Feedback on stocking plan wanted

[Osric]

For my 220G build, for which I plan to have a refugium sized at about 180-240G for a total system volume of about 400G, I was thinking the following stocking plan.

Critical feedback wanted


? Pair of Copperband Butterflies (Chelmon rostratus)

Harem of Dwarf Angelfish, either

? Maybe a Forktail Blenny (Meiacanthus atrodorsalis)

? Maybe a Bicolor Blenny (Ecsenius bicolor) (but listed as alternative to Gravieri, which I replace with Rainford’s)

A Rainford’s Goby (Amblygobius rainfordi) in place of Gravieri Nemateleotris

Maybe a Neon Damselfish (Indonisia, east indian ocean, thailand)

Either a pair of Signigobius biocellatus OR Valenciennea puellaris → Yellow Watchman Goby (Cryptocentrus cinctus), paired, ideally

Invertebrates

3 Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)

Corals

1 Blasto Colony

? Maybe? 1 Button Coral (Cynarina) and/or 1 Trachyphyllia

1 Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea)

1 Favia

?Maybe, in the right color? 1 Fungia or 1 Herpolitha?

1 Galaxea

1 Hydnophora

? Maybe 1 Catalaphyllia in the right color morph

1 Euphyllia (Frogspawn)

1 Bubble Coral (Plerogyra) or Physogyra

? Maybe one Lobophyllia

1 Turbinaria

? Maybe a Regal Angel (Pygoplites diacanthus) cf Advanced Aquarist article

? Maybe a pair of Mandarin Dragonets (Synchiropus splendidus)

Bubble Tip Anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor)

Clownfish! (Amphiprioninae ocellaris or percula)

 

[fishguy242]

hi seem to know what you are doing,only thing i would comment on is flame harem over yellow ,less risk of nipping on corals ,have fun,need any help the reef is here

 

[Osric]

hi seem to know what you are doing,only thing i would comment on is flame harem over yellow ,less risk of nipping on corals ,have fun,need any help the reef is here

Thanks, interesting info on flame angels — I have had one before and he was great/not a nipper. I think I will chance it again.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Regal and copperband need to go in early and may nip at your corals, especially the fleshy ones like Lobo, cynaria etc.

Angel harems are possible, do some research first. Flames may safer than the lemmon peel, but they will still likely nip at those meaty corals you have.

Bicolor blenny is a notorious nipper.

Rainford can be tough to feed.

Chromis, watch for uronema and they can get aggressive sometimes.

 

[Osric]

Bicolor blenny is a notorious nipper.

Rainford can be tough to feed.

Oh! I didn’t know about blenny nipping. I’ll have to research that.

In the past I’ve found Rainford do well off of pods in the tank. Both the rainford and the potential mandarins would need a very lively pod population first. However last time I had a Rainford it was the only fish in a nano tank for one of my kids; I wonder if here it’ll struggle vs the shrimp and mandarins?

All the others have question marks by them because of the risks associated. I wonder if I should rethink some of those ideas...

 

[OrionN]

My Tank is in the same ball park (320 DT) in term of size with your tank but less LPS, more SPS, Anemones and clams. I only have 1 fleshy LPS. Dragon Soul Favia. I have CBB , Regal angel pair, harem of Flame angels. I was worry that the Flavia would be history, but it is doing great.

Regarding CBB, you need luck to get a pair. I think it is more than just put a male and female together. I think the success rate is a whole lot less than 50%, but possible. I tried but only have singleton.
I would put the CBB in early, maybe the earliest of the larger fish. They are not bully, other than with other CBB but does not take been bully very well.

Regarding Regal angels. These are my dream fish and I tolerate some coral nipping from my pair. They are very beautiful and slow growing angels and will do just fine. I am not sure how your fleshy LPS. Maybe they will leave them alone, maybe not. I feed my fish 8 times a day. Two automated feeder feeding 4 times each, small amount. My tank is doing great with this regiment, but phosphate is a little high around .25ppm.

Only other problem is the interaction between the Mandarin and the angels. If you have 5 angels in your tank, it will be hard for your Mandarin to get well fed. If this is the case, large refugium is a must and pay attention to the pod level in your tank. I feed my tank a lot so my angels are very full all the time and they are lazy in their hunting. I guess it is much easier to just pick food out of the water column rather than hunting for them. My Mandarin pairs are fat and spawned all the time. If you pay attention and make sure your angels are well fed, then the Mandarin should be OK. Good luck

BTW, you did not mention any tang. Every tank got to have a tang or two. Powder Blue Tang go in last. And a wrasse or two.
My CBB

Nuptial coloration, Male Flame Angel and other picture of his lady and they are doing their stuff

Regal

Tang and Wrasse

 

[OrionN]

Regarding Mandarin, if you only keep one than make sure you get a male Mandarin. They are much more active and display all the time. Much more beautiful. Female Mandarin is good as one of the pair but not great as a singleton. A very beautiful fish still but less beautiful than a male Mandarin for sure.
male Mandarin and a flasher wrasse

 

[Osric]

Beautiful fish in your display! I am not used to having so much space and I would like a tang ...part of the point of a 72” long tank is to know the tang police won’t come when I eventually succumb.

For fuge I am planning to run a basement 60G sump plumbed to two 55 gallon or larger refugium tanks, and I haven’t planned the stock list for downstairs yet (which is where these tanks will be). I originally wanted to have 3 56G tanks there but I won’t have space, but still I’ll have at least 170G in the sump/refugium area and enough space to grow lots of macro and pods. I am debating whether or not I can have seahorses in one of the fuge tanks but this is still very speculative.