Stocking plans

[zoalover34]

Heres what i plan on adding to my tank.. need advice on what order to put in and if there will be any problems with the fish not getting along ..FOWLR

Auriga Butterfly

Black & White Butterfly (looks like Gil from nemo)

Clown

Yellow Watchman Gobie

Mandarin

Either a Flame Angel or a Coral Beauty.. (will they get along since they are dwarfs if i do put both in)
any advice on which fish to add 1st and last would be of great help thanks!

 

[1979camaro]

It would be helpful to know how big a tank we are talking about here, but assuming you have room:

I would be careful mixing butterfly fish in a smallish tank as they often will pick on each other. The Clown and the YWG should be fine. The Mandarin will tend to starve to death in a smallish system so make sure you have a ton of pods for him/her or get one that eats frozen. Again, like the butterfly fish, the angels will tend to go after each other if the tank is not large enough, but one should be fine.

Overall, the stocking list looks good aside from the issues mentioned above. If I were stocking the tank I would probably start with the clown, then the YWG, then the Angel(s), then the Butterfly(s), and then decide whether or not you want to put in the mandarin or not. It is a tough call on when to add the mandarin as you want to be sure it has enough pods to eat, but you don't want to add it before anything else and have something come in and out compete it for food

 

[zoalover34]

its a 55 gallon.. i know about the mandarin and the pods ive read alot about them.. thanks for your advice!

 

[kevin4052002]

Like camaro said, for your size system, just one butterfly and one angel.

 

[aresgod]

I would say no on the mandarin as well...atleast not for a year +

 

[OCCFan023]

yea you dont want to have to start buying regular shipments of pods to supply to the mandarin. I would get the tank setup and running for like Ares said a year or a little less and in the mean time try and start up a fuge (either diy or the HOT styles) that would really benfit the mandarin.

 

[zoalover34]

i have a fuge set up HOB style allready.. i know i can't put him in yet.. im not just gonna go buy all those fish and dump them in.. those are the fish that i want to add over time.. just trying to see what ones to add first/last.. i have some pods allready as i have seen them yesterday runnin around with the lights on so i imagine i have alot more that came out at night?

 

[aresgod]

you most likely do, and I am not trying to sound negative, just a warning thats all, the amount of pods a single mandarin eats in a day is astounding, and 1 mandarin could easily wipe out an established pod population (even one that has been going for a year) within a few weeks. The trick really is massive amounts of live rock...unless you want to get into farming the pods, which imo is an awful lot of work.
good luck,
Brahm

 

[zoalover34]

i know u werent tryint to sound that way. Im just tired of everyone telling me that i can't have one/shouldn't get one. I have done a ton of research on them and i found a site that teaches how to farm them it isn't really that hard. the ones at this LFS down the road eat brine and ive read on here that some actually eat roe.. at any rate somewhere down the road about 7-9 months i will have one and hopefully be sucessful at keeping it alive .. thanks