Originally Posted by Brando8719 (Post 19299460)

Hi guys,

I was wondering if I could add a Diamond Watchman Goby to my tank. My roommate saw one in the lfs the other day and has really been bugging for one. The way the eat the sand is pretty hilarious. I've never seen anything like it.

I currently have:
2x Ocellaris Clown
1x Bi-Colour Angel
1x Red Elongated Dottyback
1x Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
CUC including astrea snails, turbo snails and hermit crabs.

My set up is a 55 gallon reef with a 15gallon sump. I'm using a bullet-1 skimmer, 400W MH, 45lbs of live rock and 50lbs of live sand. My tank is only 4-5 months old. I currently don't have a refugium set up but it is something I plan on doing in the future. I plan on having corals (well, more than I do now). I currently have a red favia, frogspawn, and open brain. I have read that the goby often throws sand on the open brains? Is this a problem if you clean them off daily?

In my research some sites mention a stocked refugium is necessary which makes me think that they might eat pods? Therefore, maybe my tank isn't established enough to house one? I know they can eat a variety of other foods.. I'm just not sure why the refugium is necessary.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Originally Posted by snorvich (Post 19299709)

Originally Posted by Brando8719 (Post 19299753)

Thanks.. it's much appreciated. That's what my lfs said too. I'll really have to think about this one... I don't know if I want that mess in my tank.

Originally Posted by jonathansruelas (Post 19301808)

Hey guys,

Well I'm still cycling but I wanted to see whether this fish list would be able to work.

Tank is 130 gallons, 52x28x20. I have a sump, ASM G2 skimmer, have a refugium in the works, waiting for cycle to end to add the chaeto, have about 15lbs of rock in sump with sand, in main display there will be around 100lbs of live rock.. I plan to have mushrooms/zoas/xenias. I will be using a tek t5 48" with 6 x 54watts

I know some of these fish will be hit or miss with corals I want but I'm going to try it out, the ones I want are inexpensive and grow fast anyway so worth a try.

Wish List.
1. One Spot Foxface
2. Flame Angel
3. Potter or/Rusty Angel
4. Tusk Wrasse
5.Pair of Ocellaris Clowns/Black
6. Falco Hawkfish
7. Pinktail Trigger
8. Blue Jaw Trigger

Originally Posted by Tin_Whistler (Post 19302644)

I probably won’t be adding fish for about a year as I’m still collecting/building the parts to the tank, but I’m big into pre-planning and figure since I’ve got my list I should run it past somebody smarter, and more subjective than I am.

Tank will be a 180 Gallon mixed reef (6x2x2), Fuge will be a 40 breeder filled with rock, sump size is unknown, but I’m guessing around 20 gallons of water between the different sections there. Lid will be made of ¼” mesh, and tight fitting to keep the wrasses in the tank.

I had a hard time coming up with this list as there’s so many fish I like, many of which are either too big, or too aggressive for a majority of what I’d like to keep. I’m also torn on whether this is too many fish or not, but I think it’s a good mix of mostly peaceful fish that’ll do well together.

Everything below is listed in order they will be introduced into the tank, and everything will be QT’d for a minimum of 6 weeks before being introduced into the tank.

Fish
1 x Wetmorella albofasciata (White Banded Possum Wrasse)
2 x Paracheilinus carpenteri (Carpenter Flasher Wrasse) M/F combo of course
3 x Sphaeramia nematoptera (Spotted Cardnalfish)
2 x Amphiprion ocellaris (Ocellaris Clownfish)
1 x Cryptocentrus cinctus (Yellow Watchman Goby)
1 x Chromis cyaneus (Blue Reef Chromis)
1 x Ctenochaetus strigosus (Kole Yellow Eye Tang)
1 x Gramma loreto (Royal Gamma Basslet)
1 x Pterosynchiropus splendidus (Red Mandarin) waiting at least 10 months after the cycle
1x Acanthurus japonicus (Powder Brown Tang) Adding last due to aggressiveness

I think your fish list is excellent, you will have room, biocapacity and copepods for a pair of red mandarins.

Inverts
2 x Thor amboinensis (Sexy Anemone Shrimp)
1 x Lysmata debelius (Blood Red Fire Shrimp)
1 x Lybia Tesselatta (Pom Pom Crab)
2 x Neopetrolisthes ohshimai (Porcelain Anemone Crab)
1 x Alpheus bellulus (Tiger Snapping Shrimp) will be added alongside the Goby, QT’d separately though
1 x Entacmaea quadricolor (Rose Bulb Anemone) waiting 1 year to afford better lights/mature tank
1 x Heteractis crispa (sebae Anemone)

You might consider a pair of alpheus soror pistol shrimp; they are non commensal but interesting and gorgeous

