Stocking Ideas

Ralph823 · Jan 23, 2024

Alright peeps I need some Ideas,

I have a 180 DT with a 75 sump mixed reef and am looking for some ideas on filler fish.

Current stock list

- purple tang
- orange shoulder tang
- sailfin tang
- blue hippo tang
- tomini tang
- one spot fox face
- 2 sergeant majors
- 2 maroon clowns
- cleaner goby
- royal gramma

none of these fish show signs of aggression towards one another ( although most are considered aggressive or semi aggressive)

current filler fish Ideas

- flasher wrasses
- fire fish
- smaller anthias

I definitely want to get a mandarin dragonette but am building up the pd population as this is one of my newer tanks (11 months)

I am also thinking of a snowflake or zebra eel down the line.

I'm not too worried about the Bio load as I have upgraded my sump and refugium to hold 40 gallons of chaeto and calupera (20 gallons chaeto and 30 gallons Calupera) 220 lbs of rock between DT and sump and an over powered skimmer.

anyways... any other Ideas on stocking list or should I call it quits on stocking and just add more coral because I have enough fish lol

nereefpat · Jan 23, 2024

You've got some potential bruisers in there. I worry about the flasher wrasses or firefish with the Sgt majors and tangs already in there.

Anthias might be a good idea. Lyretails?

Ralph823 · Jan 23, 2024

nereefpat said:
You've got some potential bruisers in there. I worry about the flasher wrasses or firefish with the Sgt majors and tangs already in there.

Anthias might be a good idea. Lyretails?

I'm trying to get rid of the majors, they were the first fish in this tank after the cycle and they were pretty cute and little. I caught them while catching blue leg hermits at the beach in a patch of sargassum seaweed so they were also free lol. they're now over 4 inches in just 11 months and they've turned darker and kinda ugly. they're just a B**ch to catch so I include them in my stocking list lol.

Ralph823 · Jan 23, 2024

nereefpat said:
You've got some potential bruisers in there. I worry about the flasher wrasses or firefish with the Sgt majors and tangs already in there.

Anthias might be a good idea. Lyretails?

Anthias is probably my 1st choice but man do they get pricey and its hard to find them small enough at the LFS in south FL where I'll be 100% sure that they are all still female.

i cant think · Jan 23, 2024

Ralph823 said:
Alright peeps I need some Ideas,

I have a 180 DT with a 75 sump mixed reef and am looking for some ideas on filler fish.

Current stock list

- purple tang
- orange shoulder tang
- sailfin tang
- blue hippo tang
- tomini tang
- one spot fox face
- 2 sergeant majors
- 2 maroon clowns
- cleaner goby
- royal gramma

none of these fish show signs of aggression towards one another ( although most are considered aggressive or semi aggressive)

current filler fish Ideas

- flasher wrasses
- fire fish
- smaller anthias

I definitely want to get a mandarin dragonette but am building up the pd population as this is one of my newer tanks (11 months)

I am also thinking of a snowflake or zebra eel down the line.

I'm not too worried about the Bio load as I have upgraded my sump and refugium to hold 40 gallons of chaeto and calupera (20 gallons chaeto and 30 gallons Calupera) 220 lbs of rock between DT and sump and an over powered skimmer.

anyways... any other Ideas on stocking list or should I call it quits on stocking and just add more coral because I have enough fish lol

So, breaking this down you have;
A gang of Tangs and a pair of maroon clowns that will batter anything new. Had you added the tangs last and the clowns later down the road you’d be open to many more fillers but currently I wouldn’t even say smaller anthias will work. Lyretails and larger species are likely to work during introduction but smaller species like Disbars may not withstand aggression.

Flashers will most likely wither away in that system due to all the aggression, and Firefish wouldn’t really be seen.

Ralph823 · Jan 23, 2024

i cant think said:
So, breaking this down you have;
A gang of Tangs and a pair of maroon clowns that will batter anything new. Had you added the tangs last and the clowns later down the road you’d be open to many more fillers but currently I wouldn’t even say smaller anthias will work. Lyretails and larger species are likely to work during introduction but smaller species like Disbars may not withstand aggression.

Flashers will most likely wither away in that system due to all the aggression, and Firefish wouldn’t really be seen.

I wouldn't say they batter anything new, I added the Tomini and he wasn't picked on by anyone he joined the gang and they spend their day shoaling around and grazing on rock and the Nori clip like he's been there all along. he was my newest tang and no larger than 2 inches when I got him. The only one I'm concerned about is the female maroon clown however she just gets defensive over her nem, as long as no one is on the sand bed near her LTA she's fine and even then she's not overly aggressive about it.

