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Offline Warhawk937

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Fish stocking questions
« on: October 15, 2018, 10:17:23 »
I’m going to be stocking up on fish this winter and would like to do it in one or two purchases. The tank has been up and running for almost a year. 
Current fish:
Melanarus wrasse
Fox face
A pair of clowns
Pick spot goby
3 chromosomal

My questions: additional fish
I would like to add a yellow/ or green coris wrasse or both
3 or 4 fairy wrasse
Mystery wrasse
Flame angel
A couple of tangs. Yellow, kole and hippo
 And my goat: moorish idol  and copper banded butterfly
 Any advice would be appreciated


Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2018, 13:07:26 »
ummmm.....tank size?

Offline Warhawk937

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2018, 14:38:45 »
75g

Offline redtigeroh

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2018, 15:05:45 »
Do you have a lot of rock work for the wrasses to hide in and hunt on?  Wrasses might become aggressive with other wrasses if the hunting areas are small.  Some people keep many wrasses together and do not have problems, but others watch them pick each other off one by one over time.  You will want deeper sand beds for the wrasses to burrow into at night, but if you already have a Melanarus wrasse you know the drill.

I would highly recommend against the Moorish Idol (it's your goat for a reason), unless you are very experienced.  This fish will often die in a couple of weeks or less, because of improper care.  Their feeding habits are also not reef safe.  Their wild diet consists of sponges, many types of algae, sps coral polyps, softy polyps, and even some LPS corals.  This is one of the most difficult fish to get to eat in the home aquarium.  So if you do decide you absolutely have to have it, make sure you get one that is eating prepared foods and use that exact same food to feed it.  It's not impossible, some are keeping these alive, but most hobbyists that have tried, have failed with this one.

The flame angel is a very hit or miss species, if you are keeping a reef tank.  If this is fish only, then it shouldn't be a problem.  Are you planning to keep coral?  The flame angel, moorish idol, and some of those wrasses are not necessarily reef safe.

I really like the Copperbanded Butterfly, but this is a with caution fish in a reef tank.  It will definitely eat some coral, but it will also keep your aptasia and majano population under control.  If you have a thriving reef with a lot of coral growth, then you might not mind some pairing back of the coral.  If you are just starting a reef, then you might want to hold off on this fish, until your reef is more established.  It's also important to add this fish before the tangs you mention, as their aggressiveness toward a new tank mate might kill the gentle copperband.  I had one harassed until it died by a very aggressive yellow and black chromis.
« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 15:22:56 by redtigeroh »

Offline Warhawk937

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2018, 17:24:47 »
Thank you so much for thei insight   I will definitely not put in a moorish idol is the wrasse I have now aggressive towards fairy wrasse ?   

Offline redtigeroh

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2018, 19:32:44 »
The Melanurus wrasse is sometimes aggressive toward other wrasses.  I think this is mostly related to the amount of hunting areas they have.  Wrasses will feed off the live rock throughout most of the day, and then they burrow in the sand or hide in rocks through the night.  When other similar fish, especially wrasses, feed on the same things in the same areas, it is highly likely the more aggressive wrasses would attack or at least run off these other fish.  I am linking a forum post on Reef2Reef on this topic:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/male-melanurus-getting-aggressive.327961/

My melanurus wrasse was aggressive toward my six-line wrasses.  However, the dominate six-line ended up killing the other two six-line wrasses.  So I have some experience with aggressive wrasses myself.

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2018, 20:41:14 »
I have a very large Melanarus and a small 6-line. They pay no attention to each other at all. I also have a cleaner wrasse. They all get along well.

Offline CoralBeauties

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2018, 22:17:10 »
I would think twice about putting any shrimp in with the wrasse.  They are known to eat shrimp for a snack.  All my shrimp came up missing when I had the melanarus. I was able to keep an idol for 3 years but not sure that I would take another one from the ocean with only a few years of life in captivity.  Not fair to the fish and nature.  I currently have a copperband and love the fish.  I had to try several before I got one that survived and eat frozen foods.  It is a great fish and will get right in there and feed with my large tangs.  Lazy's Coral House is hesitant to order them because their survival rate is so poor.
Jeff

Offline Warhawk937

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #8 on: October 16, 2018, 12:27:19 »
I love my melenarus but he had one expensive food bill for the first month.  I'm now only have one hermit left we call him lone survivor.

Offline Miles

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Re: Fish stocking questions
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2018, 12:32:50 »
I would suggest adding all tangs at the same time, this will help diffuse aggression between them. I have successfully introduced tangs to other tangs in the past but it usually results in the new guy getting beat up for a few days.

 

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