Fish list for 4' 120g

[cdrewferd]

What do you guys think of the following fish list for my 120?

Whitetail Bristletooth Tang
Blue Caribean Tang
Melenarus wrasse
Leopard wrasse
3-5 cardinals - not sure which ones yet
3-5 chromis of some type
1-2 red mandarins - would be cool to have a male and female
jawfish of some sort - not 100% sure on this yet
Golden Dwarf moray eel - my personal holy grail right now
shrimp - probably a couple, fire and something else

I'm going to have an ETSS 600XR skimmer running on the tank. Do I need to go bigger on the skimmer to make this work? I'll have a 40 breeder sump with a fuge section full of macros and stuff. Will be skimming heavy and doing weekly 15 gallon water changes. Will be running carbon and GFO. Not sure about Biopellets right now, though that would mean getting rid of the carbon and GFO and having 1 less reactor.

I really want to do a lot of fish. My wife likes the fish more than the corals, so this it to help make her happy.

 

[Haulin Oates]

Wrasses may snack on the shrimp... Best chance is to put the shrimp in well before so they have found a good hiding cave.

 

[Haulin Oates]

Oh and I had 0 success with bio pellets. I'm currently constructing an algae scrubber and running seachems phosgaurd.

 

[SteveT]

If you want a fish heavy system you could put several more fish than you have listed in a 120 and still not be considered overstocked I think

 

[cdrewferd]

Thanks Jack. The shrimp will be some of the first added I think. I may not even do a melenarus, just depends on if I start getting bristle worms. I don't mind them but the wife hates them.

Thanks Steve. I'll probably start here and maybe add a few more depending on how everything is running.

 

[cdrewferd]

What would you guys think of adding a pair of Dragonface pipefish to the list?

How hard would it be to have enough pods to support the 2 wrasses, 2 mandarins, and 2 pipefish?

 

[Smiley]

I would steer away from the chromis. IME there is always one that will pick on the rest killing them off slowly so you end up with one.. and then he dies of loneliness.

 

[jahmic]

I would steer away from the chromis. IME there is always one that will pick on the rest killing them off slowly so you end up with one.. and then he dies of loneliness.

lol...that JUST happened in my girl's tank. 2 of them jumped out they were getting picked on so much...only one left.

Drew, are you running a fuge on that setup?

 

[cdrewferd]

Yes I will be running a fuge with macros, maybe some cheato and probably a mantis down the line.

Also thinking about an algea scrubber being run off my manifold.

 

[jahmic]

I think with a fuge you will be fine as far as the pod population goes...worst case scenario you might have to train your mandarins to take frozen.

 

[cdrewferd]

Maybe even dose pods say every month or so. Right into the fuge to help bring up the population again.

Getting the mandarins to eat frozen is ideal, but not sure I have the time for that as I can only feed 1 time a day.

 

[LittleCrabby101]

I add pods to my sump and my mandarin eats frozen. I didn't even need to train him he just did it.

 

[Ghosty]

Buy this thing, it's cheap. Coloration almost looks cartoon/fake, it's so beautiful:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversde...ref=4282&subref=AI&cmpid=E-_-TR-_-DDN-_-PRDCT

 

[cdrewferd]

I'd love a candy basslet. However, I wouldn't be able to afford a tank after the divorce when my wife found out I spent $800 on a single fish. Beautiful though.

 

[Smiley]

sweet lookin fish.....i definitely wouldnt pay that much for a fish that i would never see.....

 

[Cake_Boss]

If you're considering a Deepwater candy Basslet, you might as well think about the crosshatch trigger and gem tang.

 

[ReefCheif]

I would steer away from the chromis. IME there is always one that will pick on the rest killing them off slowly so you end up with one.. and then he dies of loneliness.

Ive got 6 in my tank, same six Ive had over the past 2 years, they do just fine with no issues, have even mated a couple times, key to chromis might be the numbers, I notice when I opnly had 3 I had one large male who always wanted to play bully, when I added the other 3 this behavior stopped, they still chase eachtoer form time to time, but no serious issues IMO.

 

[jahmic]

Ive got 6 in my tank, same six Ive had over the past 2 years, they do just fine with no issues, have even mated a couple times, key to chromis might be the numbers, I notice when I opnly had 3 I had one large male who always wanted to play bully, when I added the other 3 this behavior stopped, they still chase eachtoer form time to time, but no serious issues IMO.

Agreed. Most schooling fish do need to be in groups larger than 3 or 4 so that the alpha's aggression is spread out more. In a small group there is always one fish that is ALWAYS being picked on...FW cardinals and tetras have the same behavior. I've always had much better luck with at least 5 or 6, even if it meant overstocking the tank slightly.

The issue we recently had was that we hoped to add groups of 3 to allow the tank to adjust to the bioload...the 2 more submissive fish bailed within a week. There's a 1" gap in the lid and that was all it took. We plan on just adding 5 to the bully that's left, once we replace the lid, and hope that the tank can keep up.

 

[Ghosty]

That's good to know! I was worried that my big one would pick on the medium or little one especially. He nipped only a couple times that I've seen, so rarely, but overall they seem fine. I'm gonna try to get three more. If he becomes a problem I'll move him to another tank.

Was totally joking about the Candy Basslet, heh. I can't believe that exists, the color is so vibrant.

 

[cdrewferd]

So the current list looks like this:

Whitetail Bristletooth Tang
3-5 cardinals - not sure which ones yet, probably long spine
3-5 Anthias - Male and some females
2 red mandarins - would be cool to have a male and female
jawfish of some sort - not 100% sure on this yet
shrimp - probably a couple, fire and something else

Anything else I should add? I feel like I should add another tang, or at least another bigger fish. Maybe a Hawkfish or a dwarf angel.