Question about stocking

[Mickali]

I'm currently looking at the fish I want for my first tank. I will (hopefully) have my 75g tank set up as a reef tank. I plan to hook up a 30g sump with a separate, 20g refugium visible in my custom stand to use as an educational tool. I went through and tried to stick with easy to moderate to take care of fish which are reef safe, and this is the list I came up with.

Here's what I came up with:
Long Tentacle Anemone
Ocellaris Clownfish
Sailfin Blenny
Kaudern's Cardinalfish
Longspine Urchin
Lettuce Sea Slug
Royal Gamma Basslet
Yellowhead Jawfish
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Neon Blue Goby
Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp
One spot Foxface

If possible, I'd love to have a snowflake eel. I know this may not be possible, as I have mainly peaceful fish on the above list and most are fairly tiny. I'd also like a starfish, but am not sure if my tank can handle added that to the bio load. The tank will be set in a biology classroom, so I tried to pick some things with symbiotic relationships to show during those parts of the year. I also know the kids would love the uniqueness of an eel and a starfish, and that added diversity would be good for a classification unit. I also did not include the various small inverts that come in the "cleaning crew" kits I have been reading about.


I'm not sure how to judge the numbers of fish in my tank. Any recommendations would be very helpful. One area I really want multiples of is with the clown fish, as I picked the specific anemone and clown fish based on the natural pairings in the wild and would like to be able to show the paired fish in the anemone.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I would advise against the eel and starfish with those tankmates. The eel will eat the cuc and may go after some fish. Serpent and brittlestars will displace the jawfish and reefsafe stars can be challenging. But the planned stocklist should be fine.

 

[HotRocks]

From my experience, you should be good with list above. Only recommendation I would have is to consider a Rose Bulb Tentacle Anemone (RBTA) opposed to a Long Tentacle. Long tentacles get very large and are harder to keep, and the larger they are the more risk you would have of a fish unintentionally getting stung. When you say multiples of clowns, you wont want more than 2 clowns and they need to be a bonded pair.

 

[eatbreakfast]

From my experience, you should be good with list above. Only recommendation I would have is to consider a Rose Bulb Tentacle Anemone (RBTA) opposed to a Long Tentacle. Long tentacles get very large and are harder to keep, and the larger they are the more risk you would have of a fish unintentionally getting stung. When you say multiples of clowns, you wont want more than 2 clowns and they need to be a bonded pair.

I have found long tentacles to be just as hardy as bubbletips. LTA stay on the sand near a rock and BTA will be on the rocks.

Clownfish are colonial, so it is possible to have more than 2, but to have more than 2 thwy need to be added as juveniles.

 

[Mickali]

From my experience, you should be good with list above. Only recommendation I would have is to consider a Rose Bulb Tentacle Anemone (RBTA) opposed to a Long Tentacle. Long tentacles get very large and are harder to keep, and the larger they are the more risk you would have of a fish unintentionally getting stung. When you say multiples of clowns, you wont want more than 2 clowns and they need to be a bonded pair.

That's what I figured with the eel and the smaller fish I chose. I'll look at the other anemones as well, thanks for that advise. By multiple clowns, I only meant 2 - I just wanted 1 pair. Do I have to specifically order a bonded pair, or am I ok to just buy a male and a female?

 

[eatbreakfast]

That's what I figured with the eel and the smaller fish I chose. I'll look at the other anemones as well, thanks for that advise. By multiple clowns, I only meant 2 - I just wanted 1 pair. Do I have to specifically order a bonded pair, or am I ok to just buy a male and a female?

You can buy a female and a male, a male and a male, a female and a juvie, a male and a juvie, or two juveniles and you will end up with a pr.

 

[Mickali]

I would advise against the eel and starfish with those tankmates. The eel will eat the cuc and may go after some fish. Serpent and brittlestars will displace the jawfish and reefsafe stars can be challenging. But the planned stocklist should be fine.

Would it be possible to have a starfish in the refugium, or will that be too small (20g)? I plan on having the refugium that is visible set up with only soft plants and algae rather than coral. My refugium in the sump will be just living rock and smaller corals for added filtration.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Would it be possible to have a starfish in the refugium, or will that be too small (20g)? I plan on having the refugium that is visible set up with only soft plants and algae rather than coral. My refugium in the sump will be just living rock and smaller corals for added filtration.

A serpent or brittle star would work in the refugium. If you feed meaty food a chocolate chip star could work in the refugium.

 

[HotRocks]

That's what I figured with the eel and the smaller fish I chose. I'll look at the other anemones as well, thanks for that advise. By multiple clowns, I only meant 2 - I just wanted 1 pair. Do I have to specifically order a bonded pair, or am I ok to just buy a male and a female?

You can buy about whatever you want. I have a standard ocellaris and an all white occellaris. Purchased at different times and they get along fine.

 

[4FordFamily]

You can buy about whatever you want. I have a standard ocellaris and an all white occellaris. Purchased at different times and they get along fine.

Yup buy one small and one larger, the larger will be the female.