150 g Stocking questions

Cjemmott · 03/03/2008, 02:25 PM

I bought a 150 gallon reef setup about six weeks ago, after doing the freshwater planted thing for years. The tank had been set up for over a decade, but in recent years had declined. There was about 300lbs of great rock, three fish, a few small soft corals and some three foot long fire worms!

I replaced much of the old equipment after something shocked me real good, so there are new powerheads, skimmer, canister filter, heaters. I experienced surprisingly little in the way of a cycle, likely because the previous owner had stopped regularly feeding the tank over a year ago...

The residents that came with the tank include a false clown, a yellow watchman goby and a spotted hawkfish. To get the hair algae under control (the tank was COVERED), I added some assorted snails and hermits and a pair of mithrax crabs. Seems to have worked.

I generally like to keep just a few species in a tank, so for vertebrate stocking, I was thinking:

Desjardini Sailfin Tang
False Clown
Yellow Watchman Goby
Spotted Hawkfish
Sixline Wrasse
15 Blue Green Chromis

I know you have to stock marine tanks much less heavily than fresh, but I have also found with fresh that inches-of-fish is a poor metric. One five inch clown loach puts much more of a load on the system than all 35 rasbora put together. What do you think?

bertoni · 03/08/2008, 12:22 AM

15 chromis sounds like heavily overstocking to me. I'd leave them out entirely. I agree that inches per gallon is useless.

The other fish should be okay, although I'd be sure to get a juvenile clown, to avoid fighting.

03/03/2008, 02:25 PM	#1
Cjemmott Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: State College, PA Posts: 16	150 g Stocking questions I bought a 150 gallon reef setup about six weeks ago, after doing the freshwater planted thing for years. The tank had been set up for over a decade, but in recent years had declined. There was about 300lbs of great rock, three fish, a few small soft corals and some three foot long fire worms! I replaced much of the old equipment after something shocked me real good, so there are new powerheads, skimmer, canister filter, heaters. I experienced surprisingly little in the way of a cycle, likely because the previous owner had stopped regularly feeding the tank over a year ago... The residents that came with the tank include a false clown, a yellow watchman goby and a spotted hawkfish. To get the hair algae under control (the tank was COVERED), I added some assorted snails and hermits and a pair of mithrax crabs. Seems to have worked. I generally like to keep just a few species in a tank, so for vertebrate stocking, I was thinking: Desjardini Sailfin Tang False Clown Yellow Watchman Goby Spotted Hawkfish Sixline Wrasse 15 Blue Green Chromis I know you have to stock marine tanks much less heavily than fresh, but I have also found with fresh that inches-of-fish is a poor metric. One five inch clown loach puts much more of a load on the system than all 35 rasbora put together. What do you think?

03/08/2008, 12:22 AM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	15 chromis sounds like heavily overstocking to me. I'd leave them out entirely. I agree that inches per gallon is useless. The other fish should be okay, although I'd be sure to get a juvenile clown, to avoid fighting. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni