Stocking a 72 gallon Bowfront

[lcaldwell85]

Hey guys! I'm finally to the point with live rock and base rock that I can continue stocking my tank, and I was hoping for some colorful (I'm going for real rainbows here!

) suggestions. Thus far I have a pair of mated false percula clowns, a single green chromis, and a coral beauty. There's also twenty blue legged hermit crabs, five nassarius snails, and two peppermint shrimp. My substrate consists of an agrigate sandband beneath a large bag of SeaFlor crushed coral and shell! After my tank has established a year I will be adding a psychedelic mandarin.
What's some of your favorite fishy additions to a seventy two gallon size restriction?
Thanks!

 

[mr. limpid]

I hate to be the first to say it but nicks the Mandarin. you need a 100+ with tones of LR and fuge. So you have orange, green and purple. You need, yellow, blue and red. Yellow: lemonpeel or Yellow Angel(last), Blue: Leopard Wrasse Red: Dispar Anthias or Long Nose Hawkfish.

 

[lcaldwell85]

Ooo... I'm really partial to the male leapord wrasse, it's a very pretty fish. I've heard mixed reviews on the mandarin. My LFS I've been going to for over a year now has one in a 55 gal bow front corner tank. But I think he pretty regularly doses his water with copepods and has small rubble piles built up out of live rock that he places food in as well. I think he's using this as a hiding spot for them to replenish themselves without being consistently on the buffet, so to speak. The mandarin looks fine, it's stomach isn't sinking and it's quite a pretty fish! It doesn't appear to be starving or under any sort of stress. Using this method, would you still say the mandarin is a no go?

 

[mr. limpid]

Yes that is a method to build pod shelters and to make sure you don't have any other fish competing for pods. The wrasse and hawkfish will definitely compete. Most all fish will eat pods.

 

[lcaldwell85]

I forgot one more thing, which I probably should have mentioned in the very beginning. A friend of mine has given me a couple of rocks fragged full of green star polyps. She was concerned about the coral beauty nipping them at first, but "layla"s left them alone and isn't interested. Are all these fish coral safe?

 

[mr. limpid]

Sorry missed the coral beauty, don't add another angel with that one already in the tank. Wrasse is suppose to be, Hawk will eat shrimp, Anthias I never owned one but others put them in there reefs.

 

[lcaldwell85]

Okay, thank you. If you don't mind my asking, I know they say to never mix angels... But how to all these people on youtube have coral beauties mixed with flame angels, and emperors mixed with multiple angels etc.? Is it just that they don't care if they fight, or is the tank large enough to establish seperate territories? I think I might have a problem with my coral beauty, I should have thought it through before adding her so soon but too late now. She's very territorial over the entire bed of live rock. Do you think she'll prove to be an issue in adding new tankmates now? She was the last one added out of the four that I have, but I definitely intend to add more.

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by lcaldwell85 http:///t/391079/stocking-a-72-gallon-bowfront#post_3466576
Okay, thank you. If you don't mind my asking, I know they say to never mix angels... But how to all these people on youtube have coral beauties mixed with flame angels, and emperors mixed with multiple angels etc.? Is it just that they don't care if they fight, or is the tank large enough to establish seperate territories? I think I might have a problem with my coral beauty, I should have thought it through before adding her so soon but too late now. She's very territorial over the entire bed of live rock. Do you think she'll prove to be an issue in adding new tankmates now? She was the last one added out of the four that I have, but I definitely intend to add more.
Yes, both.

 

[btldreef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by lcaldwell85 http:///t/391079/stocking-a-72-gallon-bowfront#post_3466576
Okay, thank you. If you don't mind my asking, I know they say to never mix angels... But how to all these people on youtube have coral beauties mixed with flame angels, and emperors mixed with multiple angels etc.? Is it just that they don't care if they fight, or is the tank large enough to establish seperate territories? I think I might have a problem with my coral beauty, I should have thought it through before adding her so soon but too late now. She's very territorial over the entire bed of live rock. Do you think she'll prove to be an issue in adding new tankmates now? She was the last one added out of the four that I have, but I definitely intend to add more.
In a larger tank, and if the angels have different body shapes (such as the Coral Beauty and Flame), it usually will work. I did it in a 155, but I wouldn't do it in your size tank. My CB was territorial as well, she'd follow a new comer around for a day or two, but never harmed them, it's just part of their nature I think. When adding a new fish, feed the tank and turn off the lights to distract the CB.
I don't recommend a Leopard Wrasse, especially if you're set on doing a mandarin. You'll have a hard time supporting one, definitely don't recommend trying both. Pods are the leopard wrasses main diet as well. My Leopard wrasse spends all day hunting the rocks for pods just like my mandarin does.
Yellow: Yellow Assessor, Midas Blenny, FoxFace Lo
Red: Resplendent Anthias (a small group of 3 would work well in your setup), or a flasher or fairy wrasse, or red firefish (don't add these if you do a midas, the midas will harass them)
Blue: neon goby, flasher or fairy wrasse

 

[lcaldwell85]

Thanks for all the info! I'm a big fan of the fairy wrasse, beautiful fish! I will google the rest of your suggestions and take them into consideration!