im trying to plan out my 95 gallon, help?

[YumSaltWater]

I am buying a 95 gallon in july.
i know that is a ways away but i am saving and planning early to hopefully get some nice stuff and make my tank as stellar as possible.
so im not sure how many fish i can put in a 95, i have only been working with my 24 aquapod. so here is a tennative list, please let me know what you think. dont be mean, im here to learn and make mistakes about what goes in.
so here we go!

2 orange percs
1 hippo tang
1 yellow tang
3 anthias
2 black clowns
1 small lemark angel
1 firefish
1 scribble angel
1 green mandarin
2 scotts fairy wrasse
2 bengaii cardinals
3 blue chromis
1 flame hawkfish

that makes 21 fish.
this will be a reef tank so i am avoiding things that might eat stuff (heard a scribble angel would be no problem).
oh and one specific question, is a 95 gallon too small for a powder blue tang? would it be too territorial?

anyway like i said tenntative.
but let me know! how does this sound?
too much? too little? any fish that come highly recommended??
the tank is 95 gallons
125lbs live rock and very established.
all the skimmers, sumps and so forth.
it is coming from a good friend who has had it running a long long time.

thanks for your help!
trying to plan early!

Alex

 

[mps9506]

I would only choose one of the angels, preferably the lamarck if you are doing a reef. And knock one of the tangs out IMO. You may also run into issues with the flame hawk eating the gobies or chromis's and definately any shrimp you would want to add. You may also run into issues with two pairs of clowns.
Keep in mind the fairy wrasses, and anthias need lots of food.

 

[aquaman3680]

If you want to keep any shrimp i would say NO on the hawk! I had a flame hawk and i added 5 peppermint shrimp and literally in 5 seconds he ate all of them! Also being it is a reef i would not add any angel! I hate them in reefs! I have had a flame hawk and a coral beauty which are susposed to be the most reef safe and both picked mainly at SPS!

Matt

 

[aquaman3680]

Also only add one pair of clowns, clowns dont mix well! I have one saddleback and 2 percs and the saddleback abuses the crap out of them! They both have battle scares!

Matt

 

[michael_cb_125]

I have a 100 gallon reef tank. i will only have a total of 7 fish. I would rather have a few fish that I really like and great water, than alot of fish and poor water. the fewer the fish the easier it will be to keep stable water parameters. Right now I have a powder blue tang, exqusite wrasse, lyretail anthia, two spotted cardinals. I am getting a blue spot jawfish and a three banded clown. I would rather have very healthy corals than many fish. But this is just my opinion. Good luck with your new addiction.... I mean reef.

 

[YumSaltWater]

haha ok then the hawkfish is definately out because i love my shrimp.
ill ditch the orange clowns (the blacks are coming with the tank hence free.)
i have the lemark and he hasnt messed with any of my coral but i will nix the scribble (dont want two in a tank anyway.)


you have a powder blue tang in a 100 have you had any problems?
i would love to have one in my 95.

 

[mps9506]

Lamarck Angel should be fine in there. Although have heard one person say they had an issue with their male Lamarck starting to munch on brains... I haven't done much reseach myself on them, but typically they are advertised as reef safe. I would say it is about as common as a tang starting to munch on corals. Anything can happen.
PBT should be fine in a 95, but they are bossy and territorial and may not play well with others. I would add it last and after it has been QT'ed because they are Ick MAGNETS.

 

[michael_cb_125]

I love my PBT. He shoud be fine in a 95. But as mps9506 said they are territorial. As long as your water is good and you dont have temp swings they really dont have too many ICK problems. They have alot of personality, but can be mean to new arrivals.

 

[YumSaltWater]

scratch that powder blue tang i really want an achilles.
would that work in a ninety five?
could that be paired with a yellow tang?
watcha think?

 

[lcstorc]

Achilles is a different body style than the yellow so you should be ok there. I would try to get as close to the same size as possible and add them together. They should be fine then.
Your fish list is rather long for that size tank. I would serously reconsider and work with a much smaller list. Also you should really hold off on the mandarin until you have had the tank set up for at least several months. They live off of copepods and even with moving the established tank it is going to take some time for the population to grow big enough to support the fish.

 

[YumSaltWater]

yeah i am modifying the list as we speak.
i think it is a little lengthy.
but i plan to add slowly and make decisions as i go.
im flexible, just because it is on the list doesnt mean it goes in especially if i think it will be harmful to the overall enviornment.
the tank has been running with nothing but rock and two black clowns now for, i couldnt give you the exact time, but more than 6 months i believe.
according to the girl im buying it from the tank is crawling with them.
im excited to hear that an achilles and yellow would work together they are probably my two favorite tangs.

 

[michael_cb_125]

I have heard that the achellies tangs are very difficult to care for. But then agin Ive heard the same about powder blue tangs. I would talk to some people that hace them before getting one. But they are very neat looking fish.

 

[YumSaltWater]

yeah not even getting the tank until july so lots of time to do research.
here is an entirely new topic/idea.
i went to my parents house and completely forgot that i have a 50 gallon tank (i used to house a ball python in it).
I am trying to think of someway to put it to use instead of having it sit around or trying to sell it.
Might sound a little crazy but could it be turned into a refugium?
95 gallon tank with a 50 gallon refuge?
might make for some amazing water quality?
i don't know....doable? opinions?

 

[kimoy]

first...that 50 gal tank that you have is a goodsize for a refugium. the bigger the better.
second...dump the blue chromis (their evil - if you want a schooling fish go with the anthias), hawkfish, scribble, one pair of clown, and the rest is a cherry pick on which one's you like most.
if you decided to keep a PBT add it last.
you can see on my signature that i have a lot of fish in my tank but i managed to keep my water param to check by the help of an oversized skimmer and my feeding is 3-4 times a week.
amd you also want to consider setting up a plenum - it helps keep you water reading at a level.

 

[michael_cb_125]

I have a 45 gallon sump/refugium. And another 10 gallon refugium all on my 100 gallon reef tank.

 

[YumSaltWater]

and do you just fill it with chaeto?
does it do a lot for your water quality??

 

[lcstorc]

Fuges are great. I have a 29g fuge with a 4 inch sand bed, lots of live rock and several types of macro, Really you can put just about anything in a fuge but generall you want macro to feed of the trates and phos and you want a good place to reproduce pods. It can be any size you like. The bigger the better of course since it is also adding water volume to the system which again helps keep it stable. Just have a low flow going through it, a light that you run either 24/7 or when the tank lights are out. That is about all there is to it.