I would say my most aggressive towards new fish in my tank believe it or not is the royal gramma

in one of my other tanks I had a pair of Perc clowns that were so aggressive that I had to put them in their own 30 gallon BTA tank they ripped the fins off of a scopas tang that was pretty dang large at around 6 inches and killed a small tomini tang.

nereefpat · Jan 23, 2024

I think if you get the Sgt Majors out of there, you would have some options. A small barbless hook with some shrimp works pretty well. I've got an ice fishing rod, but they probably don't sell those in Miami

There are traps too.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 23, 2024

Ralph823 said:
Alright peeps I need some Ideas,

I have a 180 DT with a 75 sump mixed reef and am looking for some ideas on filler fish.

Current stock list

- purple tang
- orange shoulder tang
- sailfin tang
- blue hippo tang
- tomini tang
- one spot fox face
- 2 sergeant majors
- 2 maroon clowns
- cleaner goby
- royal gramma

none of these fish show signs of aggression towards one another ( although most are considered aggressive or semi aggressive)

current filler fish Ideas

- flasher wrasses
- fire fish
- smaller anthias

I definitely want to get a mandarin dragonette but am building up the pd population as this is one of my newer tanks (11 months)

I am also thinking of a snowflake or zebra eel down the line.

I'm not too worried about the Bio load as I have upgraded my sump and refugium to hold 40 gallons of chaeto and calupera (20 gallons chaeto and 30 gallons Calupera) 220 lbs of rock between DT and sump and an over powered skimmer.

anyways... any other Ideas on stocking list or should I call it quits on stocking and just add more coral because I have enough fish lol

Maroon clown , Sargeant major, Purple and sailfin tangs can be uninviting.
Consider a dwarf angel such as coral beauty, kleini butterfly or copperband and even pyramid buttefly

Ralph823 · Jan 23, 2024

nereefpat said:
I think if you get the Sgt Majors out of there, you would have some options. A small barbless hook with some shrimp works pretty well. I've got an ice fishing rod, but they probably don't sell those in Miami There are traps too.

Man I've tried the ice fishing rod, small barbless hooks, sabiki rigs, shrimp, calamari, traps, they wont bite. I thought about draining the tank but the amount of rock with coral I would have to move is gonna suck.

Ralph823 · Jan 23, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
Maroon clown , Sargeant major, Purple and sailfin tangs can be uninviting.
Consider a dwarf angel such as coral beauty, kleini butterfly or copperband and even pyramid buttefly

I've thought about the copper bands but I'm waiting for the LFS to get one in that's eating frozen and I'll only get one after I get rid of the sgt majors because I feel like I'm maxed out on larger fish, but what I'm looking for are fish that will shoal and hang out mid to upper tank to fill out the empty space since my tangs graze on the lower rocks.

Ralph823 · Jan 23, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
Maroon clown , Sargeant major, Purple and sailfin tangs can be uninviting.
Consider a dwarf angel such as coral beauty, kleini butterfly or copperband and even pyramid buttefly

it's a no go for me on Dwarf angels, I had a coral beauty tear apart a Duncan colony and rip up a clam 5 years ago and have refused to get any dwarf angel since.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 23, 2024

Ralph823 said:
it's a no go for me on Dwarf angels, I had a coral beauty tear apart a Duncan colony and rip up a clam 5 years ago and have refused to get any dwarf angel since.

Yeah, theyre hit and miss. Mine touches nothing as with my flame and potters angel but not all are well behaved and cherub angel is defenseless

i cant think · Jan 23, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
Maroon clown , Sargeant major, Purple and sailfin tangs can be uninviting.
Consider a dwarf angel such as coral beauty, kleini butterfly or copperband and even pyramid buttefly

I disagree with the butterfly options - those will be battered by everything in that tank, especially that purple tang and Sailfin tang.
The purple is nasty but an established Sailfin is worse.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 23, 2024

Ralph823 said:
Man I've tried the ice fishing rod, small barbless hooks, sabiki rigs, shrimp, calamari, traps, they wont bite. I thought about draining the tank but the amount of rock with coral I would have to move is gonna suck.

Fish Trap always works for me with Any fish.

i cant think · Jan 23, 2024

Ralph823 said:
it's a no go for me on Dwarf angels, I had a coral beauty tear apart a Duncan colony and rip up a clam 5 years ago and have refused to get any dwarf angel since.

I’ve got a reef with 3 angels currently - 1 Fireball/Flame Back, 1 Regal and 1 Majestic. All 3 are seen in this FTS and as you can also tell, they’re surrounded by coral. I’ve yet to lose any.
Don’t let one fish be the thing that ruins it all