75 G reef fish suggestions...

[gemmate]

I have my 75 G reef and it running for about 3 month and I started to do light periouds for only about 3 weeks ago. I have few soft corals and it looks like they are doing fine. I have a yellow tail damsel and magenta dottyback in. I am working on my fish list. Any siggestion to it?

[Cheebs]

Yellow Tang, and a Dwarf Angel!  Both are awesome and most will peck at any algae that shows up

[gemmate]

Yellow Tang, and a Dwarf Angel!  Both are awesome and most will peck at any algae that shows up

I remember somebody told me that angels are very "fragile" and need the perfect water quality to live. Is that true?

[Vincenzo.]

3-4 anthias
Flasher wrasse
Jawfish
Goby / pistol combo
Blenny
2 Dwarf angels

[gemmate]

I forgot to mention that I have orange sleeper goby who is hiding all the time as it's being harased by dottyback. I also lost three! oscellaris clowns for uknown reasons. First two about month ago and I suspect they both were sick in store as they were week since I brought them home and die at next day almost at the same time. The third one I bought about two weeks ago and he denied to eat anything. I lost him few days later.
My water parameters are fine, only little bit high in phosphates presents which should not affect fish.

[kole18]

yellow tang or purple tang
flame angel
sixline wrasse "aka mr flatworm"
pair of onyx
maybe 4 pair of barlet anthias
combo of watchman goby/ pistol
jawfish
mandarine

here's what i got on my 40g
tiny yellow tang almost 2 ''
majestic angelfish 2'' new addition in my tank a couple weeks ago brought mscape
true perc male & female misbar onyx w/ purple lta
midas blenny
neon cleaner goby
red neon goby
tiger goby
pair purple fire fish
bagai cardinal
sixline wrasse
dotty orchid "aka the bully" lol
& mostly sps frag
1 deresa
3 peperment
blood shrimp
cleaner shrimp

[Severum]

You have some pretty aggressive fish in your damsel and dottyback. That will effect what else you can add. You'll either have to go aggressive or change those fish out.

In a 75 I'll have to agree with some of the above and suggest:
yellow, kole or tomini tang
Pair of clowns
royal gramma
flame angel
goby/pistol shrimp pair
some kind of blenny

Dayyum, thats starting to sound like my fish list!

[RoxyDog]

IMO your tank is too small for a purple tang, *maybe* a yellow?  Angels can be sensitive, but not too bad I don't think.

2 dwarf angels would be awesome but I've tried it twice now, two different ways, and neither time did it work out.  Just recently my flame angel and coral beauty were getting along just fine (for months) and suddenly the flame decided the coral beauty was no longer wanted.  People do have success having 2, but I have to say I'd never try it again.

My list for your tank would be: 1 dwarf angel, goby/pistol combo and some wrasses.  A clownfish pair if you like them. The magenta dottyback may give you trouble when you add new fish, as you can see by it's harrassment of your sleeper goby.  You may want to trade that guy in.  Do you know the latin name for him so we know exactly which one it is?  

[Cheebs]

Yeah Angels do seem much more sensitive, I maybe wouldn't add one right away. I don't think I'd opt for a bunch of anthias, tanks too small IMO.

[gemmate]

My list for your tank would be: 1 dwarf angel, goby/pistol combo and some wrasses.  A clownfish pair if you like them. The magenta dottyback may give you trouble when you add new fish, as you can see by it's harrassment of your sleeper goby.  You may want to trade that guy in.  Do you know the latin name for him so we know exactly which one it is?  

Well I have two dottybacks and one in QT. Any of them or both could go:
1) latin name: Pseudochromis diadema  aka Purple Stripe Pseudochromis  aka Diadem Dottyback aka Diadem Pseudochromis (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+38+172&pcatid=172)
2) latin name: Pseudochromis porphyreus aka Purple Pseudochromis aka Magenta Dottyback aka Strawbery Dottyback (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+38+170&pcatid=170)

[RoxyDog]

I'm pretty sure both of those are aggressive fish so you might want to think about rehoming them if you want fish that can't stand up to them.  I don't have any personal experience with them, but maybe someone else does...

[Hookup]

I have a few ideas for you...

First, wrasses... I love them... They are awesome looking and functional... they can hold their own in more agressive tanks as well.  I have so many favorites it's not possible to list, but the Tamarini wrasse is up there... 4line is nice, yellow coris... and man do I love the Leopard's...

Second suggestion... One "show fish" and "sets/groups" of others.... Say have 6 or 8 green chromis, 6 or 8 Anthais and a single yellow tang...  throwing in one wrasse for function and one or two blennies/gobies for "fun" makes that a solid tank.

Third suggestion... In all my years the combo of the Yellow Tang, Royal Gramma, Red-Firefish and the Nemo-Clown fish have pretty much the full spectrum of color, they all get along and they all use the tank... I know they are not sexy expensive or even rare, but they are one of the best set-combos out there for colors and wow-factor. 


