Struggling to make a fish list 72 gallon bow. Ideas?

[southerntnreefer]

I have a similar sized tank. I focus on utility and interesting fish.


Here is my current fish stock and what I plan to pick up, I love all of them:

1.) 2 picasso clowns
2.) Banded pipe fish
3.) Halichoeres Chrysus (yellow wrasse) - fantastic utility, gets rid of anything nasty I don't want.
4.) Mandarin Dragonet
5.) Flame Tomini Tang - Excellent cleaning and looks great.

I will soon be adding the final fish: sharknose goby. They look fun and eat parasites off fish keeping everyone healthy.

Do you have any trouble with the yellow wrasse moving coral around, or flipping it over on the sand bed? Really want sandbed corals in this build. My old coris did that and irritated me.

 

[Agsellers04]

Get an eel and a lionfish.... Nothing else.

 

[living_tribunal]

Do you have any trouble with the yellow wrasse moving coral around, or flipping it over on the sand bed? Really want sandbed corals in this build. My old coris did that and irritated me.

I don't have trouble with it flipping corals but he definitely gets sand all over many of my brain corals/fungia plates on the sandbed. He's changed spots recently where there aren't corals but you never know where he's going to want to fall asleep.

 

[living_tribunal]

If you're serious about cleaning and want a cuc that will last 1-2 years+ I'd go with the following:

1.) Emerald (if you feed them in the absence of algae they won't cause problems and are incredibly effective)

2.) Pithos (same as above) they are very effective sand stirrers as well. They camouflage themselves by getting halfway through the sand bed and pulling out everything possible. They also look very cool.

3.) Stomatellas, been covered above.

4.) Cowries, been covered above.

5.) Chitons, slow but very consistent and effectively clean your rocks like brand new. 2 chitons cover all of my rock work within a month period.

6.) limpets / abalones - crazy effective but can get kind of large. Very hardy and no one messes with them.

7.) strombus for the active breeding/hardiness.

8.) Maybe one large nassarius to stir the sand.

With a 75G tank, you can get 10 of the above and keep things very clean without having to add dozens of cuc members like many do. They will also live for a long time.

 

[southerntnreefer]

I don't have trouble with it flipping corals but he definitely gets sand all over many of my brain corals/fungia plates on the sandbed. He's changed spots recently where there aren't corals but you never know where he's going to want to fall asleep.

See I couldn't have any sandbed as my coris would toss it around like a beach ball. I was considering a leopard wrasse, but I like fish that work too....

 

[southerntnreefer]

If you're serious about cleaning and want a cuc that will last 1-2 years+ I'd go with the following:

1.) Emerald (if you feed them in the absence of algae they won't cause problems and are incredibly effective)

2.) Pithos (same as above) they are very effective sand stirrers as well. They camouflage themselves by getting halfway through the sand bed and pulling out everything possible. They also look very cool.

3.) Stomatellas, been covered above.

4.) Cowries, been covered above.

5.) Chitons, slow but very consistent and effectively clean your rocks like brand new. 2 chitons cover all of my rock work within a month period.

6.) limpets / abalones - crazy effective but can get kind of large. Very hardy and no one messes with them.

7.) strombus for the active breeding/hardiness.

8.) Maybe one large nassarius to stir the sand.

With a 75G tank, you can get 10 of the above and keep things very clean without having to add dozens of cuc members like many do. They will also live for a long time.

I don't mind dozens gives constant movement, but definitely something to research. Tanks a while off from getting wet.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Get an eel and a lionfish.... Nothing else.

Nope and nope. Wife hates eels, so that's out. We tore down our many year old reef a year or 2 ago and consolidated to my 220. We missed it so I sold off the 220 fish only and going back to reef

 

[Mr_Knightley]

And they are safe with a hawkfish? I usually use a few turbos, and astraea, but always looking for better options.

Stommatellas should be perfectly safe with hawks, they only really go after shrimp anyways. The only problem is they are rarely sold. An amazing snail species that I currently use is the Cerith genus of snails, they move lightning fast, flip themselves over easily and nearly eliminated a hair algae problem I had been suffering in my previous 210 gallon reef.

 

[PicassoClown04]

If you're serious about cleaning and want a cuc that will last 1-2 years+ I'd go with the following:

1.) Emerald (if you feed them in the absence of algae they won't cause problems and are incredibly effective)

2.) Pithos (same as above) they are very effective sand stirrers as well. They camouflage themselves by getting halfway through the sand bed and pulling out everything possible. They also look very cool.

3.) Stomatellas, been covered above.

4.) Cowries, been covered above.

5.) Chitons, slow but very consistent and effectively clean your rocks like brand new. 2 chitons cover all of my rock work within a month period.

6.) limpets / abalones - crazy effective but can get kind of large. Very hardy and no one messes with them.

7.) strombus for the active breeding/hardiness.

8.) Maybe one large nassarius to stir the sand.

