What to stock next in my 300

DRC Archive General Saltwater Discussion
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My 300 has a pair of 7" Crosshatch triggers, a pair of 3-5" Blueline angels and a 5" Maroon Clown.

Wanted to add some fish that moves in the mid column and WWM(Bob Fenner) suggested some Anthias. I know that they are less hardy and requires multiple feedings and that they rather have peaceful tankmates so not sure I want to go that route. They are beautiful and they would add color to the tank so maybe 1 male and 4-5 female Lyretail ones?? What do you guys think? Any personal experience with these?

Also plan to add last some tangs. A 3" Yellow, a 4" Regal and a 5-6" Chocolate/Mimic tang. Plan to QT all 3 at the same time in a 55g QT, is that doable? Don’t you have to add all tangs at the same time? Would this tank be to aggressive for the Anthias?

So if the Anthias are a no-no, how about some Talbot’s damselfish, like 5 of them? Or even the Yellowtail ones since I think my tank needs some fish that swims all over, there is plenty of room for hiding. I think the damsels would fit nicely… after all, it is an aggressive tank.

No poisonous fish, no puffers, no groupers and butterflies. No more triggers and angels. Maybe a wrasse after the tangs. A banana wrasse or a pinkface?

Any opinions?

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Do NOT got the damsel route. I believe all damsels color morph as they age. They pretty much always go from stunning beautiful colors to ugly brown. They also do grow, odds are you have never seen a mature damsel in captivity. They are extremely territorial if you buy 5 you’ll end up with 1 eventually. They will fight to the death. Not only that after there is one big ugly one left it will almost jump out of the water to greet any new fish you add to the tank.
There is no fish that bites people more than damsel fish. If you swim too close to their home, or put yur hand in the tank with a mature damsel, they will bit you over and over and over again until you decide to leave their home alone.
It may be possible to get a type of damsel fish that isn’t majorly aggressive, but I’ve never met anyone who has.

If you still have the sea stars, after introducing an aggressive wrasse they’ll be dinner. That being said you can’t get more active animals. Swimming around all the time. banana or bird wrasse(either sex, very different colors) would work. I would stay away from orange shoulder wrasses as I’ve found them to become bullies even in an aggressive tank.(though only worked with 2-3 of them in the past)

Another option for brightly colored fish that don’t often do well in tanks containing inverts, but would be fine in a FO would be squirrelfish.

I would like to recommend a rabbit fish such as a Magnificent foxface, but you said no poisonous and I’m guessing you mean no venomous either. There are some other pretty rabbit fish as well that get really large, some will color morph as adults though, so keep that in mind in your research.

Consider adding at least one Hawk Fish to perch amongst your decor, as something different.

I know you recently had a rough experience with Chromis due to disease, but would consider them or some cardinal fish. Both come in a variety of colors.

How well covered is the top of the tank? You may be able to do some reef safe wrasses as well.
The Anthias… I’m thinking no, but possible. The 300 is the LC tall tank in your avatar correct? There may be enough hiding spots, but it isn’t too deep for them to hid when they want to.(meaning the décor doesn’t have a lot of depth to it or hidden places) Tough call, but my gut is telling me it wouldn’t go well.

On a side note how are your eels doing?(Scratch that just saw the other thread) I’m thinking of getting rid of mine. Poop factory.

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Convict tangs X 3, they swam together nicely in my 125, and are really easy going. The white with black is really striking next to the more coloful fish.

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You mean three of them Joe? What size were they? Do you still have them? I don’t know of anyone personally who has kept multiple tangs of the same species in that small of a tank. I know my old boss used to try it constantly with yellow tangs, but the same story always happened. Eventually for some odd reason, it always ended up being 1 tang and when there was only two… man was it ugly.

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Yes, three. I sold them with the 125, and I believe sneakypollock traded them shortly thereafter. The convicts are far less species aggressive than other tangs, and barely have the “scalpel”, though they will still occasionally fan with their tails.

