290 Gallon Stocking Advise
 

Still new to this hobby and trying to figure out which fish will go well together. I want the biggest diversity possible (angels,tangs, whatever). I want a good mix of small and big fish.

I currently have 2 clowns and a foxface.

Here is what has interested me so far. I know some of these cant be put into a tank together so I am looking for the best combination.

Blue Hippo Tang
Powder Blue Tang
Yellow Tang
Whitecheek Tang
Purple Tang (Maybe)
Flame Angel
Flameback Angel?
Lemon Peel Angel
Regal Angel
Rock Beauty Angel
Anthias (Dont know which ones)
Copperband Butterfly
Bangaii/Glass Cardinals

Most of these fish are big so I need something that is smaller and would school well. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Also, are clean up crews necessary and if so what should I get?

are you planning on keeping corals?


also powder blue doesnt go well with white cheek tang

Yes. Definitely corals. And that takes powder blue out of the list then.
Thanks

The angels you have listed can start eating corals at any time. The regal is the least likely.

Copperband butterflyfish do not do well long term in captivity. If you are wanting a butterflyfish, consider a pyramid. They do well and don't eat corals.

Anthias have much different requirements than other fish. You need to feed them multiple times/day. Due to this, they add quite a bit to the bioload. I have multiple anthias in my system and have 2 automatic feeders feeding 8 times/day plus once a day frozen food.

If you have a covered tank, there are some wrasse's that would go well. If no cover, don't go with wrasse's.

If you are looking for diversity, have you considered a zebra eel? They don't eat other fish.

some species of anthias are fine with once or twice a day feeding

Regal it is then unless theres a better option that I have not listed. I never looked into eels as I thought they werent reef safe and ate critters and smaller fish. Tank is also uncovered but I guess I could put a screen on top.

Do you know which ones?

Zebra dartfish school together nicely, they also won't bother any other fish and don't pick each other off like some anthias can. While not the flashiest of fish they do hang out mid tank and have interesting social interactions.
Like all dartfish they are jumpers so you would need a cover, also burrow under rocks.

Zebra eels are reef safe, but do like to escape. You will need something to make sure they can't get out if you get one.

I can answer this :D Most of the larger "easier" species. But it's important that they are eating pellets before you attempt this. You'll have hard time if they're only eating frozen.

Some examples are:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...12&pcatid=1512

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...28&pcatid=1128

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...30&pcatid=2830 (the photo is misleading -- Full color males of this species are show stoppers, here's an example: http://www.oceanwideimages.com/image...4M1046-17D.jpg)

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...0+90&pcatid=90

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...0+52&pcatid=52

Of course, your mileage may vary based on the health of the animal at collection. You'll also want to make sure the fish are thoroughly dewormed.

Is it ok to have different types of anthias? Like 3 of barletts and 3 lyretale?

Normally it's not ok to mix lyretail and bartlett because they are somewhat aggressive for anthias. But you should be ok given your tank size.

There's also an order and timing of adding fish you'll need to abide by to increase your odds of success, best to check back when you have your list narrowed down. Have you considered a Majestic Angel my fav, I have a 220 gal with a purple, yellow, white cheek, hippo and Naso tangs along with coral beauty, Emporer and Majestic angel ( soon to be adding a Flame angel). A malarenus wrasse, fox face , copperband, purple dotty back, air of clowns and a pair of scooter blenny's. Most of my issues have been with the tangs bullying each other especially the purple but throwing him in the sump for a couple of weeks adjusts his attitude and brings him down a couple of notches in turn allowing the other tangs to settle in. It's a real juggling act.

I love your tank Piscez. It looks great. I thought that the Majestic Angel wasnt reef safe though.

Here is what I know I want for sure.
I have 2 clowns and a foxface already
Blue Hippo
Yellow Tang
Purple Tang
Powder Blue Tang
Regal Angel
Flame Angel
Copperband butterfly
And now possibly a zebra moray eel.
Debated a naso tang for a while but they seem too big.

That takes care of the bigger fish more or less. Now I just need something smaller. Anthias seem like the best option. I wanted something cheap like damsels/chromis but Ive read that they just kill themselves off.

Also want something that stays in or around the sand. Some sand sifting dude.

The answer is: sometimes? Fish are like cats. Sometimes it works and you get a really mellow group, sometimes it doesn't because one dude wants to fight at the party. Hell, sometimes you mix the same species and that one dude kills off everyone else because he doesn't like their elbows. It's not common, but I've seen it enough times to say it's not a isolated. My advice, buy the more boisterous species (lyretail) after the Bartletts and try to get them smaller than said Bartletts.

Thanks a few things changed I think I should post some updated pics as I lost few fish, but regarding reef safe, my majestic ate my Zoa's but leaves the rest of my softies alone and I don't have any SPS so not an issue.

Orange spotted gobys are great for sand cleaning but a PITA to keep in the tank, big jumpers, even when I put a mesh on they would jump out of the hole where my auto feeder was. After losing 6 I gave up and now rely on conches and Cerith snails

Regarding anthias, Albert is spot on about their feeding regiment. If they feed pellets/flakes, you're in, but if not, you're gonna have a bad time.

