69 Gal Red Sea stocking list

blaxsun · Dec 26, 2022

Predator tank. Fish goes in the water, swims around the tank. Eel's in the water. Your eel.

davidcalgary29 · Dec 26, 2022

littlefoxx said:
Ive narrowed the list down to these. I get if all cant go in the tank but from the research lve done these seem to work the best for what l want in the tank.

a clown pair
Orchid dottyback ( the purple one)
Bicolored dwarf angel
Purple firefish
Mandrin dragonet (when l have enough copods in the tank for them)
A fairy and a orangeback longfin wrasse
Flame hawkfish
Engineer goby (if it works since they get like 14 inches long)
Blue spot jawfish
And maybe some kind of blenny

i was looking at a royal gramma but lve read people can have some issues with them if they have a dottyback or vice versa. Ive also seen that the dottyback listed above is not known to be “evil” like others haha.

I'd really recommend that you nix the Mandarin dragonet/goby and the blue spot jawfish. Mandarins are really best only for mature tanks and require specialized care by experienced reefers; even captive-bred mandarins are hit-or-miss with frozen foods. If this is a must-have fish for you, then make this a long-term goal.

Blue spot jawfish are best left for a species tank, as they do best in temperate waters. That means that you'll need to buy a chiller to maintain them in optimal health, and then you'd have to rethink the rest of your fish list to include only subtropical species like catalina gobies and pygmy whitepotted filefish. Jawfish also require some thought about living spaces and aquascape; many people create special caverns for them out of PVC piping. They can also be a pain to feed.

Do not get a firefish or a wrasse unless you have some type of tightly-secured lid, or your fish are going to go carpet-surfing.

And remember -- do not get a purple dottyback. Those fish are quite aggressive and will probably nip a tankmate if they're stressed or are in a territorial dispute. Get the orchid dottyback (or, if you want a dark navy fish with electric blue highlights, the springeri dottyback).

littlefoxx · Dec 27, 2022

davidcalgary29 said:
I'd really recommend that you nix the Mandarin dragonet/goby and the blue spot jawfish. Mandarins are really best only for mature tanks and require specialized care by experienced reefers; even captive-bred mandarins are hit-or-miss with frozen foods. If this is a must-have fish for you, then make this a long-term goal.

Blue spot jawfish are best left for a species tank, as they do best in temperate waters. That means that you'll need to buy a chiller to maintain them in optimal health, and then you'd have to rethink the rest of your fish list to include only subtropical species like catalina gobies and pygmy whitepotted filefish. Jawfish also require some thought about living spaces and aquascape; many people create special caverns for them out of PVC piping. They can also be a pain to feed.

Do not get a firefish or a wrasse unless you have some type of tightly-secured lid, or your fish are going to go carpet-surfing.

And remember -- do not get a purple dottyback. Those fish are quite aggressive and will probably nip a tankmate if they're stressed or are in a territorial dispute. Get the orchid dottyback (or, if you want a dark navy fish with electric blue highlights, the springeri dottyback).

Ah okay I did not know that about Jawfish, thank you! Could the two dottybacks you listed go together?

davidcalgary29 · Dec 27, 2022

littlefoxx said:
Ah okay I did not know that about Jawfish, thank you! Could the two dottybacks you listed go together?

I wouldn't mix dottyback species on my first go. Fridmani and springeri dottybacks have the same body shape and living requirements, and may fight if they're competing for the same territory.

littlefoxx · Dec 27, 2022

davidcalgary29 said:
I wouldn't mix dottyback species on my first go. Fridmani and springeri dottybacks have the same body shape and living requirements, and may fight if they're competing for the same territory.

Ah yeah that makes sense. Which one is easier to keep as far as aggression? Are royal grammas okay to keep with them? Ive seen some posts where people have issues with them and dottybacks

davidcalgary29 · Dec 27, 2022

Their temperament is similar. Springeri dottybacks spend more time in the rockwork, and grammas tend to perch on it, so it's possible that they'd have less contact in a tank. I'd skip the gramma if it might be an issue: orchid dottybacks are that stunning that they make grammas look sort of dull in comparison.

I've never seen any of my dottybacks have an aggressive interaction with other species, so I'm the wrong person to ask.

littlefoxx · Dec 27, 2022

davidcalgary29 said:
Their temperament is similar. Springeri dottybacks spend more time in the rockwork, and grammas tend to perch on it, so it's possible that they'd have less contact in a tank. I'd skip the gramma if it might be an issue: orchid dottybacks are that stunning that they make grammas look sort of dull in comparison.

I've never seen any of my dottybacks have an aggressive interaction with other species, so I'm the wrong person to ask.

Ah okay makes sense. Does the orchid dottyback swim about more than the springeri ?

davidcalgary29 · Dec 27, 2022

It's hard to say; orchid dottybacks are certainly more noticeable because of their extraordinary colouring. It's a horizontal exclamation point of pink.