+KimP Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 So I need to start planning what fish are going in my 90 and I know hardly anything about fish other than seahorses so I'd love some advice. The goal of this tank are active fish for my kids to enjoy. Of course I'll be putting in corals too, but they're not the first priority. Some ideas I like: Long spine urchin (I've always loved them) Purple fire fish Jawfish An eel was suggested, I know nothing yet about these I currently have 2 small clarkii, a blue damsel, and a banggai cardinal. I need to decide which to sell and which to hang on to until the 90 is ready. I'll post a picture of the tank. The aquascaping needs tweaking and the sand is being pushed around by a powerhead on full force. These things will be fixed long before fish go in. My plan is to put several inches of sand in one of those huge barnacles for a sand dweller like a jawfish. Any comments or suggestions are much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Neat! An ell sticking out of one of those huge holes would be cool! Otherwise, any tangs? My students love the Hippo tang, and Yellow tang. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Yeah i love the unicorn Tang. It would look nice under that blue hue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 A snowflake moray would be a good beginner eel if you are considering one. They stay small, they're cheap, easy to get to eat, and they look great. They're also reef safe, as far as coral go. not so much with small shrimp or slow small fish. They would love a tank like that with so many caves. I really like yellow eye kole tangs. You'd probably be fine with a kole and a single yellow or non bristletooth variety in that size tank. The bristletooth tangs eat almost exclusively film algae. A foxface is also always a great reef inhabitant. Anyway, here a list of active, mostly peaceful, and interesting fish off the top of my head that should be ok in that tank size. Yellow tang Bristletooth tangs (Yellow eye kole, 2 spot kole, tomini) Mimic tangs (ebli or lemon) Foxfaces Blue green chromis Springer's damsel Marine beta Possibly a bellus, lamark, or watanabi angelfish (May be pushing it on the tank size) Royal Gramma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 I think with the Jawfish you need a lot more sand in the tank since you can't really dictate where he'll stay. If I'm correct you do have a mesh top since their known jumpers as well so your good there. If you looking to please kids then your dori/nemo combo works wonders because they all know them. Mandirins are my next choice since their so colorful. Bartlett's Anthias are very colorful schooling fish and reasonably prices. Linckia sea star and a sea apple from subsea are on my list to get too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Corals not the main focus...sure. Anyway just wanted to say that I love the idea of the sand in the barnacles for the jawfish. Now, if you'll excuse me I am off to totally rethink my scaping . First mud, now this. You are going to be the death of me, I swear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 +1 for the yellow eye tang, I wish I could have one they look awesome! Anthias, flame hawkfish and chaulk bass +3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 Okay, this gives me a great place to start researching. Thanks! If anyone has more ideas or votes for ones already listed, bring em on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggedfire Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 I am super partial to the YEKT as they have great personality. Lost mine with the tank crash awhile back. My kiddos like the dottybacks and blennies too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Spent the last two evenings with my wife, working on the stocking plans for our new tank. Our lists are similar. Snowflake eel made the list Royal Gramma made the list Looking at Scott's Fairy Wrasse and Blue Assessor too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Another thing to contemplate is the clarkii's. if you love em, great, but I'm not convinced that in a 90 that you'd be able to keep multiple species of clowns. Of course, the damsel is going to get voted off the island. I like the rest of your list though. Eels always make me kinda squeamish with respect to them eating tank mates, but I don't have any firsthand experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 Another thing to contemplate is the clarkii's. if you love em, great, but I'm not convinced that in a 90 that you'd be able to keep multiple species of clowns. Of course, the damsel is going to get voted off the island. I like the rest of your list though. Eels always make me kinda squeamish with respect to them eating tank mates, but I don't have any firsthand experience. I've been waiting to see if anyone had a feeling one way or the other on the clarkii's. I don't usually read good things about clowns but if they'll work with the other things I decide to have then I'll keep them. Do clowns usually get added first or last? Does it depend on the other tank mates? Anyone have feelings on the cardinal? The cardinal