Stocking recommendation for 125g mixed reef

[Scott Ulrich]

I have a Starcki and it gets along with everyone. Just make it the first one in.

Its really pretty! But I already have fish in my tank - could be the first new fish... ;Writing

 

[Tcook]

I

Its really pretty! But I already have fish in my tank - could be the first new fish... ;Writing

I meant to say make sure it IS NOT the first fish in.

 

[Trouble1375]

I wish I had my list where I could copy/paste because I will forget someone.

8” Sailfin Tang
5” foxface
5” Japanese Swallowtail angel (yes reef safe)
Pair of Melanurus wrasse
Pair of clowns
Royal Gramma
Starry Blenny
Black Sailfin blenny
Cleaner wrasse
6 line wrasse
Striped Dottyback
Banghaai Cardinal
Boxfish
Wide barred shrimp goby
Diamond sand sifting goby
Firefish
Clown Goby

various CUC - no shrimp of any kind - they are snacks for the pair of melanu

I feed 2 cubes frozen in the morning, 3 cubes frozen in evening and some Nori

Running filter floss, ATS, one filter sock and activated carbon. We have dual 30 gallons sumps with a water bridge connecting them

don’t mind the open stand - it’s water change day 30 gallons once a month and I have no clue how to take good pics of the tank with the lighting


l

 

[jaganshi066]

What happened to the Starry Blenny and one PJ Cardinal if you don’t mind

I’d add a Goby and Shrimp pair.

Blue Tang will have to be rehomed.

Some of the more peaceful damsels would work. Azure, Talbot’s, etc.

Leave the blue tang alone

 

[Scott Ulrich]

I meant to say make sure it IS NOT the first fish in.

I was wondering if that were the case , makes more sense

I wish I had my list where I could copy/paste because I will forget someone.

8” Sailfin Tang
5” foxface
5” Japanese Swallowtail angel (yes reef safe)
Pair of Melanurus wrasse
Pair of clowns
Royal Gramma
Starry Blenny
Black Sailfin blenny
Cleaner wrasse
6 line wrasse
Striped Dottyback
Banghaai Cardinal
Boxfish
Wide barred shrimp goby
Diamond sand sifting goby
Firefish
Clown Goby

That's a great list! I've neve seen a boxfish but would be afraid of the whole tank poisoning thing

The Melanurus wrasse are so pretty... if I add a wrasse to my list it might have to be that one if I can find one!

The store seemed to think I'd be fine with a sailfin tang in a 6' 125 gallon, but I tend to prefer to err on the conservative side.

various CUC - no shrimp of any kind - they are snacks for the pair of melanu

I'm assuming a cleaner shrimp would be okay?

I feed 2 cubes frozen in the morning, 3 cubes frozen in evening and some Nori

I currently do 1 frozen brine shrimp cube in the evening, but might look into an auto feeder with pellets for the morning.

Running filter floss, ATS, one filter sock and activated carbon. We have dual 30 gallons sumps with a water bridge connecting them

I used carbon but probably didn't change it enough. I never ran filter socks on the 40, but I may try it for this one once I get the sump set up.

don’t mind the open stand - it’s water change day 30 gallons once a month and I have no clue how to take good pics of the tank with the lighting

I don't mind open stands since I have a display refugium with mangroves

I'm hoping to keep my stocking light enough that I can get away with a monthly 10-15% water change (about 20 gallons).

Picture of the mangroves, sump is so dirty and really needed to be cleaned, but I put it off since I knew I was moving it over to the new system.

Current list (still have a month probably before I get anything - planning to clean the other dry rock and add some in each week.

1 x Melanurus wrasse
1 x Royal Gramma
1 x Blue Damselfish
1 x Flame Hawk
1 x Scopas Tang
1 x Tomini Tang
1 x clown (current)
2 x Banggai cardinals (current)
1 x blenny (current?)

 

[Trouble1375]

I was wondering if that were the case , makes more sense



That's a great list! I've neve seen a boxfish but would be afraid of the whole tank poisoning thing

The Melanurus wrasse are so pretty... if I add a wrasse to my list it might have to be that one if I can find one!

The store seemed to think I'd be fine with a sailfin tang in a 6' 125 gallon, but I tend to prefer to err on the conservative side.



