Suggestions: reef safe fishes for a 120gal

[Kizzy911]

48 x 18 x 30

I need suggestions, I want some advice and help with live stock!

In my 120 gal I'm thinking of:
-2 tangs: scoppas and kole tang
-anthias??? (Need help on this, if so what kind and how many)
-2 black/white clownfish
-mandarin goby
-pistol shrimp and a goby (goby recommendations?)
-cleaner shrimp or fire shrimp?
-how many hermits?
-how many astreea?
-other clean up crews?
-what other bright fishes can I add ??
-1 damsel
-

[jraker]

i think your tangs will do ok. personally, i would go with a white tail bristletooth and a purple tang. you can keep a small group (about 3) of anthias, but you must feed them about 2-3 times a day. either that, or you can go with one single anthias. the clownfish will be good, just add them together or they will fight. the mandarin lives solely off of copepods (pods). you need to get a healthy population of these going in your tank, or your mandarin will starve. they eat ~8,500 per day, so you need a lot. pistol shrimp and goby will be great, and it doesnt matter what goby, as long as it is a shrimp goby. i have a randalls goby, and i love him. i would go with 3 cleaner shrimp in that tank. you can get as many snails as you want. also get nassarius snails, they hep with the sandbed. if you want snails, stay away from hermit crabs. they kill snails for fun. for other members of the CUC, you can go with more snails, or maybe an urchin, like a tuxedo or shortspine urchin. i have a shortspine, and he devours algae. he has already cleared off a section of the back wall. you can probably add a damsel, but add it last or close to last because they are aggressive little buggers.

hope this helped!

[Kizzy911]

That definitely helped. A purple tang ive been gettinf suggestions and ive been told that purple tangs are just too aggressive.

[jraker]

yeah, i have heard of that also. they usually go one way or another. a yellow tang, scopas tang, or a chevron tang would do pretty well instead

[scooter31707]

I would recommend a Yellow Tang before a Scopas. The Scopas gets pretty big and I wouldn't recommend for 4ft tank. Add them together if all possible.

[Kizzy911]

sounds good, but as i've changed my mind again, i'm going for a purple tang and a kole for now. what do you guys think? all will be added together and will be relatively the same size and also will be introduced together into my main display.

[eatbreakfast]

Those tangs will work.

Some species of anthias do well singly, such as sunburst, borbonius, pink square, bimaculatus, and fasciatus. Others do better in groups, such as squamipinnis, bartletts, randalls, and dispars. The ones that do well in groups should be at least 3, but preferably more. Bartletts and squamipinnis are feistier anthias, randalls and dispars are more mellow.

Wait six months for the pod population to settle before adding a mandarin. Also don't add other fish that will compete for pods, such as sand burying wrasses. Flasher and fairy wrasses would be fine.

For cuc, I personally prefer hermits to snails and urchins, because snails and urchins force there way through wherever they are going and knock corals over way more than hermits.

[Naiad]

The purple is very iffy. If you get a small one you may be ok but once full grown they will become very territorial in a 4ft tank. Mine is very unhappy in my 4ft 120. He will be moving to a 220 soon.

[Kizzy911]

any other fish recommendations?

as for the purple tang, i'm thinking about just keeping him alone and just not getting another tang just so i can get more fishes, is that an ok idea?

For anthias, which one should i get? (something bright) thinking of maybe 4 anthias.