Looking for fish stocking advice for my 120gal

[FrontosaTony]

I’m looking for thoughts on the combination of fish I’m looking to stock my ~120 gal  Red Sea Reefer 525XL. 60 x 22 x 22. I bought it used and moved it and all the water so it’s a well established tank. It came with a 4in Tomini Tang and clown fish pair and an anemone(which they are not hosting unfortunately) and 100lb of live rock.

 

I plan to have only a few corals like a monti for a centerpiece but really will be a FOWLR tank. I know the queen angelfish will nibble on corals…and maybe some other fish. I might do a few zoas or Palys that I have a lot of from my other tank that I’m not worried about.

 

Right now their is not much of a sand bed, 1/2-1in so I’ll want to add a bunch. With these fish choices, is 2 or 3in better?

 

Below are the fish I’m thinking of adding in the order I plan to put them in.  Love some thoughts on ones that won’t do well together and time need to let them settle before the next add.

 

Phase 1

Both of these

Yellow or diamond watchman gobie

Bicolor or forked tail blenny

 

1 of these

Purple fire fish

Firefish

 

Phase 2

3 of the following wrasse

Melanurus

Carpenter

exsquisit

orange backed

Bluehead Fairy

Ruby Finned Fairy

 

Not sure if better do the butterfly as the same as Wrasse or with tangs

I do have a lot of bristleworms so hoping this choice will help with that. Or should I get a hawk fish?

1 of the following

Orange butterflyfish

Pearlscale Butterflyfish

Auriga Butterflyfish

Latticed butterfly

 

Phase 3 - definitely will rearrange rocks to disrupt Tomini Tang territory 

3 of the following + Tomini Tang

Powder blue, 

blue tang, 

sailfish tang, 

chevron, or

yellow

 

Phase 4

Queen Angelfish

 I love and really want a Queen Angelfish. I planned it to go in last. If that’s too many fish, I’ll back off some of the others. I know eventually I’ll need a bigger tank or need to rehome it.

 

Thanks for any and all advice?

Tony

 

 

 

 

[Origami]

I'd probably go with the 2-inch sandbed in your case. 3-inches is not deep enough for anaerobic value and only adds depth for detritus accumulation. With that many fish, managing/removing detritus & nutrients should be a primary concern. 

 

Some of the fish that you've selected can get quite large. Especially some of the tangs. There may not be sufficient volume and cover to keep aggression under control. If you start with smaller fish like you've mentioned, and put some of the more aggressive species in at the same time, you may have better luck. 

[FrontosaTony]

7 hours ago, Origami said:

I'd probably go with the 2-inch sandbed in your case. 3-inches is not deep enough for anaerobic value and only adds depth for detritus accumulation. With that many fish, managing/removing detritus & nutrients should be a primary concern. 

 

Some of the fish that you've selected can get quite large. Especially some of the tangs. There may not be sufficient volume and cover to keep aggression under control. If you start with smaller fish like you've mentioned, and put some of the more aggressive species in at the same time, you may have better luck. 

Thanks!
which fish are the more aggressive? I think im not going to do the chevron cause it gets too big. Debating on the queen now despite the love. What others are you thinking get to big?

[nburg]

I'd strike out the powder blue, they can be mean in large tanks let alone a tank on the lower end of their recommended tank size. Blue tank might work, but they can get huge as well so long term, it may get fussy. 

 

I will say my H. melanurus Wrasse eats bristle worms. I still have them, but not as many in my DT as before. I see bristles sticking out of his mouth from time to time.  It needs only an inch or 2 of sand. 

 

Other than that, no other comments. You may consider a blue throat trigger or a pair of them. Fun to watch. 

[Origami]

On 1/11/2023 at 6:41 AM, FrontosaTony said:

which fish are the more aggressive? I think im not going to do the chevron cause it gets too big. Debating on the queen now despite the love. What others are you thinking get to big?

 

Speaking directly to tangs, there tends to be more aggression between fish in the same genera.  Maximum size can vary, too. While you rarely see fish in an aquarium reaching these sizes, the relative sizes can give you some idea of what can happen. For example, I have several tangs in my 240 and, for example, my chevron tang is probably a good 8" long now. Here's a list of the tangs from your list and their reported max size according to Live Aquaria (which I recommend that you look at when researching your species).

 

Powder blue     Acanthurus         9"
blue tang          Paracanthurus   12"
sailfish tang      Zebrasoma        16"
chevron             Ctenochaetus   11"
yellow                Zebrazoma         8"

 

As you can see, your sailfish tang has the potential to be the largest in this group. Powder Blue's have a reputation for aggression. Blue tangs have a reputation for being ich magnets. But, honestly, all can be aggressive - especially in the confines of an aquarium. While intra-species aggression is noted, I've successfully kept multiple Zebrazoma tangs at one time. My suggestion would be, if you really want to keep multiple tangs, get the yellow and the Powder Blue in about the same size and at the same time. If you do this for all your tangs, they can sort things out and likely will, eventually, grow to accept each other.

[FrontosaTony]

Thanks, that’s help full. I was trying to pick tangs with different shapes to avoid some of the aggression and add them at once and try to get them smaller. 
 

I do have a 4” Tomini tang that came with the tank. Planned to put him in sump, rearrange rocks and add all the tangs at once. Maybe I’ll just stick to the a yellow and one other.

 

really appreciate they help!