Cali Kid Corals

Stocking fish

So I'm trying to figure out my next fish and would love to hear your opinions regarding my plans for stocking the rest of my fish in my 109g DT, 139g total, full zeovit system.

I currently have 3 blue-green chromis, a pair of clowns, a melanarus wrasse, a royal flasher wrasse, and a tailspot blenny. Nobody is showing much aggression at this point.

I would like to have these fish in the future, in order of preference.

1. Yellow tang (going to add at the end)
2. Lyretail anthia group, at least 2, would like more.
3. Banggai cardinalfish, 2
4. A second tang if possible.

Am I overstocking? How many anthias should I start with? Is a second tang asking for trouble? (If I go with a second, would try to introduce with the yellow.). Would love a dwarf angel, but I don't think I want the risk.

Thanks in advance!



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BRS' opinion of two tangs in one tank:

I have had a flame angel for a little over two months and haven't had any problems with coral nibbling.
 
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I would keep more than 2-3 of the chromis, anthias, and cardinals. They all do better in larger groups. At least 5.
 
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I would keep more than 2-3 of the chromosomes, anthias, and cardinals. They all do better in larger groups. At least 5.
I'd love to have more fish if I'm not overcrowding them. Once they're full grown that seems like a lot of fish inches. I'm also worried about the chromis starting to kill each other. Read about that on the forums...mixed success at having larger groups. I guess that's where the extra feeding comes in.
 
Inches of fish per gallon, inches of fish per square inch of surface area, bottom line is there is no rule, some fish are naturally more territorial than others. I would skip on the anthias unless you feed multiple times per day, yellow tang... eh if it's absolutely tiny when you get it, although I would opt for a smaller type of tang (Bristletooth family), ditto on what Mike said on the bangaii. And what Erin said too, happy fish are well fed fish, if they don't feel like their food supply is dwindling due to competition they are less likely to attack other fish.
And the Chromis can get quite large, just as an FYI, not tang sized large, but much larger than the size that most stores sell them at when they cram 50 fish into a 20 gallon display tank
 
Do you plan to grow macro algae for the tang to nibble on (like gracilaria)? You might want to get a head start to grow it to critical mass before the yellow tang arrives and decimates your starter plants. If you have a lot of rock work a pygmy angel is always fun. Mine coexists well with a wrasse even though they are competing for copepods. Macroalgae also seems to work as a copepod dispensary so tangs and angels/wrasse will be happy.


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I've got this leafy macro algae growing unintentionally, and some strands of chaeto that made their way into the main DT. I've been handpicking then out, but the leafy macro I think would be perfect for the tang. Nice, didn't think to have it there on purpose.

Lots of copepods teeming in the sand bed and rockwork, crawling onto glass. My melanarus slowly picks around the rock. Don't think he can keep up.

I've got these tiny little strands of what I presume is gha along the top of my rockwork. Really fine and short and sparse like baby hair. Not really doing anything about it at this time. My nutrient levels are good, phos is 0-0.02 on Red Sea pro test kit, nitrates are zero. So I think I'll just see what happens.
 
Do you plan to grow macro algae for the tang to nibble on (like gracilaria)? You might want to get a head start to grow it to critical mass before the yellow tang arrives and decimates your starter plants. If you have a lot of rock work a pygmy angel is always fun. Mine coexists well with a wrasse even though they are competing for copepods. Macroalgae also seems to work as a copepod dispensary so tangs and angels/wrasse will be happy.


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So I purchase some gracilaria and attach to live rock in DT and let it grow right? Simple as that?
 
I think 2 of the right species will work. I don't think he's considering a naso.

I have five in my 125 gallon (one wasn't planned.) A Yellow, A blue, a White--tailed Bristletooth and a purple. No issues with three different "body shaped "species ever. They all swim together and pick algae side-by-side. The Purple was a late addition and unplanned. The first week was touch and go, but all co-exist fine now. Not even chasing behavior now (six months later.) Two reasons it's working so far in my opinion. One, the tank is a six footer. Lot's of swimming room. Two, the Purple is much larger than the pre-existing tangs, but came from a tank with very large fish and I believe spent most of his time in caves. He's not a swimmer at al and lurks all day inside one of two caves. He will come out in the evenings and swim a little, but it's not constant. I watch closely in case behavior changes as everyone grows.
 
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