# 125 Gallon Reef Stocking Ideas



## joffems (May 2, 2014)

125 Gallon Reef Stocking Ideas

I'm in the early stages of stocking my 6ft , 125 gallon tank and really undecided on the final fish plan.

A few guidelines so you know where I'm at:
- Tank will be a mixed reef
- I'm new at this and still learning. I'm not really interested in a collection of very expensive fish. If there is a more expensive fishy worth having for it's beauty as a show fish I would consider it near the end of my stocking.

Current Inhabitants
- 1 x Clown (a. ocellaris)
- 1 x firefish
- 1 x melanurus wrasse
- 2 x cleaner shrimp
- Cerith and nassarius snails

Next addition
- 1 x Clown (a. ocellaris) (to replace the one that disappearred)

Future fish options I'm considering
- Tang (one of either yellow, purple, kole, or powder brown)
- Foxface (I have been thinking about this for a while, but I'm leaning towards not getting one and focus on smaller more active fish)
- Anthias (thinking 4 or 5 Lyretail anthias, definitely open to other anthia options)
- Diamond Watchman Goby (relatively new to my list)
- Blenny (maybe a midas or bi-colour. Another option I've recently started considering again)

What do you guys think? Which fish do you love that I should research and consider? If it was up to you, what would you put in the tank? All ideas and feedback are welcome.


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## joffems (May 2, 2014)

I'm going to try and give this one shameless bump. 

It's Friday night, hopefully you're relaxing with your favourite drink in hand. Why not throw a fish recommendation in here while you finish that drink. 

Do you have a favourite salt water fish? If you started a new tank today, which fish would you absolutely have to put in it that I should consider?

What do you think of purple queen anthias? I'm pretty sure they get too big for my 125, but I saw the juveniles at Canada Corals and man those are tempting. One bonus for me is that feeding multiple times a day wouldn't be too big of a deal as I work from home anyway.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*fish pick*

hey there yes it is a fri nite and looked at your list ...
don't know much about anthius fish .
,my favorite fish and a must have in my aquarium is a flame hawk ...
if I could do a do over I would concentrate on slower moving fish so I could try to keep a copperband . as for sand sifters I tried the sandsifting ones and all they did was spit sand on my corals on the sand bed .. my watchmen has decided to make a cave in the back of the tank ,never see him .
when your tank gets established I love my mandarin as well cool looking fish .
good luck and happy fish hunting


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## joffems (May 2, 2014)

tom g said:


> hey there yes it is a fri nite and looked at your list ...
> don't know much about anthius fish .
> ,my favorite fish and a must have in my aquarium is a flame hawk ...
> if I could do a do over I would concentrate on slower moving fish so I could try to keep a copperband . as for sand sifters I tried the sandsifting ones and all they did was spit sand on my corals on the sand bed .. my watchmen has decided to make a cave in the back of the tank ,never see him .
> ...


Thanks. The flame hawk looks pretty neat. Definitely adding it to the list for consideration.


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

Omg,
Are you sure you saw purple Queen anthias and not lyretail anthias? Even the fish gurus at Live Aquaria rate a purple queen as one of the MOST difficult fish to keep alive. I had one for over 18 months until a power outage wiped out my livestock.

My 5' tank has several tangs and a fox face. My DH John and I have different opinions on what he would do now for livestock vs what we have.

With our system running now for 2.5 years it is very hard to add any new fish. You need to get your shy, small and fragile fish in first so they can establish territory. Add your big, faster moving fish last.

So tangs last, if you want to do a combo of smaller and larger fish.

I agree about the hawkfish. Except you have shrimp, but fortunately if you get a small hawk and since the shrimp are already in the tank, you should be fine. But get a lid.

Get a lid. No matter what kind of fish you have. I would say that we hear a fish hit the lid once a day. At one time I found 4 wrasse in my overflow before we got a lid. We lost several to carpet surfing.

