The 240g is Imminent: Budgeting Stocking

[Wandering Albatross]

I’ve found get the Achilles the right diet and man they become bulletproof, minimal stress factors and suddenly it goes from sleepless nights to relaxed mornings enjoying seeing a show piece cruising along the tank!

The same vendor that brought me 2 readily eating CBBs could source me an Achilles for a reasonable (for us fish folk) price.

Just remembered I forgot to add to the potential list at least one cleaner wrasse or a couple cleaner gobies. I fear the gobies may be too small, but maybe if they’re already there they’ll get the ‘cleaner species pass’.

 

[BryanM]

I’ve found get the Achilles the right diet and man they become bulletproof, minimal stress factors and suddenly it goes from sleepless nights to relaxed mornings enjoying seeing a show piece cruising along the tank!

Curious what this diet would be, and I assume it would be beneficial to my other tangs and fish as well.

Currently I feed only TDO Chromoboost 3x a day.

 

[i cant think]

Curious what this diet would be, and I assume it would be beneficial to my other tangs and fish as well.

Currently I feed only TDO Chromoboost 3x a day.

Ive found feeding them nori on the daily (enough that they can graze all day, without running out) along with 2-3 feeds of various foods from pellet to frozen, mixed with different nutrients and vitamins. I’ve always treated Achilles with the same care of Moorish Idols (using more fibrous foods) and I find they become incredibly resistant.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Ive found feeding them nori on the daily (enough that they can graze all day, without running out) along with 2-3 feeds of various foods from pellet to frozen, mixed with different nutrients and vitamins. I’ve always treated Achilles with the same care of Moorish Idols (using more fibrous foods) and I find they become incredibly resistant.

I feed 3+ times a day already, so adding nori sheets on a grazer wouldn’t be a big deal to me. I use selcon and spirulina powder every so often mixed into their food as a treat. I could also get a second grazer to put on opposite sides of the tank to ensure no one can hoard it all.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Can anyone vouch for the health/longevity/diet strategy for either parrotfish? Still want a lion but I fear the nippiness. It’s one thing for fish who are all scrappy to jockey for rank, but the lion from what I’ve heard is relatively slow and peaceful in that regard, only a threat to what it can fit in its mouth. It’s not fair to me if he can’t defend himself.

I don’t know what kind of tank it’d take to keep even a dwarf lion where it won’t either be trying to eat other fish, getting eaten and killing that fish, or being harassed by faster or more ornery tank mates. The options that I’m actually interested in seem pretty slim.

 

[Slocke]

So Achilles, sohal, or clown, but not all 3, and safety says Achilles. That does reduce aggression potential, but it means there’s no way to have either of those remaining tangs any time soon. The Achilles I’d almost risk in my reef community if it was a longer tank, but the others are too big and aggressive for anything else I have. I can do a decent sized species tank for the right trigger, but with the way tangs move, I can’t justify it. Nor can I risk it with smaller fish, given the way my barely 5” tominis went nuts on totally unrelated species. No similar size or color, just crazy. I would only be willing to risk the clown or sohal with other large fish and/or sturdy aggressive fish that’ll hold their own. So this is my only chance to house them, at least for the foreseeable future, which sucks.

I was thinking clown trigger with the undulate in his new digs, not in this 240 with everyone else. Purely because I’m not sure who else would stand the slightest chance against him, if he outdoes clown tangs for aggression.

So what if I did:

• Naso
• Achilles
• Sailfin
• Blue hippo and/or another less aggressive tang and/or 1 of the tominis
• Blue throat pair
• second less aggressive trigger (pink tail maybe?)
• Emperor and/or regal angel and/or alternate angel/s
• Zebra eels x2
• Snowflake eel/s
• Maroon clown pair, maybe with carpet nem
• Would still like the dogface puffer or my blue spot if she’ll be a good fit, but not if it’ll cost me having angels
• Lunare wrasse
• Red Coris or sunset wrasse
• Rainbow or Christmas wrasse
• Newtons wrasse
• Maybe a sweetlips, fusilier, or another boisterous sturdy fish
• Not opposed to smaller-medium dither fish at the end, only if they’ll survive aggression/predation of the primary stock, they can’t cost me any of the big fish alone

