Live stock ideas!

[chevypride]

Hey guys!
Monday we goto the city to get the rest of my aquarium stuff. And now I'm reeeeally thinking of what fish to get (this 4+ weeks is gonna be sooooo slow). It's a 120gallon (48 x 24 x 24), with a 50 gallon sump (I don't actually know how many gallons will be in the sump once it gets running though..)

Now I want to know what you would stock it with; I want to start with a pair of clowns... Everyone said there pretty hardy fish so hopefully if I keep them alive for a month or so I can slowly add a few more fish. Rehoming the initial clowns isn't something I will want to do, but I don't know how much having them will limit my choices...

A local guy I've met through all this has offered me some hardy coral, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but he's going to give it to me for free so I can start learning about coral as well, but it'll be a long time before I get anything to special, so reef safe really isn't a necessity.

The boyfriend really wants some kind of puffer fish, and at some point (if at all possible) I'd really like a sting ray... Is there any that I could have in my tank? Or will this just have to stay a dream?

[Bectan01]

Exciting isn't it and it can feel like forever waiting for the cycle but I sure you have heard before that patience is the key. Unfortunately of you are wanting to keep corals a puffer is out of the question and so is the stingray, they require much larger tanks. Keep it on your dream tank list (like I do) have you checked out live aquaria? Plenty of fish to choose from for your size tank.

[chevypride]

Shucks. Was really hoping for a sting ray. Oh well just an excuse to upgrade i am wanting a large fish as a center piece and then a few medium size. It will take me a long time to get my stock (being broke comes with the hobby I hear...) defiantly looking at some kind of tangs (I think there really cute (: ), but after that I have no idea what kind I want... I want everything.

[Bectan01]

Yeah definitely check live aquaria out, maybe a large angel? If you select tank size it narrows it down for you. Tangs are cool but can be probe to disease. A foxface is another large fish that's pretty cool too...

[bribo12]

I'd do a foxface or a smaller tang like a yellow, kole or tomini as the centerpiece. Large angels get massive and need a ton more room than a 120 offers.

[All_fish]

What about a harlequin tusk, fox face, dejarni tang, humu trigger. Throwing things out there.

[bribo12]

I wouldn't do the des jardini sailfin either. Sailfins get gigantic. But the other 2 are good if you don't want a reef

[chevypride]

I like lion fish too (was looking at some of the dwarf ones). But it says they'll eat shrimp and smaller fish... So again seems to limit my other choices.

[All_fish]

Lions will eat your clowns the second they go in your tank. I highly suggest liveaquaria for browsing. run some of your other ideas by us.

[ezy33]

This is a great site for window shopping. Saltwater Fish: Marine Aquarium Fish for Saltwater Aquariums
Their info on the fish is fairly straight. If they say "reef safe with caution" the fish will eat your Inverts. Check the divers den they have some rare and expensive fish. Good luck!

[chevypride]

Well I'm defiantly thinking a pair of clowns and a yellow tang (it says they get 8" is that too big for my tanks demensions?). I also like some of the butterflyfish, but I'm not wondering if the tang might not like it? They look a lot alike... I also like the lemon peel angel, and the bicolour angel. I want a really colourful tank (it's not like that's hard :p)

[bribo12]

I think a 120 is fine for a yellow. Butterflies can be tough and angels are hit or miss with corals. I'd do a coral beauty or flame. They're usually pretty good with corals

[chevypride]

Coral really isn't something that I'm interested in at the moment. So if I lose the free ones id rather have a pretty fish instead of coral... I have cheap lighting that really isn't good enough for coral (in my opinion). Keep up with the suggestions! I'm looking up all of them (:

[bribo12]

Hmm if you don't want coral that definitely opens the options a bit. How do you feel about inverts?

[chevypride]

I was thinking of some star fish, but have no idea what they need or even if they will work with my idea(haven't looked into it), I'm wanting a few hermit crabs, and some emerald crabs, I don't want any crabs that look like spiders (was looking at them and I'm pretty sure if they were in my tank I wouldn't go near it). I also like some of the feather dusters... For snails I haven't really looked. I think that will be more of a spur of the moment "I like that one" type thing when I go shopping in the city... Do they really matter what kind I get? And shrimp I haven't really looked into either. Once I get really good at this whole thing id love to try a sponge! (I think the one I saw was called a tree sponge)

[bribo12]

Well I wouldn't try a spider sponge ever. They need to be fed like 10+ times a day to remain alive. On starfish most don't do well in our systems but serpent and brittle stars do. If it isn't a reef a chocolate chip star would do fine as well.

[chevypride]

I like the Indian star fish. But the site says there for moderate level people... How many inverts can I add at a time? I was going to add my pair of clowns together, and then if I keep them alive for a month add another, and then every month add one (I know it's a long wait period, but I don't want to kill anything. So if something goes wrong it'll be easier to fix it with a smaller bio load) but could I buy all my inverts and add them at the beggining? Or do they produce to much of a bio load to that?

[bribo12]

Inverts don't add much to the bioload. So yeah but I'd add half, then add the other half later. You wanna make sure they have enough food. Um on the Indian starfish. I believe that is a fromia star and IMO are very difficult/expert only. No one is positive what they eat so they need a really mature tank with a ton of very biodiverse rock.

[chevypride]

Your correct on the formia... So I guess it's another one on the wish list.

I'm so excited to actually be able to start planning all this! Going to the city and walking through all the fish stores is going to make it a reality that soon I'll have them in my own house!

[chevypride]

So we went on a trip to the city and went to a casino with a 39,400 gallon sw tank! We picked out a lot of fish that we liked (if only i could remember them all )but I'll need help id'ing them, and then hopefully get the approval!

-long horned cow fish
-trigger fish (not sure what one..)
-a black and white stripped fish that had a very long top fin (ID please)
-a blue\grey fish that had almost a horn (ID please) if you walked past the glass he would follow you, and if you ran he'd swim super fast, and if you ignored him he'd act really weird to get your attention... It was so funny.
-my boyfriend also wants some kind of eel... But don't they bite? If possible if want a friendly one...


What are some large snails? We saw some that were pretty big and we were both really interested in...

Also, this may be a stupid question. But the hermit crabs you buy for a sw tank, and the hermit crabs you buy that live in those tiny containers (poor things) are those the same...?