I'm assuming a cleaner shrimp would be okay?



I currently do 1 frozen brine shrimp cube in the evening, but might look into an auto feeder with pellets for the morning.



I used carbon but probably didn't change it enough. I never ran filter socks on the 40, but I may try it for this one once I get the sump set up.



I don't mind open stands since I have a display refugium with mangroves

I'm hoping to keep my stocking light enough that I can get away with a monthly 10-15% water change (about 20 gallons).

Picture of the mangroves, sump is so dirty and really needed to be cleaned, but I put it off since I knew I was moving it over to the new system.

Current list (still have a month probably before I get anything - planning to clean the other dry rock and add some in each week.

1 x Melanurus wrasse
1 x Royal Gramma
1 x Blue Damselfish
1 x Flame Hawk
1 x Scopas Tang
1 x Tomini Tang
1 x clown (current)
2 x Banggai cardinals (current)
1 x blenny (current?)

The Melanurus are the cleaner shrimp. Expensive snacks. We have male and a female Melanurus - the color differences between them are amazing. She is slightly smaller than him. We are going to try a coral banded shrimp and see how that goes.
Our sailfin is large at 8” - she’s completely happy and has caves big enough to go into for sleeping

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Good news, my bicolor blenny was spotted this morning, almost two weeks later! He must have been hiding in the rocks somewhere.

I decided against any damsels due to aggression. I'm back and forth on the flame hawk, I really like cleaner shrimp so I'd have to give them up. I'm back and forth on the chromis, but I was thinking I'd do a 4 week qt to rule out and/or treat Uronema and add a auto feeder to drop pellets in the morning to supplement my evening frozen shrimp feeding (I have an empty 40 gallon that I can use for a qt tank).

1 x clown (current)
1 x bicolor blenny (current)
2 x Banggai cardinals (current)
7 x Green Chromis (add first round of additions)
1 x Scopas Tang (add second)
1 x Tomini Tang (add second)
1 x Flame Hawk (add second)

So 14 fish, 20 or so hermits, and a couple of emerald crabs.

Does that seem like a reasonable stocking level for a 125g? Any other recommendations or replacements? I would rather be understocked than overstocked.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Tcook]

Good news, my bicolor blenny was spotted this morning, almost two weeks later! He must have been hiding in the rocks somewhere.

I decided against any damsels due to aggression. I'm back and forth on the flame hawk, I really like cleaner shrimp so I'd have to give them up. I'm back and forth on the chromis, but I was thinking I'd do a 4 week qt to rule out and/or treat Uronema and add a auto feeder to drop pellets in the morning to supplement my evening frozen shrimp feeding (I have an empty 40 gallon that I can use for a qt tank).

1 x clown (current)
1 x bicolor blenny (current)
2 x Banggai cardinals (current)
7 x Green Chromis (add first round of additions)
1 x Scopas Tang (add second)
1 x Tomini Tang (add second)
1 x Flame Hawk (add second)

So 14 fish, 20 or so hermits, and a couple of emerald crabs.

Does that seem like a reasonable stocking level for a 125g? Any other recommendations or replacements? I would rather be understocked than overstocked.

Thanks,
Scott

You are not overstocked. The 2 tangs both have a similar brown tone. I like the tomini. Dump the scopas and get some blue in there like a Watanabe angel. I think the flame hawk can get aggressive so I would go with a nice wrasse instead. Just my opinion. Your list is good.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

You are not overstocked. The 2 tangs both have a similar brown tone. I like the tomini. Dump the scopas and get some blue in there like a Watanabe angel. I think the flame hawk can get aggressive so I would go with a nice wrasse instead. Just my opinion. Your list is good.

Thanks! Probably right on the tangs. Scopas was my replacement for the yellow. Maybe I'll just get the tomini for now in case the yellow are ever available at a normal price.

Watainabe are pretty but I have a psychological hurtle paying over $100 for a fish lol. I keep going back and forth on trying an azure damsel since they are supposedly led aggressive...

 

[Sandwinder]

Just moved my 40g over to a 125! Right now I just have a handful of softies and lps and 4 fish: 1 clown, 1 bicolor blenny, and 2 x Bengali cardinals.