With a 75G tank, you can get 10 of the above and keep things very clean without having to add dozens of cuc members like many do. They will also live for a long time.

I really like this! I’d use fighting conchs in place of the nass. snail just because I think they’re a little prettier or maybe a sand sifting star when the tank becomes more mature. I haven’t had a problem with emerald crabs, but you do have to keep them fed or they will predate on coral. May be difficult to feed him in a tank that large.

 

[Roachbeef19]

Without a doubt ur favorite fish will be an African golden midas blenny i promise you!!!!!

 

[southerntnreefer]

I really like this! I’d use fighting conchs in place of the nass. snail just because I think they’re a little prettier or maybe a sand sifting star when the tank becomes more mature. I haven’t had a problem with emerald crabs, but you do have to keep them fed or they will predate on coral. May be difficult to feed him in a tank that large.

I lost 3 royal gramma a to an emerald crab. Never again. I run conches in most of my tanks. Love them!

 

[southerntnreefer]

Without a doubt ur favorite fish will be an African golden midas blenny i promise you!!!!!

Why is that?

 

[Roachbeef19]

Very active and sociable. Awesome colors and super friendly. They swim throughout the tank from perch to perch. Definitely my favorite fish I've ever owned

 

[southerntnreefer]

Very active and sociable. Awesome colors and super friendly. They swim throughout the tank from perch to perch. Definitely my favorite fish I've ever owned

I'll have to do some research. As long as doesn't look like an eel I'm good.

 

[Tamberav]

The midas blennies I have had were aggressive once settled. Not just to other planktivores but to my clowns. Live aquaria states they may nip at planktivores...firefish....gobies..and so on. Less territory makes them more nippy and individuals will vary. Something to be aware of since you want flashers, firefish, and gobies.

 

[Tired]

Limpets and abalone are absolutely not the same thing. Limpets, if you get a reef-safe kind, make good cleaners and stay small. Abalones get very large, and many are coldwater.

You should definitely not add your entire cleanup crew to a new tank. If you add all the cleanup at once, you have to wait for a lot of algae to show up. You could always get 1/3 to 1/2 of what RC suggests, add that, and then later add another batch if it seems to be required. You want to have enough cleanup critters that your algae doesn't increase in amount, but not enough that everything is constantly being stripped completely clean. Non-pest algae is a good thing to have, it feeds various critters in your tank and competes with pest algae.

 

[living_tribunal]

I really like this! I’d use fighting conchs in place of the nass. snail just because I think they’re a little prettier or maybe a sand sifting star when the tank becomes more mature. I haven’t had a problem with emerald crabs, but you do have to keep them fed or they will predate on coral. May be difficult to feed him in a tank that large.

If you're feeding your corals once a week or toss in some flakes or something small like cyclops he'll be fine.

They are just too effective and live a a long time.

I'm kind of done with the 20 snails at a time thing. They just don't survive long in a reef tank with hermits, wrasses, and other stuff.

 

[living_tribunal]

Limpets and abalone are absolutely not the same thing. Limpets, if you get a reef-safe kind, make good cleaners and stay small. Abalones get very large, and many are coldwater.

You should definitely not add your entire cleanup crew to a new tank. If you add all the cleanup at once, you have to wait for a lot of algae to show up. You could always get 1/3 to 1/2 of what RC suggests, add that, and then later add another batch if it seems to be required. You want to have enough cleanup critters that your algae doesn't increase in amount, but not enough that everything is constantly being stripped completely clean. Non-pest algae is a good thing to have, it feeds various critters in your tank and competes with pest algae.

Never said they were.

Even though limpets only get to be about an inch in diameter, their shell will knock stuff as they work through the rocks.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Limpets and abalone are absolutely not the same thing. Limpets, if you get a reef-safe kind, make good cleaners and stay small. Abalones get very large, and many are coldwater.

You should definitely not add your entire cleanup crew to a new tank. If you add all the cleanup at once, you have to wait for a lot of algae to show up. You could always get 1/3 to 1/2 of what RC suggests, add that, and then later add another batch if it seems to be required. You want to have enough cleanup critters that your algae doesn't increase in amount, but not enough that everything is constantly being stripped completely clean. Non-pest algae is a good thing to have, it feeds various critters in your tank and competes with pest algae.

That's what I've always known to be true. It just seemed odd to me, but it's a good place to go to see recommend snail levels for a 72.

 

[southerntnreefer]

If you're feeding your corals once a week or toss in some flakes or something small like cyclops he'll be fine.

They are just too effective and live a a long time.

I'm kind of done with the 20 snails at a time thing. They just don't survive long in a reef tank with hermits, wrasses, and other stuff.

I love love love conches. Funny story I had 2 in my old 220 that houses puffers, triggers, many non reef safe wrasses, a shark etc. When I tore that tank down. They were still there. Alive and kicking. I have them in another system now. They had to have been hunted and tossed around as play things for the fish for quote sometime..