My stock list....any red flags?

[lazarus]

i could not have gotten this far without you guys! here is my list for my 115 FOWLR and soft corals:
Already in:
Percula
Damsel
Yellow Tang
CBS
Various hermits and snails
Thinking to add:
Coral Beauty
Bannerfish (aka Poor Mans Moorish Idol)
A goby (your choice!)
Cleaner Shrimp
Serpent Star
i want to keep light stock to keep water changes down to 1-2/mo.
Any red flags here? Thanks in advance!

 

[ray28576]

The only thing I see wrong with that list is that (Im not sure) the CBS will probably not get along with the cleaner shrimp. I have heard that CBS will kill other shrimp, but not sure in a tank that size. The rest of it looks fine.

 

[ray28576]

You know what, I was wrong, it says that they wont bother other shrimp. Sorry.

 

[lion_crazz]

My only problem with the stocklist is that heniochus (bannerfish) are a schooling fish. I have never tried to keep them singular, so I don't know how that would work out.
i want to keep light stock to keep water changes down to 1-2/mo.
Setting up that refuge you were thinking about would really help in that area. Then, since you would have low to no nitrates, you would only have to add trace elements to replenish the supply of them that the inhabitants used up.

 

[sinner's girl]

You know what, I was wrong, it says that they wont bother other shrimp. Sorry.
says who? CSB will eat other shrimp...less likely if you keep him fed, but mine loved peppermint shrimp

 

[lazarus]

Sinners girl...they may eat emerald crabs as well. i was just hooking up some equipment under the tank and popped my head up and my CBS had the crab in his mouth....damn just the other day my emerald was on top of my reef looking like he was loving his new quarters. very unpleasant view right now.

 

[sinner's girl]

good to know...though ours didn't bother the emerald crab or others...(that I saw at least)...I also kept him well fed.

 

[ray28576]

Originally Posted by Sinner's Girl
says who? CSB will eat other shrimp...less likely if you keep him fed, but mine loved peppermint shrimp
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ot_parent_id=4
Says this site. It says they only attack if provoked, and I don't see a cleaner shrimp provoking anything.

I also thought they did'nt get along with other shrimp. I looked it up and it says they are fine unless provoked.

 

[crazyzeus1]

Originally Posted by Sinner's Girl
says who? CSB will eat other shrimp...less likely if you keep him fed, but mine loved peppermint shrimp
Just for what it's worth, we have one CBS and 1 Peppermint shrim & 2 Cleaner shrimp in a 100 gal tank with 130 lb. of live rock, and the have co-existed for about 9 months together with no problems (that I can tell). The CBS does have his territory in one corner of the tank, and will chase away any fish or others that come near, but I've never seen him kill anything, and I've never had a shrim come up missing.
Now, we have 3 Camel Back Shrimp that are eating EVERY soft coral in our tank (we've lost about $400 worth of livestock so far), so stay FAR FAR away from thos buggers. My husband put them in the tank, without doing his research, and they are too smart for the traps we've set, and they just won't DIE! Our poor tank is being picked apart, and I refuse to order any more corals until they're GONE. I try to catch them with the net when I just sit there & hold it in the water for a long time, or just mash them up against a rock when they come close so they're dead, but no luck so far. Ugh....
Anyway--off the subject...
Good luck!

 

[lazarus]

thanks all....my CBS has turned into a godzilla of sorts...but i guess he did not kill the emerald....strange tho that the crab was active one day, dead the next.
back to my list....i love the bannerfish (aka poor man's moorish idol - heniochus butterfly)...how come i dont hear more people putting that in their list? have folks had success with this fish in 100g tanks?
if they do best in groups of 3 do you think i am pushing it to have 3 as well as my other fish in a 115g? Stock list them becomes:
3 bannerfish
Coral Beauty
Clownfish
Damsel (size of dime)
Yellow Tang
Serpent Star
CBS
Hermits, Snails
LionCrazz, can you tell me more about "trace elements" you mean calcium and ????

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by LAZARUS
i could not have gotten this far without you guys! here is my list for my 115 FOWLR and soft corals:
Already in:
Percula
Damsel
Yellow Tang
CBS
Various hermits and snails
Thinking to add:
Coral Beauty
Bannerfish (aka Poor Mans Moorish Idol)
A goby (your choice!)
Cleaner Shrimp
Serpent Star
i want to keep light stock to keep water changes down to 1-2/mo.
Any red flags here? Thanks in advance!
the biggest red flag i see right now is your serpant star .i suggest staying clear on that one.i used to keep them without issues but as they grow larger so does their appetite and they will eventually eat smaller fish(found this out the hard way)lost over 300 dollars worth of fish over a period of time to mine.as for gobie choise i had the rainford goby he was kinda cool but always made a mess with the substrate.also had an engenerr gobie for a few yrs(tilll my niger ate him(well half of him at least)you may find later down the road you wont like your demsel most ppl dont some of them can be iffy when it comes to newcommers(just a word of warning) other than that i dont see to many issues.good luck and welcome to the hobby

 

[ray28576]

Originally Posted by unleashed
the biggest red flag i see right now is your serpant star .i suggest staying clear on that one.i used to keep them without issues but as they grow larger so does their appetite and they will eventually eat smaller fish(found this out the hard way)lost over 300 dollars worth of fish over a period of time to mine.as for gobie choise i had the rainford goby he was kinda cool but always made a mess with the substrate.also had an engenerr gobie for a few yrs(tilll my niger ate him(well half of him at least)you may find later down the road you wont like your demsel most ppl dont some of them can be iffy when it comes to newcommers(just a word of warning) other than that i dont see to many issues.good luck and welcome to the hobby
Sounds Good