Thinking about adding:
1 x yellow tang (now that I have a bigger tank!)
2 x cleaner shrimp
Maybe 1 x royal gramma?
Maybe 2 x pajama cardinals?
Maybe 1 x Midas Blenny
Maybe some sort of urchin

I'm open for suggestions.
- preferably fish that don't hide all the time (yellow watchman goby and orchid dottyback, I'm looking at you).
- I'm good with cheap fish, maybe up to $100 if really worth it
- preferably hardy
- must be reef safe, I have no interest in testing to see if something works or not (so probably no angels, regardless of how awesome those flame angels look).
- I feed once a day on the evening (currently 1 cube of frozen shrimp), so no crazy feeding requirements

For flow I currently have 2 x koralia 1500 gph - one each on the left and right sides and 2 nanos 450 gph on the back left and back right.

I have another 40 lbs of dry rock that I plan to add. And adding 4 gallons of salt water each day to slowly fill it up. Picture of current state included.

Thanks!

Sailfin Tang
Midas Blenny
Neon Dottyback
2 Ocellaris Clowns
3 pajama Cardinals
Blue Hippo Tang
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Fire Shrimp

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Sailfin Tang
Midas Blenny
Neon Dottyback
2 Ocellaris Clowns
3 pajama Cardinals
Blue Hippo Tang
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Fire Shrimp

Thanks for sharing! That is a 125g? The store seemed to think I'd be fine with a sailfin in a 125g, but everything I've read says they get too big. Same with the Blue Tang. I'm just not interested in having to rehome something down the road or upgrading to a bigger tank.

Midas blennies are so cool. I might have to add it to my list. Adding colors for reference. No blue color, but I guess that is okay.

1 x clown (current) - orange/black/white
1 x bicolor blenny (current) - purple/orange
2 x Banggai cardinals (current) - black/white
1 x Cleaner shrimp (add first) - red/white
1 x Midas Blenny (add first) - yellow
7 x Green Chromis (add first) - green
1 x Tomini Tang (add second) - yellow/brown
1 x Fairy Wrasse (add second) - red

Picture of current tank, going to eventually add a canopy

 

[Sandwinder]

Thanks for sharing! That is a 125g? The store seemed to think I'd be fine with a sailfin in a 125g, but everything I've read says they get too big. Same with the Blue Tang. I'm just not interested in having to rehome something down the road or upgrading to a bigger tank.

Midas blennies are so cool. I might have to add it to my list. Adding colors for reference. No blue color, but I guess that is okay.

1 x clown (current) - orange/black/white
1 x bicolor blenny (current) - purple/orange
2 x Banggai cardinals (current) - black/white
1 x Cleaner shrimp (add first) - red/white
1 x Midas Blenny (add first) - yellow
7 x Green Chromis (add first) - green
1 x Tomini Tang (add second) - yellow/brown
1 x Fairy Wrasse (add second) - red

Picture of current tank, going to eventually add a canopy

Yes, its a 125g.
Also have a diamond back goby, loves to dig all the sand out from under rocks.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Okay, so phase 1 of my stocking plan ended up with some minor impulse buys over the weekend. I fully intended to just go and get 7 chromis and see what tangs they were selling. But they only had 1 chromis in stock and after talking with one of the workers, I walked out with a coral beauty, a sailfin tang and a tomini tang.

They seemed to think that sailfin would be fine in a 125 and said if it got to big I could bring it back for store credit.

I was back and forth between the tomini and a kole... The kole was bigger and out and about, while the tomini was smaller and a little more skittish. He is hiding a bit in my tank but ventures out occasionally especially for feeding.

I took a chance on the coral beauty. I only have about 6 small coral frags so hoping he stays reef safe. So far so good.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Question now is do I add a school of 7 chromis? Or instead add a few other random fish like a midas blenny, fairy wrasse, royal gramma or maybe a couple firefish?

Current fish:
1 x clown (current) - orange/black/white
1 x bicolor blenny (current) - purple/orange
2 x Banggai cardinals (current) - black/white
1 x sailfin tang - black/white/yellow
1 x tomini tang - brown/yellow
1 x coral beauty - blue/orange

 

[2021 reefer]

Lyretail anthias are really nice too. If you do add lyretail anthoas I suggest putting in 2 or more