First livestock and clean up crew

[NanCrab]

30 years ago there was no concept of a clean up crew (not that we were aware of anyway). You bought your essentials, filled up the tank with instant ocean saltwater and threw in a blue damsel or 2 to get the nitrogen cycle started.
30 years later...
You watch YouTube videos until you are dreaming about them, join forums and ARC to get all.the help you can, spend a small fortune to buy all the right rock and sand and skimmers and ato's and dumps, plumbing, lighting and kindly ask for help getting it all plumbed and set up the right way lol
So, finally to the actual question!
What is the best fish to start with and how many for 125g and when do you add the clean up crew?

 

[sharis100]

We have used one of the many bacteria in a bottle startups to begin nitrogen cycle and fed the tank until completed. Phyto and pods are a great way to speed up cycling with the bacteria in a bottle. We have usually added clowns first after cycling . Personally, we have used Seed when adding fish and had good results. Others use other similar products. We have always added a clean up crew once algae and other uglies appeared. And as for numbers, it depends what you are picking for your CUC. And avoid the newbie mistake we have made and do not add any burrowing CUC until your sandbed can support them .

 

[popsbjd]

I'll say only put in fist that you want to keep forever. Trying to get a rouge damsel out of a 125 will be a huge pain. That being said, I don't think you should start with a fish at all. Depending on your rock (live or dry), I would add a bacterial supplement like Dr. Tim's (https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/one-only-saltwater-live-nitrifying-bacteria-dr-tims.html) along with your rock. Then I would add a few snails and crabs. Maybe a dozen of each. When I cycled my 120, I used dry rock, live sand, marine and matrix in my sump, a bottle of Dr. Tim's, 5 turbo snails, 5 cerinth snails, and 10 red leg hermits. Take your time with it is my best advice. If you are dead set on starting with fish (and you plan on having clowns), I'd start with the clowns and still use the Dr. Tim's. You will also have to monitor your NH4, NO2, and NO3 levels much more closely as the biological filter becomes established.

 

[ActiveAngel]

Great question: regarding fish, damsels and/or clownfish are exceptionally hardy and make for a great starter fish. I would recommend 1 or 2. For the choice of damsels, I’d recommend Springeri Damsels (aka Blue Sapphire Damsels... not to be confused with Blue Damsels, which are a pain). For clownfish, I’d recommend only Ocellaris or Percula species; which includes many of the designer clowns. Avoid Clarkii and Maroon clowns.

For clean up crew, I would wait 2-4 weeks after the fish are added, or whenever you see lots of algae growing in the tank. Do not get too many clean up crew, as they will starve out. Limit your initial purchase to hermits and snails; this means no urchins, crabs, shrimps, cucumbers yet.

For snails, you have 2 types: Algae eating and Detritus eating. For Algae eaters, look no further than Red Stripe Trochus snails. No other snails come close in my opinion. If I had to score them on a scale of 1-10, these snails would be a 10. And most of the other popular snails would be ranking 5 or below, with the exception of margarita snails, ceriths snails, and various nano-snails. Avoid Turbos and Astrea. I’d start with about 12-20 Red Stripe Trochus. They will reproduce.

For detritus, Tongan Nassarius snails are the best, but regular Nassarius and a few others are also good. I’d recommend 2-6 of these.

For hermits; you really only want Reef-safe small hermits. I’d recommend starting with 15-40. This includes many options: Blue Leg, Mexican Red Leg, Left-handed hermits... but my personal favorites are 1) Dwarf Zebra hermits, 2) Scarlet reef hermits (slightly more expensive, but longer lifespan), and 3) white polkadot hermits (even more expensive).

Hope this helps!

 

[NanCrab]

30 years ago there was no concept of a clean up crew (not that we were aware of anyway). You bought your essentials, filled up the tank with instant ocean saltwater and threw in a blue damsel or 2 to get the nitrogen cycle started.
30 years later...
You watch YouTube videos until you are dreaming about them, join forums and ARC to get all.the help you can, spend a small fortune to buy all the right rock and sand and skimmers and ato's and dumps, plumbing, lighting and kindly ask for help getting it all plumbed and set up the right way lol
So, finally to the actual question!
What is the best fish to start with and how many for 125g and when do you add the clean up crew?

SUMPS NOT DUMPS!!! Oh how I hate autocorrect!!!

 

[NanCrab]

I'll say only put in fist that you want to keep forever. Trying to get a rouge damsel out of a 125 will be a huge pain. That being said, I don't think you should start with a fish at all. Depending on your rock (live or dry), I would add a bacterial supplement like Dr. Tim's (https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/one-only-saltwater-live-nitrifying-bacteria-dr-tims.html) along with your rock. Then I would add a few snails and crabs. Maybe a dozen of each. When I cycled my 120, I used dry rock, live sand, marine and matrix in my sump, a bottle of Dr. Tim's, 5 turbo snails, 5 cerinth snails, and 10 red leg hermits. Take your time with it is my best advice. If you are dead set on starting with fish (and you plan on having clowns), I'd start with the clowns and still use the Dr. Tim's. You will also have to monitor your NH4, NO2, and NO3 levels much more closely as the biological filter becomes established.

The one and only thing we're dead set on is doing it right...everything else is up for discussion

 

[NanCrab]

Great question: regarding fish, damsels and/or clownfish are exceptionally hardy and make for a great starter fish. I would recommend 1 or 2. For the choice of damsels, I’d recommend Springeri Damsels (aka Blue Sapphire Damsels... not to be confused with Blue Damsels, which are a pain). For clownfish, I’d recommend only Ocellaris or Percula species; which includes many of the designer clowns. Avoid Clarkii and Maroon clowns.

For clean up crew, I would wait 2-4 weeks after the fish are added, or whenever you see lots of algae growing in the tank. Do not get too many clean up crew, as they will starve out. Limit your initial purchase to hermits and snails; this means no urchins, crabs, shrimps, cucumbers yet.

For snails, you have 2 types: Algae eating and Detritus eating. For Algae eaters, look no further than Red Stripe Trochus snails. No other snails come close in my opinion. If I had to score them on a scale of 1-10, these snails would be a 10. And most of the other popular snails would be ranking 5 or below, with the exception of margarita snails, ceriths snails, and various nano-snails. Avoid Turbos and Astrea. I’d start with about 12-20 Red Stripe Trochus. They will reproduce.

For detritus, Tongan Nassarius snails are the best, but regular Nassarius and a few others are also good. I’d recommend 2-6 of these.

For hermits; you really only want Reef-safe small hermits. I’d recommend starting with 15-40. This includes many options: Blue Leg, Mexican Red Leg, Left-handed hermits... but my personal favorites are 1) Dwarf Zebra hermits, 2) Scarlet reef hermits (slightly more expensive, but longer lifespan), and 3) white polkadot hermits (even more expensive).

Hope this helps!

This helps ALOT! Thank you for such a well thought out and thorough explanation of the different types of fish, snails, crabs, etc.

And for the record - I definitely don't want blue damsels, I guess back in the day they were the least likely to die trying, poor things lol