65g stocking list

Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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I'm still working on the list of inhabitants, what I'm thinking right now is I'd like to keep about six or seven smaller fish in my 65g, rather than anything too large. I'm going for colour as well as personality with this tank, my husband loves the gorgeous colours and shapes of marines (as opposed to 'boring' FW fish). The tank has 60lbs of LR, 70lbs of sand (live and dry mixed).

This is my list so far, some of these may change and of course I'm open to suggestions:

- Maroon clownfish (already have her in the tank) (5")
- Neon dottyback (3") (traded with another hobbyist, already have him)
- South Seas devil damsel (Chrysiptera taupou) (2.5")
- Scotts fairy wrasse (4")
- Flame or coral beauty angel (3")
- Yasha hashe or Stonogobiops nematodes shrimp goby (2-3")
- Orange-spotted or another brightly coloured blenny (4")

I'm not sure if that's overloaded for a 65g though. What do you think?
 
Thanks Dave :)
I had considered it, but I'm worried that a pair would be more territorial and agressive than one alone. She's (not certain but I figure it's safe to refer to her as female since she's alone and will become female eventually ;)) about 2" long now, and fairly easygoing as maroons go though I pulled her from the 30g because she may have been picking on the angel (and to reduce the bioload). She kicked the living daylights out of a smaller maroon at the store, it was about 1 - 1.25" long, she was only slightly larger, around 1.5". Is it worth it to take the risk and bring home a baby? We've got a few tank bred babies around 1" long at work, as well as the one she nearly killed (a misbar like mine, but they are both wild caught AFAIK).

Anything on the list other than the angel that might not work if I convert to a reef? I've been thinking about it, and want to keep my options open since there's enough light for softies over the tank :)
 
In a tank that size the maroon will eventually get to big, they can get up to 18 cm. as they mature and get older they become lots more territorial and have been known on rare cases to attack the hand that feed them!!!! So, im not saying yours will become some sort of devil fish, but it will get more territorial. Coral beauty is known as the most reaf safe of Angels, it seems that about 70% of fish won't nibble on your corals, flames being about 50/50. everything else is good, but once you start this fowler, i am guessing you will find it more and more interesting and fun. Eventually you will probably want to go with a reef :)
 
Mysis - I do know that she'll get more of an attitude as she grows, but I don't think she'll get too big for a 65g. I rely on www.wetwebmedia.com for a lot of information. They say "This fish gets big... nearly seven inches long in the wild, just slightly smaller in captivity, and can be, to put it mildly, feisty with its own kind and other livestock. I would not place a single individual in anything smaller than a forty gallon, or two in a sixty." I think that even though they get large they're not huge swimmers, so she should be fine. She's feisty, but actually laid back compared to many of the clowns I've looked after at work (especially the clarkiis and other maroons), so hopefully she'll never attack me! :)

DansMarineTank - I keep hearing that, and would love to see Sam with a partner but I'm just not sure yet.
 
I am just saying what marine biologists have recorded, maroons do get more aggresive as the get older.
 
I'd pair up the maroon clowns and get a big leather for them...a school of blue green chromis a coral beauty or flame angel, a sleeper goby or a bi-color blenny or red lip blenny. Dunno...so many fishes so many choices lol :)
 
Interesting, SF you're the second person that's suggested a sleeper goby. I was under the impression that with only a couple square feet of sandbed they'd likely starve to death even with supplementary feedings. More research is in order! Chromis are out, my husband doesn't care for them and with this tank it's all about him :). He's been unbelievably generous about my spending on this hobby, so I want to choose fish he'll love to watch. His criteria are that the fish we choose should preferably be unusually shaped ('not fish-shaped' was the expression he used) and very brightly coloured. He loves mandarins, but I'm nervous to try one even though the tank is absolutely crawling with pods ATM. My criteria are that they'll get along and not outgrow the tank as well as be beautiful, but that still leaves literally dozens of fish to choose from. I think I'll have to either get him to flip through a book or come with me to the LFS to point out what catches his eye, maybe build from there :)
 
Sleaper Goby.

I have a 40 gal with a yellow headed sleaper goby, there is enough live sand in my tank for it to live perfectly fine.

Not very hard to care for either.

sleaper goby.jpg sleaper goby1.jpg sleaper goby2.jpg
 
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