Crazylikeafox;251965 wrote: Twist, I am excited for you to begin a large reef, and wish you luck. Asking for help in the planning of your fish list is a great way to build a compatible and beautiful reef.
To begin, I was <span style="color: Red">alarmed </span> at the comments that have not been made to your fish list, because beyond the number of fish, or anything to do with your tank, the fish you have selected would kill each other. No joke, no opinion, the list you have contains an array of peaceful, semi-aggressive, and aggressive fish which will fight to the death. I would highly recommend a peaceful tank with one or two prized semi-aggressive fish that you could not live without, and plenty of hiding places provided in your rock work.
Also, I would suggest spending a great deal of time in the planning of your fish list, far more than any other component of the tank.
I will add my 2 cents for the tangs first. Again, this is just my opinion. To start I looked up all of your fish in my reef book and read their blerb. Because I cannot copy paste those I will post from my trusted sites such as liveaquaria, peteducation, and marinecenter.
The parentheses imply that you will have 2 hippo tangs, one of each variety, for a total of 8 tangs. Averaging about 12 inches as adults, that is 96 inches of fish in tangs. (I go by the 1” per gallon rule, less in your case as you have a smaller surface area with the tall tank)
<span style="color: Red">One inch per gallon rule is a freshwater thing. For small fish. If you have a good skimmer, good filtration and good water change schedule, which I think she will because she bought the set-up from an experienced member. And Diane knows what she's doing as far as water changes.</span>
Going down the list I found several cautionary notes. Assuming that all tangs are added at the same time then you should reduce the conflicts, but these cannot be ignored.
Hippo tang – no clue best to include scientific names if possible
Unicorn Tang: ‘It is aggressive towards its own species, but peaceful with other fish.’ http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+43+387&pcatid=387&N=0">http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+43+387&pcatid=387&N=0</a>
Purple Tang – Huge caution here – this is an aggressive fish and would kill almost all of the others on your list. ‘They can be very aggressive and do not fare well with tank mates of similar body shape, especially other Tangs of the genus Zebrasoma.’
[IMG]http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+43+372&pcatid=372">http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+43+372&pcatid=372</a>
Chevron tang – Caution – Semi-Aggressive – ‘It is not an overly aggressive fish and will usually not bother fish tankmates, with the possible exception of close relatives.’ [IMG]http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/tangs/chevrontang/">http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/tangs/chevrontang/</a>
Sailfin – Caution- Semi-Agressive – ‘This is one of the least aggressive members of the genus, and family, although it may behave aggressively toward members of its own kind.’
[IMG]http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/tangs/sailfintang/">http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/tangs/sailfintang/</a>
Achilies Tang – no cule
<span style="color: Red">[B]You don't have a clue about this? That's just bad... [/B]</span>
Yellow Tang – A very dynamic fish I would suggest getting multiples of the yellow tang and removing some of the others.
<span style="color: Red">[B]Just a mean fish all around... I wouldn't even get one. You can get anthias to make up the color lost from the yellow tang.[/B]</span>
[B]<span style="color: Red">You throw all the tangs in there at once, and you shouldn't have a problem, I'm aiming at 6-8 tangs in my 185. Granted I may cut the list down a bit, but I can still get em all in there.</span>[/B]
Chromis – check
Fire fish – <span style="color: Red">Caution </span>– individuals or a mated pair here. Definitely cannot have 2 boys. Might be possible to have a very large male and a smaller female on the opposite sides of the tank.
<span style="color: Red">[B]Okay so the firefish, a friend put 6 into a 75 and had them there for years, and it was open top, so they never jumped until he put a Splendid Dottyback in there which terrorized them into carpet-surfing.[/B]</span>
Purple fire fish – <span style="color: Red">Additional Caution</span> – Same as above, but know you have to be concerned with the species fighting among themselves.
<span style="color: Red">[B]In a large tank they will not even think about fighting with eachother, I've seen about 4 purple's and 5 regular's in a 120 and they swam together, no problems.[/B]</span>
Clowns – <span style="color: Red">Extreme Caution</span> – Can only have one type of clownfish with few exceptions. The cinnamon clownfish is said to get along well with other varieties of clowns but I have no experience with these. Personally I would go with a pair of Nemo’s. They are quite peaceful above all else.
<span style="color: Red">[B]I agree one pair of clowns.[/B]</span>
Wrasses- Check
Gobies/Blennies – cannot comment without specifics. But general cautions, peaceful, reef safe, careful if you add a not to get a Pseudochromis.
Anthias - A rule that I have followed is one male, up to 4 females unless you are daring or have excess capacity. Very popular are the Squareback (spot), Bartlet, Dispar, Etc. liveaquaria.com has some beautiful photos as well as marinecenter.com
<span style="color: #7030a0">
<span style="color: Black">Cardinals – [COLOR=Red]Caution </span>– I am not familiar with Bangi Cardinals – If you mean </span>[/COLOR]<span style="color: Black">Pterapogon kauderni be careful as they are</span> semi aggressive. I would recommend [IMG]http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+26+1428&pcatid=1428"><span style="color: #000000">Longspine</span></a> Cardinalfish instead (Apogon leptacanthus)
<span style="color: Red">[B]Semi-aggressive? That's laughable. They barely move.[/B]</span>
Morays – I have no experience with eles.
<span style="color: Red">[B]I can see that.[/B]</span>
<span style="color: Purple">Hope this helps.</span> I am currently making my fish list for a very similar size reef. I have uploaded it here if you would care to take a look. I have spent a great deal of time planning my fish list. <span style="color: Black">A balanced, peaceful tank will reduce the stress of all fish, increasing the health of your reef far more than the addition of any piece of equipment</span> such as the ever controversial UV light you mentioned.
-Charles
My list link: Reef Stocking List - Version 11-30-08.xlsx
[IMG]http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=4b32edff0c5ae7cc91b20cc0d07ba4d26bbfba95f1388b8d">http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=...bbfba95f1388b8d</a>
PM if you would like my current list as I have made dozens of changes, but think this could get you started on the right track.[/QUOTE]
My opinion in <span style="color: Red">[B]red.[/B]</span>
