Stocking question

[Sregnar35]

75g FO with lr sooner or later. Im planning on doing a bright community tank. I really want 2 percula clowns, a regal tang, a flame angel, a royal gramma, a school of green chromis, a mandarin dragonette eventually, and a good handful of crabs, snails and some shrimp. In what order should I stock my tank?? I've heard clowns are territorial and should be added last. But they are also hardy and I'd like to add them first. What does anyone think?

[OrionGirl]

That's way too many fish for a 75. I'd cut the tang--they really need a 6 foot tank to be happy, and the chromis. The chromis do school in the wild, but in aquariums, tend to beat the heck out of each other pretty quickly. The percula, angel, and gramma will be okay. The dragonette is a tricky one. The juveniles rarely take to prepared foods, and with a 75 gallon tank, you're going to need lots of copopods to keep one healthy. I wouldn't try it in a tank less than 1 year stable (not one year old--one year without any problems, diseases, or competitors for the pods).

For order--the gramma should be first. Then the angel, then the clowns. Otherwise, the clowns will claim the entire tank, and will beat up any new fish. You'll end up with a gramma that hides constantly, and an angel that may not eat--not an ideal situation.

However--you refer to the clowns as being hardy. While they are, this is not really any reason to add them first. The tank should be cycled before any fish are added. Get the live rock before adding any fish, as this will help stabilize the tank, and provide shelter for the fish--reducing their stress.

HTH

[Sregnar35]

I added about 20# of LR last night, beautiful, covered in coralline algae and some bubble algae. I'm sure my cleanup crew will handle the bubble algae. As for stocking, are you saying 2 perculas, a dwarf angel, a gramma, and a mandarin will max out my 75, or are they just the ones on my list that are suitable?? If so, do you have any other ideas about stock I could safely keep? Thanks!

[OrionGirl]

The 3 fish, with the mandarin way down the road, won't max you out. You could add a an additional 1-3 fish, depending on size and temperment. Look at fairy wrasses, some gobies, basslets, or cardinals. However, keep in mind that successful SW tanks have much fewer fish than the same sized FW tank.

[Sregnar35]

Yeah, I've read all different guidelines for stocking, the best advise seems to be a 3 to 1 ratio of gallons per inch of full size fish length. My plan is to get just a couple of fish and give my tank maybe 2 or 3 months to mature some, and I thought a pair of clowns would be fun to watch for that time, but if they are going to become territorial, I'll probably start with the gramma. I'd start with the flame angel, but if it dies I'm out $60, that's not good. I want to find a few colorful, inexpensive, fun fish to keep for the first few months, then start stocking a bit more heavily.

[g. mcclean]

Whole you keep mentioning your fish "wish" list, you have not mentioned whether your tank is cycled or not. If it is not, none of those fish should be added until it is.

[Sregnar35]

Yeah, I'm going to wait until both ammonia and nitrites are 0 then do a water change of about 40%, then wait a couple days, check nitrates, and start stocking my cleanup crew.

[Kurt]

40% water change is a little steep I think. fewer smaller water changes are better. A large water change like that can actually be the cause of a water problem popping up. I prefer to stay below 10% myself.