You have 75gallons (I assume standard 4foot tank) which is quite a bit of space....  I do not see anything wrong with the smaller tangs... but any fish that is going to grow to 14 inches imo is too big. 

[gemmate]

Something terrible happened in my reef. Yesturday I was looking at the tank trying to spot dissapeared goby and my two fish: Damsel and Dottyback, were both fine that time. Then just two minutes later I found my yellowtail damsel in terrible condition with broken bloody tail and damaged all arround .
WTH happened. It looked like it was heat by electricity or something. I had no clue? I started to observe my aquarium and realised that I have MaxiJet 1200(switching every 5 mins ON and OFF by wavemaker) and it has open end suck-in tube. So theoretically the damsel could had sucked-in in impeller and it could damage his tail and fins. Now I suspect the same thing could happen with my magenta dottyback as I previously thought that he was damaged by fighting with another dottyback.

[Vincenzo.]

sorry for the loss. sucks when it's no ones fault.

on a side note, those MJ's on wave makers are a scam, and ur going to burn them out way quicker.

btw, did u try the food?

[gemmate]

Yes but it looks like it was actually my fault as I allowed this MJ runs unprotected.
The food still in my fridge. Too busy, will try it on weekend. Thanks for sale anyway Vince.

sorry for the loss. sucks when it's no ones fault.

on a side note, those MJ's on wave makers are a scam, and ur going to burn them out way quicker.

btw, did u try the food?

[gemmate]

So thank you for all you fish list suggestions guys. They were really helpful. So this weekend I've got following list of fish:

Yellow Tank (small)
Two clownfish (oscellaris i think)
Sixline wrasse

And I already have:
Orange Sleeper Goby (Find him all the time in my sump)
Magenta Dottyback (not so aggressive but it could be for a while due previous harrasment by another diadema dottyback)
Diadema Dottyback (wich is in my QT tank for now and I am trying to get rid of him due agression problem)
My yellow tail damsell is gone for the reason I explained above (got sucked in into MJ pump)
Cleaner Shrimp
Starfish
5 Nassarius snails
15 hermits
20 Astria snails
10 Margarita snails
I think I will get in future: Flame Angel, goby/pistol shrimp pair, some blenny or mandarin or jawfish.

I also have some corals but it is off topic here.

So for couple of days all my livestock look healthy and energetic.
Will publish some pictures later on.

[gemmate]

I am lost. It eather I got unlucky with those clown or is something wrong with my setup. Who sad that clowns is a hardy fish? I lost another two clowns, so my total number for now is 5 dead clowns and I think it was the final try. Other fishes, corals, shrimps, snails, hermits are looking good, at least for now. Originaly clowns were looking fresh and energetic, but few days later they denied to eat and eventually passed out.

Water parameters are fine: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate, PH 8.2, salnity 1,024, temperature 78-82.
Lights: 2x175W new 14K MH and 2x40W T12 actinic running 8 hours a day (from 6pm to 2am).
Equipment: 75 Gallon with 30G sump with 90lb Live Rocks and 90 lb Live Sand running for 4 month. Mag 12 return, a lot of flow: 2 MJ1200 on 5 mins waver, Tunze and Corilife3 pumps. Old and not very productive RedSea Triple-Pass Skimmer running with Mag 7.5.
Twice a day feedings with Mysis Shrimps and Vince's saltwater mix.


What could be wrong with the setup causing clowns to be dead? Any suggestions?

[Hookup]

I assume since you mentioned use of a QT for other fish you QT'd these as well?  Making it seem to me that shipping or/and acclimation damage would be the most likely cause.

What is the QT setup?  How is it maintained?   Sorry to hear of your troubles... the hobby isn't supposed to be that hard, though sometimes it is.

[gemmate]

I assume since you mentioned use of a QT for other fish you QT'd these as well?  Making it seem to me that shipping or/and acclimation damage would be the most likely cause.

What is the QT setup?  How is it maintained?   Sorry to hear of your troubles... the hobby isn't supposed to be that hard, though sometimes it is.

Nope I didn't use QT tank as I had my aggressive dottyback in it and it is only 5gallon. Also I had only another dottyback and one gobby in my 75Gallon when I purchase Yellow Tang, 6line wrasse and two clowns at the same time at the same place. So it was less fish in tank already than I had bought this day. Also I bought some corals and inverterbres and parasites could get to my tank through them to. So I decided not to use QT. But Yellow Tang and my clowns (dead for now) were developed white spots on them couple days after. Do you think it is Marine Ich I just red your today's  post). My Yellow Tang looks better now but I am afraid to loose him too.

[Hookup]

yes, very likely ICK...  It's hard to get rid of for sure...