Feedback on fish requested...

[Prairie Reef]

Sorry about cross posting if anyone notices - just looking for a wide range of expert eyes on this

Hello all,

I'm about 3 weeks out from getting some fish to go into quarantine (hence about 7 weeks from going in the DT - but of course I'm doing some research in the mean time.

My goal is this - I have a 75 gallon with 20 sump but quite a lot of rock (maybe 80-90 lbs). My focus would be on the corals but I want some fish to swim about to draw the eye through the tank and add some extra color. So read here that I'm looking for "simple" fish - peaceful, really reef safe, and not so picky that they will compete with the conditions I need for the corals.

I also generally prefer several smaller fish with lots of motion over a single big fish. So with those goals in minds (and understanding that I only have a 10 gallon quarantine tank so this will take a looonnnnggg time) I'm thinking about...

1 Foxface rabbitfish (7")

1 Clownfish (3") either osallaris or percula (any considerations there?) I don't want a host anemone but eventually want a hammer and/or torch coral.

3 Banggai Cardinal (3")

3 Flasher Wrasse (3")

1 Diamond Goby (6") (will this make my water constantly cloudy with the sugar fine CC substrate I have?)

3-5 Chromis (3") - smallest species to "fill" the tank...

Feedback?

PS - I'm thinking about getting them all in the smallest size I can to make the quarantine time most tolerable and get the longest life I can.

[Wolverine]

I haven't had them a lot, but IME, the sand-sifting gobies don't do all that well with the really fine sand.
A foxface gets a bit big for a 75g tank. I was worried about keeping one long term in a 200g.
3-5 chromis will most likely turn themselves into 1-2 chromis is fairly short order.

No real reason you couldn't get two clownfish instead of just one. Get them small enough, and they should form a pair. You don't need a host anemone. They may or may not host in a torch or hammer. There's really no way I'm aware of to predict that; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (that will be true for any coral you might name, and indeed, even anemones).

[Prairie Reef]

Wolverine, I was worried about the Foxface... there seems to be quite a lot of anecdotal evidence that they'll do in a 75g but I didn't know if he would be able to thrive. I was hoping that as the primary grazer and biggest in the tank he would do well. Perhaps not.

Regarding the Chromis - they will fight each other? I was looking at blue reef and blue/green Chromis. I've read that they generally prefer to be in larger groups of 3 to 5?

[small alien]

Bangaii cardinals will need to be male/female pair or single. If you want a trio, you could try pajama cardinals perhaps.

Do a pair of clowns, pair of Bangaii's, trio of flashers, a canary wrasse, a shrimp goby/pistol pair and a royal gramma.

[small alien]

That's light stocking by my standards.

[crobattt]

instead of the chromis i'd put a tang in it.

[Prairie Reef]

Thanks Small Alien! I really like the Bangaii Cardinals - they remind me of mother ships on Battlestar Galactica the way they just hang there together (LOL)! I'll go with two of them and make up the rest with a wrasse or chromis (though it sounds like chromis aren't as "peaceful" as sites proclaim?!?).

[Prairie Reef]

Crobattt, what kind of Tang? I've read that 75 gal and 4' of swim is too small for Kole and that Powder Blue's are sensitive. Tang were on my list this morning, but it seems they need more than I have to offer.

[crobattt]

Kole will be fine, most tangs will be fine, for a little while

[small alien]

If its only for a little while, its not fine, generally speaking. There are a host of issues with using a reef tank as a grow out tank. A 4 foot tank is not a tang tank, imo. And that's okay. So many other great fish.

[Prairie Reef]

Yea... I'm not wild about trying to figure out what to do with a tang too big for my tank. I'm in the middle of the heartland - not to many tanks around here to adopt fish out to... and I really don't want to have to watch him not be happy with my 75 gallon.

BTW - thanks for all the feedback, it is helping.

Another question if it is OK - I know tangs are like an 8 week quarantine due to their ich susceptibility - how long for other species (i.e., how long for ich to become evident if it is present?) I know if they have ich one should treat a week beyond the apparent resolution, but how long do people wait IRL if they are waiting to see if the fish is already sick?. I only have a 10 gallon quarantine which I'm hoping will be OK for up to 4 small (1-2 inch) specimens at a time? I have two HOB filters to put sponges from my sump into. I'm planning on weekly water changes with low salinity (drip adjusted) higher temp and 1 round prophylactic treatment. Two weeks with no problems good enough?

[small alien]

That's roughly my approach. But I'm not necessarily trying to have an ich free tang tank. If you are, you may be looking at 8 weeks with copper or hypo to be certain no ich. I look for health, eating, etc, and then we're good to go. But that is not an iron clad approach. You should read snorvich's ich sticky.

[Prairie Reef]

Thanks small alien. No, no tangs here. Thanks for the feedback on quarantine!

[Wolverine]

Originally Posted by Prairie Reef

Regarding the Chromis - they will fight each other? I was looking at blue reef and blue/green Chromis. I've read that they generally prefer to be in larger groups of 3 to 5?

Stores like them sold that way, because it's more fish, but as a group they tend to kill each other off until there are only a couple left.

Originally Posted by small alien

Bangaii cardinals will need to be male/female pair or single. If you want a trio, you could try pajama cardinals perhaps.

Good point. I hadn't looked closely at the numbers there, and was thinking of just a pair. I completely agree.