Stocking a 150 cube

porkchop-rob · Sep 3, 2020

This is the 9 fish I think I want for my SPS heavy mixed reef. The tank is a 150 gallon 40x36x25 cube-ish tank.

Am I going to have any issues keeping these fish together? What order should I introduce these fish?

FangsAndGames · Sep 3, 2020

You should be great with that. Nice fish too. Make sure you have Copepods for the mandarin and leopard wrasse establishments before you add those in. Also you may not want to order from live aquaria but that is up to you. I would recommend marine collectors, tsm aquatics, and kp aquatics. If you really want some rare stuff check out among the reef. Again that’s a great list, make sure you can feed the mandarin and the leopard wrasse, and be careful with live aquaria.
Best of luck!

FangsAndGames · Sep 3, 2020

Also try and get the butterfly off of aiptasias if he isn’t already

Zionas · Sep 3, 2020

Cube tanks are far from ideal. Assuming you have the space you should have gone for a 6’ 150. IMO no reason to get a cube unless you only want non-active fish or if you’re going borderline nano.

My ideas only:

- x2 Ocellaris Clowns Great (IMO never a fan of the designer varieties, I only get the regular orange or the Darwin variety but hey it’s your call)

-Yellow Tang and Purple Tang both belong to genus Zebrasoma. A bit risky mixing them together. IMO choose one and if you want a second Tang choose one from a different genus, or get something like a Foxface (Magnificent IMO the best if you choose the Purple Tang, so there’s contrast in colors) if you want something that’s not a Tang.

-Mandarin OK, but make sure tank is well established and that you can give it a constant supply of pods. Heard the captive bred ones from ORA take to prepared foods more readily but need conformation on that one.

-Copperband Butterfly Make sure it’s healthy and preferably eating prepared foods at the LFS.

-Black Backed Wrasse Needs a sand bed, Tamarin Wrasses don’t ship well. They can be tricky like the Leopard Wrasses. This one gets to 8” too. Make sure it’s healthy and eating at the LFS.

-Leopard Wrasse See comments above on the Black Backed Wrasse. Anampses and the Leopards are the most challenging wrasses to keep. Pencil Wrasses are another challenging genus.

-Solon Fairy Wrasse Great. Love the colors. I think mixing genuses of wrasses is okay. Fairies are open water swimmers so no need for a sand bed.

Introduce your Tang / s last.

Since it’s a cube and you’re tight pressed for space, IMO start with just one large fish (if you’re going for a Foxface that should be the one) at most to not overload the biological filter too soon. IMO the Clownfish pair and the Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse (5”) would make the best “starters.”

porkchop-rob · Sep 3, 2020

I love the cube tanks, I’ve wanted one since I got in this hobby 8 years ago!

My largest tank previous to this was a 40Breeder so, I haven’t kept many of the larger fish.

For order of operation...I am assuming i can start with the clowns, then introduce the Solon Fairy and China wrasse, then the copperband and Tangs (I’ll research the tangs more), and finally the leopard and Mandarin.

I will be running a refugium and I will buy some pods to get my population going. I assume it’ll be well into next year before I even consider either of the last two fish.