How to develop a fish list/stocking plan

[Alok]

My 190 gallon tank (60" x 24" x 31") seems to be cycling nicely with 100 lb of live sand and 200 lb live rock. I have no free ammonia and low levels of nitrites. I have MH lighting and a 100 gallon stock tank as a sump, with a yet to be established refugium, and a number of snails etc. in the live sand.

 

I trying to develop a plan and timeline for how to add livestock to the tank once its cycled. I.e., I need to determine what order to add things and how long to wait. I still need to set up my refugium, which is an rubbermaid container with lighting. I also understand that certain fish and coral should be added first/together to ensure they coexist with later additions. Also, I presume, because some are easier to maintain in a new tank.

 

Are there any good references I can use to make sure I plan this right? I want to make sure I do not start out doing something that makes it hard to add livestock later. All I've seen so far are some compatibility charts, but nothing that provides advice on what order to do things in? Or am I over complicating this.

 

 

Alok

[lanman]

My 190 gallon tank (60" x 24" x 31") seems to be cycling nicely with 100 lb of live sand and 200 lb live rock. I have no free ammonia and low levels of nitrites. I have MH lighting and a 100 gallon stock tank as a sump, with a yet to be established refugium, and a number of snails etc. in the live sand.

. . .

All I've seen so far are some compatibility charts, but nothing that provides advice on what order to do things in? Or am I over complicating this.

Alok

 

I hope you're overcomplicating things All I did was wait for my numbers to go down, then put in anything that I found rated 'easy' or 'beginner'. Waited a few more weeks, and started putting in anything I wanted, except 'difficult'. No problems so far!

 

bob

[trble81]

We picked up a book from our local book store. I think it was the pocket guide to reef fish (which has an older addition that's still fine that's called the pocket guide to marine fish).

 

Any way, the book was suggested to us and it's pretty good because it has easy to follow color rating that tells you how hard/easy it is to take care of, what it eats, if it's cool with inverts, soft, and hard corals. Plus, it has info related to compatibility (i.e., this particular fish is the most/least aggressive... or add this fish last)

 

[rmoyer001]

I am about 6 months in with my 150 gal. the only advice i can give you is stay away from damsels that you wont want later on. I threw some cheap ones in to see if they would hold up and now i cant catch them anymore.

[stevil]

Make a wishlist of what you'd ultimately love to have. Fish, inverts & corals... do some research... if your list is HUGE then think about the types of fish, inverts and corals you'd like to have - that might help you weed out the totally incompatable species - e.g. Puffers and clams and that sexy shrimp you've always wanted...

 

Generally, you'll want to add smaller fish first and larger fish last. However, that's just a general rule of thumb...

 

Do you want a full reef (corals) or fish only with live rock (FOWLR)?

[Alok]

I'm planning for corals. But I understand that its suggested that they not be added for 6 months?

 

Make a wishlist of what you'd ultimately love to have. Fish, inverts & corals... do some research... if your list is HUGE then think about the types of fish, inverts and corals you'd like to have - that might help you weed out the totally incompatable species - e.g. Puffers and clams and that sexy shrimp you've always wanted...

 

Generally, you'll want to add smaller fish first and larger fish last. However, that's just a general rule of thumb...

 

Do you want a full reef (corals) or fish only with live rock (FOWLR)?

[dhoch]

Listen to what stevil said...

 

Make a list of fish and corals that you might want to keep (inverts too)...

 

Then think about compatibilities (like if you want a mystery wrasse it might prevent you from getting fairy wrasses)... do you want jumpers... aggressive vs non-aggressive fish.... are there coral incompatibilities (like zooanthind eating angels, etc))...

 

Then start to narrow it down.

 

On that list there will probably be things that are easier than others (start with the easier ones).

 

Dave

[Rascal]

For basic info on care, selection, and compatibility of different fish, my research almost always brings me back to www.wetwebmedia.com.

 

Other than that, the only advice I will add to what has already been posted is: 1) in general avoid conspecifics (fish with similar body shapes); 2) add more territorial fish last; 3) if possible add fish that may be competitive with one another (different tangs for example) at the same time.

[stevil]

I'm planning for corals. But I understand that its suggested that they not be added for 6 months?

That's a good rule of thumb as well. You might be able to add some soft corals sooner, but again patience is KEY to success. The 6th month rule is good to follow because it allows your tank to mature a bit, plus it gives you time to learn how all the various parameters work.

 

Personally I waited 1 year before I got into hard corals.

[VicSkimmr]

With all the tanks I've ever had, when it was time to come up with a stocking list, I would pick out one or 2 main fish that I really liked. If they turned out to be difficult fish to keep, I would plan the rest of the fish around that one main fish to make it work.

 

For instance, say you really like Lionfish. If that was to be your main fish, you'd have to keep in mind that it shouldn't be housed with any really aggressive fish (that might nip at its fins), and it shouldn't be housed with any fish as small or smaller than it is (and no shrimp for that matter) because it will eat them.

 

 

Or, say you really like Copperband Butterflyfish. Here you would need to make sure that none of the other fish in the tank are overly aggressive, and you'd need to make sure that your tank has enough pods to feed it (not that yours will have a problem like that at 190 gallons).

 

 

Scott Michael has a good pocket sized fish book that I've always used for general care. I'd suggest picking it up.

[BeltwayBandit]

One other consideration to throw into the mix is price. Lets face it, some of our fish and corals are very expensive. It is far better to put off more expensive additions, regardless of how difficult or easy they are to care for, until the tank is stable and you have a very good handle on maintaining parameters. Trust me, I have learned this rule the hard way (both through impatience and mistake).

 

My recommendation would be to get a book. The Conscientious Marine Aquarist is a good one, or one of the pocket guides. For corals Eric Borneman's book on Aquarium Corals is very good. Flip through the books and just look at the pictures. Find the fish/corals/inverts that are appealing to you and make a list. Then go back through that list and look at the requirements for the various critters that you want to keep. In my case, it quickly became apparent that I couldn't have it all (this is common). So while looking through the lists I came up with a set of parameters consisting of tank size, lighting, compatability, ease of care, and affordibility that encompassed the majority of the species I had identified as potential candidates and that I could maintain. I then used this list to make my selections, of course with every selection more candidates were eliminated.

 

For example: I like tangs. I have a 120. I know that I can safely keep 2 (maybe 3) tangs. My first selection was a Scopas tang. This selection eliminated any other Zebrasoma species (purple, yellow, sailfin, etc.) But, I could still add a tang from the Acanthurus genus (I chose a Powder Blue) to reach my desired stocking level of tangs.

 

The same goes for other species. I identified about 5 different Pomacanthus angels that I liked. However, to keep them I had to be willing to sacrifice the ability to keep some corals and be especially careful which species I chose because I wanted to keep Tridacnid clams. I chose a Chrysurus. It is a smaller pomacanthid and has a somewhat better track record with giant clams. I knew the addition could lead to an either or scenario between it and my clams. Fortunately, it went in after the clams and after some initial nips on one Crocea, it has been a model citizen.

 

I realize that this is a bit long winded, and probably a bit overwhelming. My last suggestion would be to post up your candidate list once you get it. There are lots of really experienced folks in the club. I'm sure you will get lots of advice.