I'm in the process of setting up my first marine tank. I'm (hopefully) having a WB Marine X 90.3 (224 litre/60 gallon) delivered next month. I have most equipment now, my rock is cycling in a couple of buckets, so now I'm trying to decide what I'm going to put in it...
I'm struggling to work out what is a suitable stock level for my tank. As far as I can tell, there isn't one 'golden rule' to follow (after making sure all fish are compatible with each other, corals, etc.). I've only kept fresh water tanks in the past and stocking them has always been simple - especially for my current planted tank, as it only has a dozen tetra and cherry shrimp.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated - either general advice about stocking levels, or my choices below. I've been researching this for a while, and this is what I have came up with so far (probably getting them in roughly this order):
1 x Molly Miller Blenny
1 x Yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp
2 x Occelaris clownfish
1 x McCoskers flasher wrasse
2 x Benggai cardinal
Potentially 1 or 2 mandarins if I can, but not for a long, long time
For inverts, I was thinking of:
1 x Porcelain anemone crab (I won't be getting an anemone, but understand they are happy with soft corals)
1 x Peppermint shrimp (or a different species - need to research more)
1 x Blue tuxedo urchin (probably the animal I've researched the least, but wouldn't get one for a while)
Trochus, Nassarius snails
I'm struggling to work out what is a suitable stock level for my tank. As far as I can tell, there isn't one 'golden rule' to follow (after making sure all fish are compatible with each other, corals, etc.). I've only kept fresh water tanks in the past and stocking them has always been simple - especially for my current planted tank, as it only has a dozen tetra and cherry shrimp.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated - either general advice about stocking levels, or my choices below. I've been researching this for a while, and this is what I have came up with so far (probably getting them in roughly this order):
1 x Molly Miller Blenny
1 x Yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp
2 x Occelaris clownfish
1 x McCoskers flasher wrasse
2 x Benggai cardinal
Potentially 1 or 2 mandarins if I can, but not for a long, long time
For inverts, I was thinking of:
1 x Porcelain anemone crab (I won't be getting an anemone, but understand they are happy with soft corals)
1 x Peppermint shrimp (or a different species - need to research more)
1 x Blue tuxedo urchin (probably the animal I've researched the least, but wouldn't get one for a while)
Trochus, Nassarius snails