Question About Stock List?

[AUFishGuy]

I have a 90 gallon mixed reef. At the moment the only inhabitant is a Valentini Puffer i have had going on 2 years. I have my QT and am ready to start purchasing fish but I want to make sure there are no problems with my list. Mostly worried about if this would be overstocked but also things like aggression and food competition. Below is my tentative list to add .

 

1 - Sunburst Anthias

1 - Pair of Occelarus or percula clowns

1 - Squaretail Bristletooth Tang

1 - McCoskers Flasher Wrasse

1 - Mandarin Goby - (I have seeded the tank with 2 16oz bags of poseidons feast and am currently cultivating pods. I will be waiting awhile to get this one to make sure my pod population is stable. Also looking into recreating Paul B's Brine Shrimp Hatchery so supplement as well)

 

Does this list look ok. Any potential issues?

[Bruleyii]

Do you have a cover for the tank for the wrasse? Most people recommend to wait for the mandarins until you know you can replenish them in a refugium or something like that. Aside from that I think its ok. Add fish slowly and not all at once.

 

Do you have an auto feeder?  If Anthias are like Bartlets (not sure if they are) then you will want to feed multiple times a day. 

 

Also someone else might want to chime in on the order of adding them to minimize agression. Your list is very close to my list of fish but I havent added all of mine yet.

[SunWyrm]

Looks like an awesome list to me. I don't see any issues. IMO, (and someone may tell you differently) you could probably afford a couple more fish on your list, or do a pair of mandarins (definitely depending on fuge), or trio of wrasse (females are hard to find). 

Edit: Running off David's comments I would add the mandarin and anthias last, once your tank is stable and other inhabitants situated. I don't foresee any aggression issues with that list, but i have no experience with sunburst anthias. I've had Huchtii's and Bartletts on opposite sides of the personality scale.

Edited November 4, 2015 by SunWyrm

[Bruleyii]

Looks like an awesome list to me. I don't see any issues. IMO, (and someone may tell you differently) you could probably afford a couple more fish on your list, or do a pair of mandarins (depending on fuge), or trio of wrasse. 

 

Group of anthias?

[AUFishGuy]

Looks like an awesome list to me. I don't see any issues. IMO, (and someone may tell you differently) you could probably afford a couple more fish on your list, or do a pair of mandarins (depending on fuge), or trio of wrasse. 

 

 

Thanks my Fuge is quite small but like i said i am going to cultivate the pods. I am actually on the list for the mandarin pairs but am still on the fence if it will work out.

 

Will the Wrasse compete for Pods with the Mandarins. Ifso i may just go another way. My fiance love the mandarins

[AUFishGuy]

Do you have a cover for the tank for the wrasse? Most people recommend to wait for the mandarins until you know you can replenish them in a refugium or something like that. Aside from that I think its ok. Add fish slowly and not all at once.

 

Do you have an auto feeder?  If Anthias are like Bartlets (not sure if they are) then you will want to feed multiple times a day. 

 

Also someone else might want to chime in on the order of adding them to minimize agression. Your list is very close to my list of fish but I havent added all of mine yet.

 

 

I have an outofeeder i can use for the Anthias, i also went a little bigger on my skimmer knowing i would have to feed more than normal with the fish i wanted. Havent created the cover yet. I have a canopy that is enclosed except for the back panel. it May be easier just to inclose that with a piece of wood

[SunWyrm]

or even eggcrate if it's not visible, so you still get airflow.

The wrasse will forage but if you have enough rockwork and a fuge they shouldn't decimate the population. I would definitely wait a little while to let your pods get a headstart in the tank. 

[rtelles]

Given that you're going to have a wrasse that might also be munching on pods, it might be worth picking up a pipette and, along with providing Paul's brine shrimp hatchery, spot feeding the mandarins to get them to eat frozen enriched brine and/or mysis. It's not too difficult and has worked for the fat spotted mandarin I've had for nearly a year in a 40B. You feed baby brine shrimp, or even better, some pods (but man they're expensive) through the pipette and spray them right in the mandarin's face. They're smart little fish and will pick up that the pipette means food, and you feed only live bbs for a week or two. They'll soon warm up to the pipette and stay in their spot when you put it in the water. Then you slowly start adding frozen brine/mysis/nano LRS (I've found that my mandarin ignores the normal sized lrs but will go for the nano blend) to the bbs in the pipette, and again, the mandarin is smart and will start picking it out. Once that happens and the mandarin develops a taste for whatever's coming out of the pipette, you can start enriching the frozen brine/lrs/mysis with vitamins/fish oil/selcon or whatever else you'd like and skip out on the bbs. Better yet, if you pick up some live black worms or white worms you can start mixing those in so the mandarin has some live food, and it wouldn't be all that expensive. I turn off pumps and spot feed mine twice a day. I'll also spray some around the rocks that he likes to pick at during the day as well, but it's probably not necessary. All that said, I do have a HOB fuge with a healthy pod population that I replenish every few months when there's a 2 for 1 pod deal online from one of the various dealers. All that was to say that two mandarins in your setup is feasible, but you'll need to figure out if it's worth the effort. It's really sad to read about how many of them just waste away over the course of a few months.

[lutz123]

List looks great, but I agree that pods are going to be your biggest issue. Get a mandarin that is acclimated to frozen as a minimum. An hob refugium may be a good addition. Also, when creating your list consider the reality of someone feeding frozen twice a day - or whether you do much traveling. I'm sure you know, the tank is much more enjoyable when you don't have something that requires special care.

 

Mesh over the back of the canopy and overflows works fine. Wood will not allow as much air to circulate and I would worry about ventilation for the lights.

[gmerek2]

If this works someone let me know. But with a high flow reef tank I wonder if the egg shells end up in tank. http://m.ebay.com/itm/TOM-TM1198-Aquarium-Hatch-N-Feeder-Brine-Shrimp-Hatchery-New-Free-Shipping-/251886331601?nav=SEARCH. I think you will be fine as long as you keep the brine shrimp thing going. It gets old quick

[AUFishGuy]

So would adding a trio of zebra dartfish be overstocking?

[Reefer_Madness]

List looks great. Had the same list basically. My bristle tooth was a white tail though. And my anthias was a Royal Gramma. Haha. And I had a dart fish and assessors as well.

 

They all got along great.

[Origami]

You should be fine with the trio of zebra darts. They have been known to jump, though, so put a cover on. They should also have nooks and crannies to hide in. When I had them, they were rather skittish and would come out for feeding, but otherwise would hide.