Stocking ideas for new tank

[Rafa Reef]

New saltwater stocking question

Hi all,

I’m new to reefing and have just bought a 123L / 33 gallon tank I am cycling!

Was hoping to get some advise as to whether my fish would work together and would coexist happily in a tank this size

phase one:
To start I was planning on a black and white clownfish ocellaris, a regular orange and white clownfish ocellaris and a royal gramma

phase two:
once they’ve settled in I was planning on introducing a red firefish and cardinal fish

phase three:
and finally I was hoping to add a mandarin goby when the tank was very well established , after I was told in the local fish shop they would be fine in this size tank if I was dosing with pods so to speak… although having done more research sounds like it might struggle with pod population, so some advise would be great

in terms of clean up crew, what would people suggest?

And also wouldn’t mind some advise in which order to add everything!

Thanks !

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by Rafa Reef

New saltwater stocking question

Hi all,

I’m new to reefing and have just bought a 123L / 33 gallon tank I am cycling!

Was hoping to get some advise as to whether my fish would work together and would coexist happily in a tank this size

phase one:
To start I was planning on a black and white clownfish ocellaris, a regular orange and white clownfish ocellaris and a royal gramma

phase two:
once they’ve settled in I was planning on introducing a red firefish and cardinal fish

phase three:
and finally I was hoping to add a mandarin goby when the tank was very well established , after I was told in the local fish shop they would be fine in this size tank if I was dosing with pods so to speak… although having done more research sounds like it might struggle with pod population, so some advise would be great

in terms of clean up crew, what would people suggest?

And also wouldn’t mind some advise in which order to add everything!

Thanks !

I would switch phase 1 & 2 because the fish in phase 1, while more hardy, are more aggressive and territorial so they should not go in first.

Firefish and cardinal fish are schoolers so I'd be adding more than one of each.

You might want to consider a tank bred/raised mandarin in the future so that you are not limited to feeding pods ( as you would for a wild one. ) They are a tough fish to keep so the more food options you have, the better.

As for cleanup crews, I always used blue leg and/or red legged hermits as well as astrea snails for algae control. There are some other snails now more readily available that would be good potential detritus eaters and sand sifters so you will need to do some research on the ones you have available since not every snail available is reef safe. Depending on what you have in the reef, there are some starfish that you can use as well as shrimps, cucumbers and gobies that can also be used as cleaners.

Hope this helps.

[Rafa Reef]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

I would switch phase 1 & 2 because the fish in phase 1, while more hardy, are more aggressive and territorial so they should not go in first.

Firefish and cardinal fish are schoolers so I'd be adding more than one of each.

You might want to consider a tank bred/raised mandarin in the future so that you are not limited to feeding pods ( as you would for a wild one. ) They are a tough fish to keep so the more food options you have, the better.

As for cleanup crews, I always used blue leg and/or red legged hermits as well as astrea snails for algae control. There are some other snails now more readily available that would be good potential detritus eaters and sand sifters so you will need to do some research on the ones you have available since not every snail available is reef safe. Depending on what you have in the reef, there are some starfish that you can use as well as shrimps, cucumbers and gobies that can also be used as cleaners.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for this. As for the schooling fish I was told this is one person but everything I’ve read online says that pairing cardinals can be quite difficult and to keep firefish on their own?

Thanks