Look at dwarf Angels. I love my multibar but it is expensive. For options, consider a coral beauty or flame angel, or a Pygmy cherub. Or Eblei. They stay small and if well fed won't pick on corals.

Anthias are my favs. Currently I have in the large tank several lyretail and a square spot. All of them are agressive. My Hutcherii are very pretty and much more passive. They can handle the tangs no problem.

My small 30 gallon is where I want to keep the smaller anthias, like the purple queens and such. Currently I only I have a golden anthias and a Waitai. They are very difficult to acclimate and the biggest issue seems to be that they are prone to worms, so require a long quarantine, and even then the success rate is low.

So here are my suggestions:
Spotted or magnificent fox face. Not the boring black and yellow ones.
Midas blenny.
Fairy wrasse of all sorts! (Not a six line)
Splendid dottyback
Anthias anthias anthias.........any anthias is a good anthias. Sunset? Square spot, Lori's, red saddle, white bar. There are so many. Lyretail are agressive. Add them last. Always buy females and always at least 2. 3 or 4 is better, cause one will become male anyway.

And get a pearly jawfish. Or even a black cap.


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## twobytwo (Oct 25, 2014)

I have a Red Fairy Anthia which is pretty Peaceful. Dispar Anthias are nice too. I had a Tiger Queen Anthias that I loved till it went missing.

If you want a Hawk but not a flame, look at a longnose. I have one and it has great personality.

With tangs, my Goldrim also is great and recognizes me. I have a new Tomini in QT that I'm excited to see in the display.

I agree with Crayon about a Fairy wrasse... there's lots of cool ones to look for.

Maybe a Ruby Red Dragonette would be neat for you?


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

There is an amazing thread on RC about stocking called "Please check your intended fish purchases here'

There's a fish Guru named Snorvich who was the only guy answering questions in the thread. He has taken an extended break but it's a terrific read even though you can't post your own questions anymore. 
Here is the page with my wish list on it, post # 15628 (that's right. there are over 16000 posts in the thread)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23938408#post23938408

After you read a few pages you will start to see patterns in compatibility and get great stocking ideas...


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## joffems (May 2, 2014)

Crayon said:


> Omg,
> Are you sure you saw purple Queen anthias and not lyretail anthias? Even the fish gurus at Live Aquaria rate a purple queen as one of the MOST difficult fish to keep alive. I had one for over 18 months until a power outage wiped out my livestock.
> 
> My 5' tank has several tangs and a fox face. My DH John and I have different opinions on what he would do now for livestock vs what we have.
> ...


Thanks for all of the tips. I'll definitely read up on all of them and try and see a few in stores to get an idea of what they're like in the flesh.

They anthias at CC were definitely Purple Queen Anthias... at least, that is what the label said. There were about 30, but looks like they're all gone according to the CC website. There were also Lyretails last week.

I already have a lid on the tank using 1/4 clear mesh and window mesh kits. Carpet surfing was a trend that I really wanted to skip.



twobytwo said:


> I have a Red Fairy Anthia which is pretty Peaceful. Dispar Anthias are nice too. I had a Tiger Queen Anthias that I loved till it went missing.
> 
> If you want a Hawk but not a flame, look at a longnose. I have one and it has great personality.
> 
> ...


Fairy wrasses were not on my list before, but I need to check them out. Will fairy wrasses be alright with my Melanurus Wrasse?



fesso clown said:


> There is an amazing thread on RC about stocking called "Please check your intended fish purchases here'
> 
> There's a fish Guru named Snorvich who was the only guy answering questions in the thread. He has taken an extended break but it's a terrific read even though you can't post your own questions anymore.
> Here is the page with my wish list on it, post # 15628 (that's right. there are over 16000 posts in the thread)
> ...


Thanks for the reminder Fesso. I spent a lot of time reading that thread last year and really need to get back to it now that I have my tank up and running.

p.s. Thanks again for the skimmer. It has been fantastic and I'm really happy that I went with CS-1 + Swabbie.


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