Clean Up Crew [not listed in order]
2 x Elysia crispate (Lettuce Sea Slug)
1 x Mespilia globulus (Blue Tuxedo Urchin) pretty but a bit of bulldozer with corals and rock structures. Urchins in general are like that
1 x Strombus alatus (Fighting Conch) I would increase this number to 3
5 x Nassarius sp. (Nassaarius Snail)
5 x Turbo fluctuosa (Turbo Snail)
5 x Cerithium sp. (Cerith Snail)
5 x Astraea phoebia (Spiny Star Astrea)
10 x Nerita sp. (Nerite Snail)

Originally Posted by snorvich (Post 19302925)

Originally Posted by snorvich (Post 19302925)

Originally Posted by snorvich (Post 19302925)

Originally Posted by snorvich (Post 19302925)

Originally Posted by snorvich (Post 19302925)

Originally Posted by bayman (Post 19303520)

New to Saltwater,
I have a 55 gal tank, coralife 65g Protein Skimmer, 3 inch live sand, 60lb live rock, magnum 350 canister and emperor 400 power filter, Glo T5 Ho 2 bulb lights,

I would like to know what type of fish would be recommended for this size tank,
I would like:
2 clown fish
1 blue tang The reef central recommended tank size for a Hepatus tang is 240 gallons.
what would be recommended for the fish we like, from what i understand with this tank size i can get a total of 7 small to mid size fish.

There is no real guideline as such, and it makes a difference which fish you try to put together.

any and all information would be appreciated..

Originally Posted by A_Z (Post 19304055)

No dice on a marginalis. Pretty much an impossible fish to find here.

75g FOWLR since I prefer butterflys over soft corals :D w/25g sump (probably holds 10-15g of water)

Added in order:

Blue Chromis
Terminal Male Flame Wrasse
Squareback Anthias Male
Peppermint Candy Cane Hogfish
Declivis Butterfly fish
Kole Tang.

Inverts:
Skunk Cleaner Pair
CUC - snails one or two dwarf hermits

Originally Posted by snorvich (Post 19301970)

Originally Posted by jonathansruelas (Post 19305590)

I don't plan to keep any invertebrates, what kind of trigger do you recommend if the ones I choose are too big? Was the rest of the list ok?

Thanks for the help by the way

Originally Posted by barbouri02 (Post 19306086)

Hi ya'll.

We have a 55 in the works*4ft*, plan for 75 lbs of LR in the display, its got a 20 gal sump (where more rubble will live), in sump skimmer rated for 100g, Eshopps 800 overflow, mag 9.5 return pump with ball valve to slow the flow just a hair to keep it inline with the overflow. It will have a 3-4 inch sandbed. We also plan to have two powerheads in the tank to help with flow (probabaly the hydor Koralia Evolution or original Koralia). As as well a Tek 5 4 bulb fixture for lighting. We plan to have a standard CUC for this tank as well, hermits, snails, shrimp but thats all.

We have a list of fish and corals we've fallen in love with but dont HAVE to have them all, and realize we can't due to size of tank, but out of our selections what would be best in ya'll opinion. I just wanted to see what the more experienced thought we could have in our tank without having to worry about having TOO many fish in there. Here's the list:

Fish:
Royal Gamma
Fire Fish Must be established first
pearly jawfish
Flame Angel
Percula clown ideally not paired; but may associate with some of your corals and has the potential to damage them
Red Mandarin (obviously added after 6 or more months with a solid pod population) in your sized tank, you will need a refugium
Kaudern's Cardinal
Orange Stripe Prawn Goby/Pistal Shrimp
McCosker's Flasher Wrasse may intimidate your firefish

We also like some of the more agressive fish as well, but would consider another tank for them if needed:
Fu Manchu Lion Will eat tankmates
Marine Betta gets too large for that tank, may eat tankmates

We'd like these corals: While we don't normally give coral advice in this thread, as it is about fish . . .
Torch Coral
Frogspawn
Branch Hammer
Elegance Coral (thought I read something bad about this one) Should be an Aussie variety; dip in revive
Trumpet Coral
Bubble Coral (Pearl)

Stylophora Coral needs high flow
Birds Nest Coral

Colt Coral
Pipe Organ Coral
Ricordea Mushrooms
Blue Sympodium Polyp
Waving Hand Coral may take over your tank
Jasmine Polyp
Glove Polyp
And various Zoa's appeal to us.


So, obviously we cant have it all, but what would work best for the system we have in the works?

Originally Posted by barbouri02 (Post 19306412)

Thank you Steve for your advice. I was aware the more predatory fish probably wouldn't work with our "community" tank as planned, but I know sometimes they do well, other times not so good at all.

Thanks for answering about the corals, I know its a fish purchase thread but since we dont have the tank set up yet I just wanted to make sure since mainly this tank would be fish focus but if we added the corals we liked that there wouldn't be an issue with the fish.

As for stocking density with the fish, should we consider cutting it down? If so where?