Recently I lost a really beautiful specimen of a male squareback anthias, we were crushed, unreal colours; it was eating well at LFS and in the first few days, but eventually stopped and withered away. I also had a pair of lyretails about half a year ago doing the same thing. Only one female lyretail remains now, healthy as ever, but definitely make sure you get good ones that eat well.

Triggers are pretty cool, have you considered them?

If you want something smaller you want to make sure it can stick up for itself. Starry blenny's are a fish with a lot of personality. Dartfish are pretty skittish.

My stocky anthias don't back down from my bigger fish unlike my lyretail's. Pictures don't due them justice for how colorful they are.

Chromis's are likely to kill each other off. There are some people that have been successful longer term but with multiple feedings/day. I've had my 5 for 10 months but that is not a success story yet.

Avoid damsels. They will be terrors.

lol. Never heard of fish being compared to cats. Interesting stuff. Thanks for the advice Albert. Any chance the fathead can be thrown into the mix?

I always thought triggers were cool but just thought they would be too aggressive or eat the corals. Which ones would be a good fit?

Sorry to hear about the fish. I really like sps so cant have anything that nips at those all the time.

Would anything bother the goby? They have always seemed like easy targets for bigger fish.

Avoid damsels. Got it. Maybe ill pick up a couple chromis and see how it goes. As for stocky anthias I guess i would have to see one in person.

I.... Dunno about that. Damsels are a pretty diverse group. There's a few really nice damsels you might want. For example, clownfish and many of the gorgeous and relatively peaceful Chrysiptera species.

So yellow tail, azure, blue, and talbot should be ok?

The Xanthichthys genus (blue throats, crosshatch, sargassum, etc.) are known to be more docile and relatively reef safe. My limited experience with my blue throats is they are really shy but easy to get feeding. They haven't shown any aggression at all to other fish in the tank, big or small, and haven't touched coral and CUC. YMMV.

Also with the damsel topic, some damsels are definitely fine for a big tank like yours, my yellowtail just does his own thing. Some are meaner than others of course.

As was pointed out, the Xanthichthys genus of triggerfish are known to be more reef safe and more docile, for triggerfish. They can get quite large though. As they get quite large, they typically become more aggressive to the point of them bullying. My personal experience with a blue throat triggerfish was that initially at 2 inches in length, she was scared of her own shadow, but then at 6 inches in length, was eating parts of the tails off my tangs that were bigger and being very aggressive to any fish during feeding time. I had thought my experience was out of the norm but when I researched more, I found more people had difficulties with Xanthichthys triggers when they got large.

As was stated though, fish are like cats and each has its own personality. :lol:

I had a stunning blue fading to purple pics never did it justice Niger trigger approx 5" nicest one I ever seen, and for the first 4 weeks was docile, then started to swim more aggressively and bump my other fish out of the way, then led to nipping the fins of all my other fish!! Back to J&L he went, shame

Heh, I think I saw that fish in JL. Feisty bugger! Would come ram the glass when I put my hand towards it. Beauty for sure.

I'd recommend a nice fairy wrasse collection; easy to feed and not really aggressive at all (unless same species).

Triggers look cool but I dont want to deal with a bully. Maybe some day down the road Ill pick up a small one. And Ill drop by JL and see what damsels they have. I have a 30 gallon quarantine right now. Any chance they will pick each other off before they even get into the DT?

Yeah. I think Ill stay away from Triggers for now.

I saw a picture of your Niger. Looked pretty cool. What do you mean it went back to J&L? They accept returns?

Fairy wrasse's are awesome, but are jumpers. Just make sure you have something to keep them in your tank. There are so many nice options and the fish, on the whole, are so well behaved. Flame wrasse's pairs are unbelievable in color but you pay a tonne for them.

Flasher wrasse's are really nice too, but are more timid and stay smaller. If you are getting bigger fish, you would probably want to stay away from them.

Yes they do, but you only get half retail.

Hard to say, I guess stick with the more peaceful ones that Albert recommended. Since you're QTing, worst thing is they get aggressive and you can return it.

Hawkfish is another very unique fish, if you don't have shrimps in there, definitely give them a thought.

Ill look into wrasse. I would just have to put a mesh screen on top.

Ill be going to J&L on sunday so ill see what damsels they have. Never thought of a shrimp though. Longnose hawkfish looks pretty cool but it says they can eat smaller fish.

Long nose are cool but they too are jumpers

There are other kinds of hawkfish like arc eye and flame; I have the latter and the guy is a hoot, great personality, extremely easy to care for, funny looking and great red colour.

Jeez. So many jumpers.

Do they swim around a lot of just kind of sit at the bottom.

Anyone ever had a problem with a foxface and a yellow tang together? I heard that yellow tangs do not like other yellow fish.

And after looking at roskoreef's tank I think that a bunch of blue/green chromis looks pretty dam good.

My yellow tang harrassed my foxface regularly. The foxface was the larger fish as well, but the yellow tang was in there first.