and damsel are in a tank together and the damsel is always hiding. I don't know if it's just a shy fish or if the cardinal keeps it in its place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 I've got a clarkii and love it. That being said they're typical clowns. Very active. Curious. Like to mess with stuff. A little on the grouchy side. My clarkii likes to chase his tank mates on occasion. For about 6 straight months he made sure my cardinal fish stayed in between the back glass and the overflow. Any time it came out the clown would bolt straight at him and attack until it hid again. It stopped eventually now he ignores and the cardinal has freedom to roam. My clarkii likes to chase my azure damsel once every couple days but they'll usually just make it one or two laps before they stop. He has never had issue with my royal gramma. He has never damaged or hurt any fish. Just likes to chase a little. Lives in my toadstool leather. Just sharing my experience with them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Just remember with an eel, you'll need to keep a tight lid. Skip the unicorn tang. Not big enough of a tank. Kole eye would work, as would(IMO) any of the Zebrosoma species. Clarki's are great but in a 90 you will not be able to keep any other species as they are very aggressive. Ditch the damsel. I'd personally skip the urchin too(big, bulldozer, risk of stabbing yourself). Put the firefish in first. Only 1 tang; of any species. Giant no to the marine betta(get big, predators). Any Genicanthus angel is ok, size wont be too big of an issue. Mimic tangs get ugly and drab when they mature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 Clarki's are great but in a 90 you will not be able to keep any other species as they are very aggressive. Can you explain this better? What do you mean by other species? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Sorry. Should have been more specific. Other species of clowns. Heck, my Clarkii's run my sailfin off and he's 4x the size of mama clown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Yeah he's right. As bad as it sounds its pretty impressive seeing how tough a motivated clarkii can be. I could definitely see a big clarkii beating the snot out of a tang if push came to shove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 Yikes, thank you for the heads up on the clowns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Well I went ahead and got rid of all my fish so I can start planning with a clean slate. I haven't had much time to research fish except for eels, I'm pretty much sold on one! The tank does seem to be perfect for one. I was just reading up on ribbon eels. They are so beautiful but too bad they don't seem to do well in captivity. I'll probably stick with snowflake eels as suggested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 You can do dwarf golden morays as well. They're a bit pricey and sometimes difficult to find but are truly the perfect reef eel IMO. I would definitely skip a ribbon eel. Nothing I have ever heard good about their survival in captivity. Same thing goes for garden eels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 You can do dwarf golden morays as well. They're a bit pricey and sometimes difficult to find but are truly the perfect reef eel IMO. I would definitely skip a ribbon eel. Nothing I have ever heard good about their survival in captivity. Same thing goes for garden eels. I've been reading up on these, thanks for the suggestion. Where did you get yours? Do you like having them as a pair (if you still have them)? I'm thinking I'll need to add some more rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I think you have a lot of good places for them and if you put them in first you can find out where they go and such. They may just both stay together in one of the caves the whole time. I'd order them from the dome since they'll have a much better chance of finding them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I ended up selling them. Not possible to keep them in an open top tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Alright here are fish I'm interested in so far. Feel free to pick it apart and let me know what'll work together, and I don't want to overstock. I do want some kind of fish in multiples rather than only a single one of several types. My tank is still cycling so I can change anything at this point to accommodate fish I want. Definitely: 2 golden dwarf moreys Maybe: Purple firefish Flasher wrasse group Tassel filefish Kole tang Royal gramma Pearl jawfish barnacle blenny (I do have a ton of barnacles!) Goby/shrimp pair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 A Kole tang and Gramma are both permanently on my list of great fish that every tank should have, size permitting. Flasher or anthias group would be awesome. If you do the morays, make sure none of the goby's, blenny's, shrimp, or anything else are small enough to become a meal. They're not aggressive but a meal is a meal. I might add a scopas or yellow tang. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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