[MikeReefxx]

Hey everyone. I'm looking at buying my dads old 180 gallon tank and working on getting it set up over the next year or so. I am trying to get an idea for stocking of fish and how this list sounds to everyone based on the tank size. I also have questions about what lighting would be appropriate for this size of tank. This is what I was thinking: Mixed reef with lots of zoas and softies LPS, and a section of SPS. I have experience with reefing before as I had the 180 setup about 5 years ago, also had a 90 softy reef, and currently have a biocube 29 nano reef.

Fish:

School of 5-7 Blue Green Reef Chromis
Small school of 4 lyretail anthias (1 male three female)
3 clown gobies
2 Occelaris Clowns
1 Firefish
1 Royal Gramma
1 Sixline or other Reef Safe Wrasse
1-2 tangs I love the hippo, naso, sailfin, yellow, achilles, and powder blue (pointers in the right direction would be great)
1 Yellow Watchmen Goby
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Flame Angel

I guess let me know what you think and also I'm leaning towards getting Metal Halides but don't really know the first thing about them or what I should be looking for price-wise. Any suggestions would be great!

 

[Chad]

Depending on what tangs you end up with you are shooting for 125 gallons to 250 gallons.

 

[richkor]

List looks pretty good. Not familiar enough with Clown Gobies specifically, but most gobies, you want to individual or mated pairs. Not sure if Clowns are different. For the same reason, be carefule with the clown gobies, LMB, Watchman Goby, and the firefish. May have some aggression issues at the bottom.

On the tangs, I'd probably skip the achilles in the 180, but everything else would be ok, though I think the hippo and naso do better in even larger tanks, they'd be fine in 180g as there aren't really any conflicting fish in the list. Whatever you do for tangs, be sure to add them last with the most aggressive tang being added last. You may be able to add at the same time. I'd also be sure to get two different genus to avoid any fighting.

Last note is on the flame angel. They have a reputation for nipping at some corals and clam mantles. Some do, some don't. FYI.

 

[Chad]

The yellow clown goby is one of my favorite fish.

 

[richkor]

Very cool little guys (thanks for the link). They'd be fine in the same tank based on the information. tcamos, question for you...Are they like dwarf angles when it comes to nipping on SPS, or will they ignore them if fed enough?

Secondly, on a personal note, how would they fare being added to a 175g tank AFTER a tang, rabbitfish, and Radiant Wrasse? Don't mean to thread jack, but need to replace some fish after the power outage. Send me a PM answer, if you prefer. Thanks

 

[Chad]

In my tank they actually seem to benefit the SPS. I have about three dozen SPS colonies and only one goby right now, so he can't do anything to any one colony but he seems to promote growth in the ones he spends more time in. Some of these guys will only eat SPS and are difficult to get one regular food. They seem to love daphnia.

As for adding him...I have kept these guys for several years and have added them with all sorts of fish, even a valentini puffer and no other fish has ever bothered them. Not once. Even my tangs have always left them alone. The only time I ever had trouble was among their own kind or the black clown goby, they don't seem to like them much. In a 175 gallon tank you could easily keep 3-5 of these little guys. If you manage to get a male/female pair they will mate in the aquarium.

 

[MikeReefxx]

Yeah I have one in my nano right now and he is by far my favorite fish! Great personality and always just kind of hanging around checking stuff out. He really brightens up the tank