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[quote=“Gordonious, post:2, topic:3291”]
Do NOT got the damsel route. I believe all damsels color morph as they age. They pretty much always go from stunning beautiful colors to ugly brown. They also do grow, odds are you have never seen a mature damsel in captivity. They are extremely territorial if you buy 5 you’ll end up with 1 eventually. They will fight to the death. Not only that after there is one big ugly one left it will almost jump out of the water to greet any new fish you add to the tank.
There is no fish that bites people more than damsel fish. If you swim too close to their home, or put yur hand in the tank with a mature damsel, they will bit you over and over and over again until you decide to leave their home alone.
It may be possible to get a type of damsel fish that isn’t majorly aggressive, but I’ve never met anyone who has.

If you still have the sea stars, after introducing an aggressive wrasse they’ll be dinner. That being said you can’t get more active animals. Swimming around all the time. banana or bird wrasse(either sex, very different colors) would work. I would stay away from orange shoulder wrasses as I’ve found them to become bullies even in an aggressive tank.(though only worked with 2-3 of them in the past)

Another option for brightly colored fish that don’t often do well in tanks containing inverts, but would be fine in a FO would be squirrelfish.

I would like to recommend a rabbit fish such as a Magnificent foxface, but you said no poisonous and I’m guessing you mean no venomous either. There are some other pretty rabbit fish as well that get really large, some will color morph as adults though, so keep that in mind in your research.

Consider adding at least one Hawk Fish to perch amongst your decor, as something different.

I know you recently had a rough experience with Chromis due to disease, but would consider them or some cardinal fish. Both come in a variety of colors.

How well covered is the top of the tank? You may be able to do some reef safe wrasses as well.
The Anthias… I’m thinking no, but possible. The 300 is the LC tall tank in your avatar correct? There may be enough hiding spots, but it isn’t too deep for them to hid when they want to.(meaning the décor doesn’t have a lot of depth to it or hidden places) Tough call, but my gut is telling me it wouldn’t go well.

On a side note how are your eels doing?(Scratch that just saw the other thread) I’m thinking of getting rid of mine. Poop factory. [/quote]

On your advice, I’ll keep away from damselfishes.

Don’t care for squirrelfish nor rabbitfish. As for the anthias, my gut feeling is to stay away just like your gut feeling tells you.

Doesn’t leave much… I’ve always wanted a group of regal tangs so I think I’m going to get three 2" regal juvis and a 3-4" yellow tang all at once in my 55g QT and go from there. If yellow decides to be a bully, I’ll move him into my 30g QT or maybe even dividing the tank with egg crate.

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orbicular batfish, if it can handle the pressure of feeding with the other guys you have, can be nice and gets large.

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Paul you’ve recommended this fish before in the past. There is an article I’ll post a link to you should read. They need a tall “unobstructed tank” basically a tank without the type of decor Lambo has or the corals we keep. Many of the batfish have horrible time adjusting to captivity. Those that due are timid feeders and scared of any other animals.(so species only tank) They are also usually best kept in groups.

I deal set up would be a very tall tank with 4-5 fish, no decor, dimly lit, three sides of the tank covered so they don’t have to hid from people walking on any side… not the typically set up to say the least.

Here is one article, not sure if it is the one I am thinking of:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spadfsh.htm

Pretty animals, not for the common reefkeeper by far.

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How do mandarins fare with some of the more aggressive fish? I have one that I love to watch hover around the tank and the other fish seem to not even notice he’s there and I believe that Bill has enough nooks and cranny’s without live rock to support plenty of copepods.

How would angels do in your tank Bill? I saw a queen angel the other day that was huge and looked fantastic!

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John, you mentioned hawk fish… are they considered safe? what would they mess with? i’ve wanted a flame hawk, but heard they maybe a problem?

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Lambo has “Living color” corals in this tank. They’re fake corals. Hawk fish will often eat inverts. That being said sometimes they won’t. I had a friend that after acclimating inverts as he dropped them in the tank the hawk would hit several of them before they hit the bottom of the tank. It also ate his prized porcelain crabs. Paul loves some of his newer inverts and has a hawk in with them. Tough call for reefs, I like to be cautious and keep them out of reef tanks with inverts like snails and crabs. That being said Lambo’s is a “FO” Fish Only system.

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Good info John, i’ll keep to playing it safe…love my inverts, and want more!!

