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Upgrading Reef Tank: Stocking Ideas for 120 Gallon Cube with Anemone & SPS

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anemone aquarium clean coral corals crew fish green inverts large light marine par reef rock snails sps tang tangs tank tanks top upgrading wanted wrasse
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Smilinteddy

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Have tried posting in other forums but have not gotten any responses. Figuring perhaps you guys might have more insight being surrounded by all your really sweet stock. :D

I am in the process of upgrading from a 46 gallon bowfront to a 36x30 cube tank (which will have a volume of a little under 120 gallons not including the sump). It will be lit by two 4 bulb VHO Tek light fixtures.

The current inhabitants of the 46 that will make the move are:

- Magnificent Anemone (Heteractis Magnifica)
- Black Occy clown
- Starry Blenny
- 3" Tridacnea Crocea
- Large Acro colony
- Couple of Frogspawn branches
- Assorted Mushrooms attached to LR and substrate.

For the new tank I want to showcase the anemone, and want to do more SPS, so I may do something with the Frogspawn and shrooms (donate, trade, sell, etc.)

I am thinking for aquascaping doing two or three outcroppings of rock (tallest having anemone probably), with open swimming space between (the depth of the cube tank should make that look cool)

I am trying to figure out some other livestock options that will work in this tank. Fish-wise, all I know is that I want a school of chromis, but I am trying to think of a "showpiece" fish.

I was thinking something like a Harlequin Tuskfish, but hear they are hit or miss in reef tanks.

Any stocking or aquascaping ideas would be much appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Well, I do think your plan of a relatively "open" aquascape is a great one - the tank footprint should be large enough to make that work.

Your plan to feature the anemone at the top of one of these "patch reefs" should work well - you've picked a species of anemone that should do exactly that.

Chromis might be workable, but you do need to be a little careful with them - the common green Chromis are relatively unaggressive damselfishes, but they can still be quite territorial as they grow. They rarely exhibit schooling behaviour in our tanks for very long...usually by the end of a year or two, each Chromis has staked out a territory for itself and vigourously defends it from all the others. If the tank isn't large enough to offer a territory to each Chromis, the weakest individuals are generally driven from the area or killed until there's enough space for the remainder.

As to Harlequin Tusks, they are generally quite safe with coral...but a significant threat to mobile inverts. If you'll be happy with an aquarium without shrimp, crabs, or snails, it's a beautiful show fish.

If you're looking for other options, you might consider a pair of one of the Genicanthus species of angels (see this link for photographs and information) or perhaps a pair of pyramid or Zoster's butterflies, which are safe with corals and invertebrates. I have male and female Genicanthus bellus angels and Pyramid butterflies in stock pretty much all the time, with other species coming and going.

If you feel like pushing the envelope a bit further, there are other angelfish and butterflies we can try - since you're planning a SPS and anemone only tank, many typically non-reefsafe species would be quite safe for you.

Other options to ponder would be wrasses - there are a whole host of beautiful wrasses for the reef aquarium. I've got a fantastic wrasse book by Kuiter here at the shoppe I'd be happy to look through with you if you'd like some additional ideas.
 
#3 ·
Just in case there is a question, Dave is the Assistant Manager of Choice Aquariums, and one of the owners. He has been with the company since it was a collection of drawings on paper.

I saw this post on my Blackberry while driving home from Grand Rapids, and I was looking forward to answering it...I was going to suggest the Pyramids too!:cool:

Wayne
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Thanks much for the replies. Exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

I'm not sure what direction I want to go as far... I mean going for one or two larger fish, or perhaps a bunch of smaller ones? I know there are tons of little wrasses that would be great, but they can be territorial with conspecifics? In a large enough tank would they spread out and not bug each other? I had a six-line that terrorized any other type of flasher wrasse I tried to introduce...

I do love those harlequin tuskfishes... with the absence of snails and crabs, what sort of clean up crew would I be able to utilize?
 
#6 ·
Smilinteddy said:
I do love those harlequin tuskfishes... with the absence of snails and crabs, what sort of clean up crew would I be able to utilize?
Click to expand...
With a specimen like a tuskfish, your best bet is a clean-up crew that is highly adaptable, and readily available, called Smilinteddy. Go easy on yourself and don't overfeed, and two other things....water change, and water change.-devil

Wayne
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Heh, I suppose the trade off of extra maintenance so that I can keep a tuskfish... not that bad.

Those Pyramid butterflies look pretty sweet though. I was reading a bit about them on the wetweb link dave provided. It says they need to be kept in small groups, or at least a pair. How many would be a good number in a tank this size? It says they like open swimming area, which makes them a good fit for my multiple outcropping aquascape plan, but are they like tangs that do better with straight shots of swiming area so that narrow tanks are better? Or will the cube be o.k. for them?

Would something like a Blue Palette Tang be able to do o.k. in a tank of this footprint or would it be better off in a longer tank?

BTW that is a sweet lookin wrasse. How big is it/do they get?

Sigh, I guess this is the beauty of waiting to set up a new tank... you get to ponder the myriad livestock possibilities. But I have learned that planning and research are DEFINITELY the way to go.

Your help and advice is much appreciated.
 
#9 ·
If the pyramid butterflies appeal to you, I would suggest a pair. They're not particularly aggressive towards conspecifics - they wouldn't kill off a additional fish, but it's a species that naturally occurs in pairs. I agree that it would be a near-perfect fish for your planned aquascape. To answer your question directly, no, this fish is not like a tang in its swimming requirements...the pyramid butterfly is a very sedate swimmer. They'll be cruising in and around your rockwork all day, but they do not need the swimming space of a tang. Your aquarium will be excellent for a pair.

I would suggest avoiding the palette tangs - they simply get too large and are too active for your planned tank. I would personally recommend at least an 8' by 4' footprint for a palette tang.

The wrasse Wayne posted is an African Radiant Wrasse - Halichores iradius. That photograph is of the full-grown adult in our back 180G reef tank here at the store - they will reach 4-5in.

The sixline family of wrasses (Pseudocheilinus species) are the exception, not the rule for wrasse territoriality. Most wrasses are much less aggressive. Those in the fairy and flasher families (Cirrhilabrus and Paracheilinus species, respectively) stay fairly small (most are about 3in as adults) are quite easygoing - two dominant males of the same or very similiar species will fight, but that's about all the aggression you'll see from them. They are also planktivores, meaning that they are among the safest fishes with coral and mobile inverts.

The Halichores wrasses are also safe with coral, but can be a threat to small crustaceans as they grow - that adult male Radiant Wrasse pictured is in an aquarium with several peppermint and cleaner shrimp, but he'd snack on something like sexy shrimp or anemone shrimp.

As to planning and research - in my opinion, that's the single most important lesson to learn in this hobby!
 
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W.Oliver
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