Fish List

[Hornet]

Please critique my Fish list. Keep in mind I'm not planning on running out and buying all of these fish at one time. It's mainly something for me to refer to as I visit LFS's to see what people are keeping in stock and what I really will like. I plan on eventually having some easy to keep SPS in my tank. One other thing to consider is I have a 4ft 150 gal tank.

Blue Spotted Jawfish - Maybe two of these if I can find them locally at a good price.
Mandarin Dragonet - I'm seeing pods crawling on the glass in the DT waiting to be eaten :D.
White Face/Powder Brown Tang - "Acanthurus japonicus" Supposed to be one of the smaller/hardier tangs (I think)
Yellow Tang
True Percula - probably two of these

Would like some kind of shoaling fish, but it seems Chromis like to fight to the death according to stuff I read. Suggestions? I'm I pushing the limit?

 

[dustin_P74]

i wouldnt do a powder brown and yellow tang together unless add together or the PDT i added after the yellow. two jawfsih might fight to the death in your tank, they may not. chromis can fight to the death but i havent had that problem. no fish will truly school in our tank, they'll just get along.

 

[queenangel77]

+1 to what dustin says.
Seems like a good list to me. How long has your tank been running? Be carefu with the mandarin. I know there is a lot of pods you see in your tank but thery can be very hard to keep. I also have a green mandarin, and i have mine eating live brine as well as pods. Good luck to you. Post some pics!!

 

[dustin_P74]

set up a good stocked refugium, the pods need a safe haven away from the mandarin

 

[JAG107]

Good suggestions from everyone. I like the Kole tang, great algae eater, over a PBT. Wait for a while for you dragonet, they will eat LOTS of pods, unless you are lucky enough to find a tank bred one that eats frozen mysis and *gasp!* PELLETS.

 

[Hornet]

Tanks been running for about 4 weeks now and nitrites and ammonia having been holding at 0 for almost 2 weeks now. Nitrates have also been no higher than 10 and are now holding at 0 for the last week.

Last weekend I bought a bottle of pods from the LFS and added them to the fuge. But before I bought those I was alreading noticing white dots moving around on the glass that I thought were baby snails. After doing some surfing I came to the conclusion they were pods. Plus the guy that sold me my live rock gave me some cheato and he said pods were thriving in his fuge.

I'm going away for a few days soon and I don't want to add a fish before I leave. Therefore I won't be adding any fish till after I get back. I won't be making my first fish purchase for at least another 2 or 3 weeks. For now I just plan on cruzing some LFS's and checking out fish. Hopefully the weather picks up and I can pull out the motorcycle. That'll ensure I don't make any impluse buys.

 

[dustin_P74]

i would still wait 8-12 months before buying a mandarin

 

[Hornet]

Good suggestions from everyone. I like the Kole tang, great algae eater, over a PBT. Wait for a while for you dragonet, they will eat LOTS of pods, unless you are lucky enough to find a tank bred one that eats frozen mysis and *gasp!* PELLETS.

Thanks, I've added the Kole to my list of fish to look for at the LFS and to also do a little more reading on.

 

[Hornet]

i would still wait 8-12 months before buying a mandarin

Gottcha, I appreciate all the input.

I would really like to find a bluespot jawfish first locally first. But I'm still not in that much of a rush to throw fish in the tank. The peppermints and snails that are already in the tank are keeping us entertained so far.

 

[dustin_P74]

heres how id do it

Blue Spotted Jawfish- 1
Mandarin Dragonet- 5
Powder Brown Tang or kole tang- 2
Yellow Tang- 2 or 3
True Percula- 4

 

[ccCapt]

I would skip the powder brown and replace it with an Atlantic blue tang. They (a.japonicus) are the hardier of the 2 "powder browns", but they are not an easy fish to keep. My personal experience with the powder browns has not been good. I had one go thru qt with no problems. Added it to the tank and it lasted about 7 months. Even tho is was eating, it just wasted away. I tried another. Went thru qt, but needed to be treated for ich. Came out of qt, put in the tank and it just died about 3 months later. No idea why. You don't hear of many long term success stories with those fish.

 

[Bifferwine]

A small school of chromis will be fine, especially if you keep an odd number of them. If you keep an even number, they tend to form "teams" and gang up on each other. When you have an odd number, they can't form equally matched teams and don't even bother fighting. I've had 5 chromis together for 4 years now.

 

[sen5241b]

I've seen a 6 line wrasse and a blue damsel on separate occasions decimate my pod population much faster than a mandarin could. Regardless of tank size and current pod population I would try to get them eating frozen foods, small orange sushi eggs (without additives) or small pellet food.