planned fish and inverts

[flanders]

Fish plans….

I am getting serious about stocking my tank and wanted to get some opinions before I went ahead..

I know blue damsels and clown fish can be territorial…. I want to know if they will harass my tangs and eventual goby

I will probably be looking at various corals and possibly 1 anemone once I have a better understanding of their needs and disadvantages…. and once i finish putting in a 20-25 gallon sump

Blue/Regal Tang
yellow tang
3 blue damsels
2 (mated pair or ill settle for 1) gold maroon clown
some aqua damsels

down the road
Mandarin Goby

1 peppermint shrimp
2 scarlet cleaner shrimp
1 sponge crab
1 emerald crab


30 turbo snails
30 blue leg hermits


reef lobster (i have heard conflicting things about these guys from "safe" to may harm other invertebrates)

can you please point out any issues you see my setup is in my signature

 

[1979camaro]

im basing this on my recollection that this is a 55g

not sure what a reef lobster is...

30 turbos is way too many. at most probably two turbos and some other smaller snails

the damsels are likely going to become a problem, especially if you add clowns as well...other than everything looks ok, but you should know those blue tangs are often very difficult to keep alive for an extended period of time and tend to be very disease prone

 

[aresgod]

by mandarin goby I assume you mean a mandarin dragonet (Synchiropus splendidus), I wouldn't put that guy in there, to start with they need a huge pod population, so unless you have a refugium totally forget it, plus they are very passive fish and I dont know how they would do with all those agressive tank mates, if you do have a fuge, then you need atleast 80 LBs of LR for him to have a chance, this is a very difficult fish to keep alive, most people get them because they are beautiful, and slowly starve them to death over 3-4 months, please be prepared and do your research before purchasing

By reef lobster I assume you mean Enoplometopus sp.? these guys technically could be reef safe but I wouldn't recommend them, they in my experience are real devils, and will re-arrange stuff, kill small fish and inverts and can topple you live rock which could be very bad, there are alot of much cooler very safe reef inverts out there, if your looking for some cool ones I could recommend a few, I am into inverts, I used to have a 10 gallon lobster tank(not the kind you eat, just like your reef lobster) and he was cool but definetely needed a tank to himself, consequently and totally unrelated to their destructive habits that tank caught on fire/leaked and boiled my lobster.
hope this helps
Brahm

oh yea some astrea snails might not be a bad idea, i also like Nassirius (sp?) snails, they are sweet

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I was under the impression that tangs were very territorial with other tangs...

 

[aresgod]

it really depends, it might be a problem in a 55, but in a 90 I have two yellows and one chocolate and they get along fine

 

[1979camaro]

i think the different finnage, body shape, and color of the tang ought to make things ok...though in a 55 those might both be too big...damn i had a major brain fart when i made my last post...totally missed the mandarin as well

 

[wayne]

Yellow tang is ok, but the blue won't work long term plus they're pretty fussy.

Too many damsels - try one or two, and some other fish like small wrasses. Also they'll outcompete with a mandarin for food (but so will most anything)

Maroon clowns can be quite nasty too.

 

[jammerz]

Blue tangs are hard as hell to keep!!! Very disease prone!!!!

 

[KahluaZzZ]

yeah at every LFS i went...there were blue tangs with HLLE or just dying.
I don't think i'll buy one.. ever.
The mandarin is cool to see catching pods..but can refuse to hunt/eat.
I have to give pods to my friend...his mandarin has eaten too much of his pods..not much left.. and now he's skinnier. Finicky eater..prefers to die than to eat frozen food.
I have too much pods here..my perc seems to like it when he's hungry.

 

[jammerz]

whats HLLE?

 

[KahluaZzZ]

head and lateral line erosion.

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/other/paracanthurus_hepatus.htm

 

[dbacksrat]

I know blue damsels and clown fish can be territorial…. I want to know if they will harass my tangs and eventual goby

my percula clown is territorial only to my hand during maintenance, but my yellow watchman goby is a demon: he is constantly attacking the clown when it gets too close to the goby's caves
it's very good that you are sitting down and planning this out, rather than going out and making impulse purchases *celebrate

 

[1979camaro]

agreeing with dbacksrat

 

[S.Reef]

I completely disagree with the blue tangs. i have a very nice specimen that is disease free and very hardy. He has been with me for quite a while.

When it comes to your stocking it looks fine to me. Keep an eye on the mandarine because they can get picked on by anything.

Personally you shouldnt have a porblem with what you have and plan on getting.

 

[dbacksrat]

I completely disagree with the blue tangs. i have a very nice specimen that is disease free and very hardy. He has been with me for quite a while. QUOTE]
I think it all depends on your level of experience. Sam, you're an experienced and successful fish keeper, and therefore would have an easier time keeping a blue tang. However, it would be extremely innappropriate for a beginner "test the waters" by starting with a potentially delicate fish. My advice is to stock the blue tang near to last so you can gain valuable skills and experience.
ugh...haven't been that serious in awhile *twirlysmi

 

[S.Reef]

Hmm...well put.