Uhhh
The problem with wrasse is that some of them share names with other wrasse...
If by sunset wrasse you mean Lutescens, aka banana wrasse, then it should be lunare or sunset, as they are too closely related and too aggressive to have both happy.
For rainbow wrasse, that could be like 10 species. Here is what I see in just the first 5 Google results:

1. Coris julis
2. Coris atlantica
3. Thalassoma quinquevittatum
4. Thalassoma lucasanum

Same issue with Christmas wrasse:

1. Halichoeres claudia
2. Halichoeres ornatissimus
3. Thalassoma trilobatum (are they available or are they hawaii only?)

My worry is a ton of Thalassoma wrasse when they are very aggressive. I'd go for one Thalassoma, one Coris, one or two Halichoeres, one hogfish, one tuskfish, and a dragon.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Uhhh
The problem with wrasse is that some of them share names with other wrasse...
If by sunset wrasse you mean Lutescens, aka banana wrasse, then it should be lunare or sunset, as they are too closely related and too aggressive to have both happy.
For rainbow wrasse, that could be like 10 species. Here is what I see in just the first 5 Google results:

1. Coris julis
2. Coris atlantica
3. Thalassoma quinquevittatum
4. Thalassoma lucasanum

Same issue with Christmas wrasse:

1. Halichoeres claudia
2. Halichoeres ornatissimus
3. Thalassoma trilobatum (are they available or are they hawaii only?)

My worry is a ton of Thalassoma wrasse when they are very aggressive. I'd go for one Thalassoma, one Coris, one or two Halichoeres, one hogfish, one tuskfish, and a dragon.

Was thinking

Thalassoma quinquevittatum​

Thalassoma lunare​

Thalassoma lutescens​

Halichoeres ornatissimus​

Plus a red Coris or some other Coris.
If it’s lunare or sunset I’ll go lunare. Will the dragon be safe with the other aggressive fish in here, I don’t know much about them. Just curious, why a hogfish?

 

[Slocke]

Was thinking

Thalassoma quinquevittatum​

Thalassoma lunare​

Thalassoma lutescens​

Halichoeres ornatissimus​

Plus a red Coris or some other Coris.
If it’s lunare or sunset I’ll go lunare. Will the dragon be safe with the other aggressive fish in here, I don’t know much about them. Just curious, why a hogfish?

I think you mean, will the other fish be safe with a dragon? Mine was my favorite fish, always was doing something fun but would chase off any fish though I never saw it actually hurt any fish. Just liked to prove it was the boss.

I just like hogfish plus they can often act like cleaner wrasse without being difficult. I still have a Lyretail hog. A great wrasse for a big wrasse tank.

 

[BryanM]

I think you mean, will the other fish be safe with a dragon? Mine was my favorite fish, always was doing something fun but would chase off any fish though I never saw it actually hurt any fish. Just liked to prove it was the boss.

I just like hogfish plus they can often act like cleaner wrasse without being difficult. I still have a Lyretail hog. A great wrasse for a big wrasse tank.

This is the behavior of my Sailfin tang... It wanders around mostly peacefully, but if someone gets near him he usually herds them away, but I've never seen him try and nip anyone.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

I think you mean, will the other fish be safe with a dragon? Mine was my favorite fish, always was doing something fun but would chase off any fish though I never saw it actually hurt any fish. Just liked to prove it was the boss.

I just like hogfish plus they can often act like cleaner wrasse without being difficult. I still have a Lyretail hog. A great wrasse for a big wrasse tank.

Yeah will the dragon be okay with the triggers and other aggressive/boisterous fish in this setup?

 

[Slocke]

Yeah will the dragon be okay with the triggers and other aggressive/boisterous fish in this setup?

