoing and a beautiful fish IMO.

[kodyboy]

royal grammas

pseudochromis (although many are little bastards)

damsels (be careful here many are evil and some just get big and ugly, I like chromis and yellowtail blue damsels)

fairy wrasse---many are peaceful and hardy, solaris, lubbocks and blue sided come to mind. They are not mean or tough (especially the lubbocks) so their tankmates can bully them easily.

lunare wrasse---try to kill it!

Triggerfish: most are pretty darn easy to keep, most will kill/eat just about anything. I have had good luck with blue throats and nigers in reef tanks. I have not had good luck with clown triggers. Undulateds don't die if you want them to.

Yellow tangs, either one or many, never two or three (they will mangle each other).

Flame angles, pygmy angels and coral beauties: fairly easy to keep and reasonably hardy. Pygmys can be little terrors when they get acclimated, so keep that in mind. I have read that many pymys can be kept together......mine did not read that article.

snowflake morays, pretty, peaceful, cheap and interesting. No shrimp though---they will eat them.

Groupers: generally hard to kill. I like the miniatus grouper.
Lionfish: interesting, and hardy. A reef full of corals and lionfish would make a cool display.

Cardinalfish: flame, pajama and bangi----easy and hardy

fish to avoid:

Anthias: pretty, but often not long for this world
Butterflies: most are not that easy to keep
Angelfish: many get too big, or do not do well. Regals (other than Red Sea), Blueface and Majestic have not done that well for me, so I would not consider them super hardy. The flame, pygmy and coral beauty do well.

hope this helps

[MikeP471612]

I'm planning for the 190g.
Thanks kodyboy!
Anybody have thoughts on inverts and corals, or additional thoughts on fish?

[MikeP471612]

bump

[MikeP471612]

Ok one last bump. I have some good ideas for fish now but what about inverts? And maybe some ideas for easy to care for corals?

Thanks

[ACBlinky]

Add hawkfish to the list, they're very hardy. They will consume inverts though, so they're not a great choice if you want to keep shrimp. A lot of gobies and blennies are tough little fish as well.

For inverts, consider things like emerald crabs, hermits, coral banded shrimp, pistol shrimp -- all pretty tough IME. Like any invert they need stable water conditions and a SG around 1.025 (give or take a point), but they'll all eat just about anything you offer and do a great job cleaning up the tank as well.

There are a few corals that are pretty forgiving, including mushrooms, zoanthids, leathers (excluding Fiji yellow leathers, Sarcophyton elegans, which prefer conditions similar to SPS and can be finicky), star polyps, and yellow polyps. These are all soft corals so they aren't demanding in terms of calcium addition and won't suffer like stonies will in the presence of phosphate. They're also tolerant of lower light levels than a lot of the stony corals. I'd avoid goniopora & alveopora, elegance and plate corals -- some people do well with these, but overall they seem to have a lousy survival record in captivity. Also resist SPS corals like acroporas until you've got some experience under your belt and a very mature, stable tank with lots of light.

[MikeP471612]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8693570#post8693570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kodyboy
Lionfish: interesting, and hardy. A reef full of corals and lionfish would make a cool display.
I thought lionfish were not reef compatible? Or are you just saying that it would be cool if it were possible?

[NanoCube-boy]

For corals? try Kenya tree, Zoanthids, bulleyes mushroom, and toothstoal leather

[ACBlinky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8699911#post8699911 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MikeP471612
I thought lionfish were not reef compatible? Or are you just saying that it would be cool if it were possible? Lionfish are safe with corals, but will consume smaller fish and inverts. As carnovores they'll hunt and consume anything meaty that will fit into their (large) mouths, but won't give things like corals or macroalge a second glance. If you're willing to go without shrimp, crabs or small fish you can absolutely keep a lion in your reef.

[MikeP471612]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8701127#post8701127 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ACBlinky
Lionfish are safe with corals, but will consume smaller fish and inverts. As carnovores they'll hunt and consume anything meaty that will fit into their (large) mouths, but won't give things like corals or macroalge a second glance. If you're willing to go without shrimp, crabs or small fish you can absolutely keep a lion in your reef. Thats good news, I think they are really cool fish. Would a dwarf lion be able to eat shrimp and crabs too? It sounds like I would have to pick between a lion fish or a good clean up crew. Unless a dwarf would leave the smaller guys alone.

[MikeP471612]

Only bumping cause I'm curious about my dwarf lionfish question.
Thanks

[NanoCube-boy]

me too. I want to know more about dwarf lion fish, iono even know what kind of lion is that.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8693266#post8693266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boxfishpooalot
Yea for the 190 gallon i would get a naso tang. Those are very strong, or yellow tangs. Regals are pretty tough too.

But as drummereef said, need to know the tank size :)

Nasos get WAY too big for a tank that size.

[capecodder]

The lionfish are "reef safe", but you should also think about how much they eat and digest....some fish will put a strain on your attempts to maintain high water quality....I think the naso tang also has a huge appetite and sh!ts like a cow.

toadstool leather, mushrooms are about as easy as it gets.

flame angel was very easy, active and colorful as well.