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[quote=“Gordonious, post:11, topic:3291”]
Lambo has “Living color” corals in this tank. They’re fake corals. Hawk fish will often eat inverts. That being said sometimes they won’t. I had a friend that after acclimating inverts as he dropped them in the tank the hawk would hit several of them before they hit the bottom of the tank. It also ate his prized porcelain crabs. Paul loves some of his newer inverts and has a hawk in with them. Tough call for reefs, I like to be cautious and keep them out of reef tanks with inverts like snails and crabs. That being said Lambo’s is a “FO” Fish Only system. [/quote]

True, the middle of the tank is fake corals but I have a ton of LR on the bottom of the tank. And that is why I need middle column swimming fish since the angels are always swimming between rocks and so did the tangs.

I’ve kept a pair of Flame Hawks in my tank and to tell you the truth, I couldn’t even see them, always hiding in nooks and crannies and with all the color from the fake corals, I didn’t even noticed the pair at all.

Batfish??? No way, to sensitive and they get HUGE !!

14

I added a falco hawk fish(checkered?) a while back. it got along fine with all the other fish and the corals, but it ate all my cleaner and pepermint shrimp the first month. and probably lots of snails and crabs.

i’ve also kept a nice Lemon Peel Angel fish. it was constantly “tasting” my acros, but never actually took a bite. probably just liked the slime. it didnt hurt a thing and it swam around nicely for me. Bright yellow, Blue eye brow, pretty fish.

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After much consideration, I cancelled my order of tangs since they should be the last fish added and I
'm not done yet.

Decided to get a group of lyretail anthias, 1 male and 6 females from Fiji. Plus need to get a male for my maroon clownfish. After these guys, I’ll add a regal tang and a yellow tang together.

Thanks for all the replies

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anthias seem ok after getting settled in. make sure u have good o2 exchange, and a covered top. (had a BUNCH of mine jump…) and very sensitive to oxygen levels, so sometimes a quick acclimation is almost better.

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How about adding a shoal of blue chromis (Chromis cyaneus) as well? A small group of these guys in the water column would likely help convince the anthias, “Well they think it is ok and aren’t hiding, we can probably come out to.” That and I personally think their neon blue and jet black coloring is more appealing then the pastel colors of most anthias. With the two together it would be a good variety and contrast.

Having lots of little fish will also help your tank look like a natural reef. My biggest problem with the massive “coral reef” exhibit wasn’t that it was built with ugly algae covered fake corals, but the tank completely lacked small fish. Most coral reefs have many more small fish such as damsels, chromis, gobies, and such then the larger fish they featured. Damsels grow to be too aggressive and territorial in a home aquariums in my opinion and the gobies would be almost like miniature versions of your hawk fish that you weren’t a fan of. That being said once all your larger fish are added I would urge you to consider a school of neon gobies or large clown gobies as a final little sprinkle of movement and color.

Just some food for thought.

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Jon brings up a very good point… most reefs have tons of small fish, and large fish only occasionally visit. If you want a natural look, lots of gobies, blennies, wrasses and the like should make up most of the bioload, with one or 2 large fish.

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That being said many FO lovers like the big fish and want more then 1-2 large fish. I’ve heard Lambo’s tank features a large sump with LR, so if maintained properly and if the right equipment is installed(I haven’t seen any of it in person) he can really stock the thing. Especially if the addition of diseases is kept minimal. I think his most recent stock plans for larger fish work and aren’t over doing it, but really would like to see it stocked with a lot more little fish. You have to consider the relative bioload of little 1.5” perching fish, that rest on the rocks and aren’t constantly swimming is very minimal.

I really see in a larger tank where the goal is either to keep fish or to replicate a natural reef it is ideal to not see all the animals at once. You can sit in scuba gear hovering over a tiny section of a reef and notice more and more animals popping in and out of the reef. At a good public aquarium’s reef display you can stand for hours and hours in front of a display noticing different behaviors of different animals and seeing some you hadn’t seen before. That being said you move on to the tank featuring large open water fish… in 20 seconds you’ve gotten the full picture and have seen all there is to see and can move on.

Large fish often times have more personality and feature different colors and patterns, but if all youave is large fish, you’re missing something in my opinion.

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Bellamy you got PM