Yeah
They are very tough

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Edited list:

• Naso
• Achilles
• Sailfin
• 1 of the tominis
• Orange of black shoulder tang (like the light bodied black shoulder)
• Blue throat pair
• Pink tail trigger
• Sargassum trigger
• Emperor angel
• Regal angel and/or Blue face angel and/or blue angel
• Zebra eels x2
• Snowflake eel x1-2 (if sex changers)
• Maroon clown pair, maybe with carpet nem
• Will try my blue spot
• Lunare wrasse
• Red Coris
• Coris formosa
• Dragon wrasse
• Chameleon wrasse
• Diana’s hogfish
• Orange spot tusk
• Will loosely consider bicolor parrotfish until convinced otherwise
• Fusilier
• Pink square anthias or blue/green chromis shoal (5-7), can go with a trio if anthias
• Moorish idol?

Will keep looking at medium dither fish. While I may have lost several I really wanted, I’m pretty sure we’ve made this list just a touch longer…

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Would any of these work without removing any of the above?

Other larger options:
Batfish
Hamlet
GoldSaddled goatfish
Oriental/striped sweetlips
Squirrel fish

Smaller dither fish:

Coral beauty angel
Flame angel
Lemon peel angel
Harptail blenny
Neon or other dottyback
Arc eye or falco hawkfish (think giant would be cooler but worried he’d try to eat someone)

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Also is there a wrasse with a really distinct purple coloration? Or some other fish that would work in here that’s got a decent bright purple, like gramma or orchid dottyback purple? Even defined purple accents would work.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Guys if my count is right the revised list comes to 24 fish without counting the shoaling dither fish, snowflake/s, fusilier, moorish idol, or any other smaller fish, several with the potential to reach 12+ inches.

I’m 100% on board with a high activity, high bioload tank of showfish. We’ve discussed aggressiveness and compatibility, but just confirming this won’t be too much from a space aspect?

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Bump

 

[Cael Gallery]

Not sure if it's too late but a spanish hogfish is quite purple. They get decently sized and are well behaved. Not aggressive but they're tough and won't take any **** from other wrasses. The Thalassoma combo you mentioned above will work, but introduce them at the same time. The fivestripe will probably bully smaller wrasses though, that species is incredibly hyperactive and can be quite mean.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Not sure if it's too late but a spanish hogfish is quite purple. They get decently sized and are well behaved. Not aggressive but they're tough and won't take any **** from other wrasses. The Thalassoma combo you mentioned above will work, but introduce them at the same time. The fivestripe will probably bully smaller wrasses though, that species is incredibly hyperactive and can be quite mean.

It's not too late, I'm still working out the last of the kinks in my plan. I found a 8x4x30" 540g that costs nearly the same as the 240g I was looking at, that will still fit in the space, so I'm rethinking some of my stock with the extra square-footage anyway. Figured more space will help ease some territorial issues too.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

With the previous list, could I add more with this footprint or should I keep my planned stock of if I jump up size-wise?

 

[cycletim]

FWIW I have a similar FOWLR (300 gallons) everyone gets along fine. I did it in 3 shipments a few months apart. I have some of the fish on your list that have been swapped out for others. Mine are mostly adults they get along fine. There is definitely some nipped fins occasionally but no murders. I will say that only having 1 type of Acanthurus tang is good idea and should be on the last shipment. Here's my list.

1. Golden Puffer
2. Foxface Rabbitfish
3. Magnificent foxface
4. Humu Humu Triggerfish
5. Clown Triggerfish
6. Emporer Angelfish
7. Queen Angelfish
8. Blue face Koi Tang
9. Blue jaw trigger Male
10. Blue Jaw Trigger Female
11. Harliquin Tusk
12. Blond Naso Tang
13. Blue Face Angel
14. Yellow Corus wrasse
15. Unicorn Tang
16. Bird Wrasse Male
17. Bird Wrasse Female
18. Yellow Eye Kole Tang
19. Achillies tang
20. Mocha Storm clown
21. Mocha Storm clown