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by LAZARUS
back to my list....i love the bannerfish (aka poor man's moorish idol - heniochus butterfly)...how come i dont hear more people putting that in their list? have folks had success with this fish in 100g tanks?
if they do best in groups of 3 do you think i am pushing it to have 3 as well as my other fish in a 115g? Stock list them becomes:
3 bannerfish
Coral Beauty
Clownfish
Damsel (size of dime)
Yellow Tang
Serpent Star
CBS
Hermits, Snails
LionCrazz, can you tell me more about "trace elements" you mean calcium and ????
Heniochus are definitely a schooling fish, and do extremely better in schools. If you did that stock list, you would no longer be able to stick with monthly water changes, if you ask me. Putting 3 more larger fish in that tank would strain the bioload and you would have to keep up on water changes.
When you do water changes, the salt that you put in the tank contains many trace elements. This is why it is important to do water changes, even when you have no nitrates. Adding a trace element supplement will help replace these elements that the fish use up, but nothing replaces them as well as doing water changes. Some of these elements include: Chlorine, Sodium, Magnesium, Sulphur, Calcium, Potassium, Bromine, Carbon, Nitrogen, Strontium, Oxygen, Boron, Silicon, Fluorine, Argon, Lithium, Rubidium, Phosphorus, Iodine, Barium, Molybdenium, and a list of 60 others. If you are interested in knowing all of them and how much of each is in natural sea water, just let me know and I will post em for you.

 

[mikeyjer]

The list looks fine to me, I have seen people keeping just one Heniochus and do just fine. They are schooling fish though! When I used to have 3 together, one was the bully and picks on the other two, but when they're not fighting, they swim together in a line and flutter around the rocks. It was a pretty sight!! We're wanting to get'em again when we get another tank setup, can't have'em right now because we have corals....They don't seem to bother soft corals though, but you never know.... :happyfish

 

[lazarus]

thanks all.....i am now less enthusiastic about bannerfish since i learned they can pick on corals (y'all probably knew that all along...)
but i have 115g and lots of running room in my tank since i built up the LR to run down the middle, leaving swim lanes on each side.
can anybody recommend another fish that does well in a school of three? how about 3 yellow tangs? i have one already and he is doing great....and plan to keep my bioload VERY low.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by unleashed
the biggest red flag i see right now is your serpant star .i suggest staying clear on that one.i used to keep them without issues but as they grow larger so does their appetite and they will eventually eat smaller fish(found this out the hard way)

There are well over 2200 species of brittlestars (aka serpenstars), several dozen in this hobby and of them ONE is a known predator in the WILD and therefore in our tanks as well. There are relatively few known predators in the wild but it is not an area of active research. I have 10 brittle/serpentstars, including 3 green and can't accuse them of anything. Several species are perfectly harmless. This is a blanket statement and not an accurate one, IMO. It depends on the species, the tank, what they are fed relative to the number of cleaners, and their overall food preferences. Many certainly do not get even remotely large enough to eat fish. Avoid the green brittlestar which gets very large, but several others in the hobby are quite fine.
Many animals we choose to keep together pose a risk in some way or another. That is something you take on when you get into this hobby. I would not take a risk, personally, of putting a CBS in with other shrimp. It may work, it may not. That is one specific type of animal and people take the risk all the time.
The species of brittlestar shown (in this hobby would be called a serpentstar), for example, stays small and it would be very difficult for it to take down a fish. You could probably have at least a dozen, IMO in that size tank.

 

[ophiura]

And for bannerfish, sure, they can pick on corals but they look mighty nice (from Monterey bay Aquarium...)

 

[lazarus]

thanks ophiura, you are a great resource. how about some advice on my tang question or other schooling fish? i know there is strong sentiment to give tangs 6 ft of running room, but with the way i set up my tank they have that and more, if you count my racetrack setup as doubling the running room. There is about 50% more room behind my LR as in front of the display as it is a 45 L x 24 inch deep tank.
my current stocklist, now that y'all have weighed in, is to add:
1 Coral Beauty
1 Serpent Star
3 Schooling fish or 2 YT
1 Goby/Shrimp combo
Currently in the tank:
1 Clown
1 Damsel
1 YT
1 CBS
Snails and Hermits
Soft corals
Thanks to all!

 

[ray28576]

Originally Posted by LAZARUS
thanks ophiura, you are a great resource. how about some advice on my tang question or other schooling fish? i know there is strong sentiment to give tangs 6 ft of running room, but with the way i set up my tank they have that and more, if you count my racetrack setup as doubling the running room. There is about 50% more room behind my LR as in front of the display as it is a 45 L x 24 inch deep tank.
my current stocklist, now that y'all have weighed in, is to add:
1 Coral Beauty
1 Serpent Star
3 Schooling fish or 2 YT
1 Goby/Shrimp combo
Currently in the tank:
1 Clown
1 Damsel
1 YT
1 CBS
Snails and Hermits
Soft corals
Thanks to all!
Yellow Tangs should be added to a tank all at the smae time. If you already have one, then it probably will not take kindly to others.

Or so I've read.

 

[ray28576]

Originally Posted by ophiura
And for bannerfish, sure, they can pick on corals but they look mighty nice (from Monterey bay Aquarium...)
Beautiful Pic.