Is this a good fish list for a beginner?

Thanks so much! I'm really not sure about shrimp yet anyway--but I think I'm going to get a yellow tang instead of the Kole--would I add the dottyback before the yellow tang?

 

Good question. Both can be aggressive so you take your chances! Why have you ruled out the Kole?

 

I read that the Kole isn't as hardy as the yellow tang--but as I'm new I could be wrong.

 

Coral Beauty is a "must have" --- right along up there with Sixline...

See: FOTM - Coral Beauty - Oct '07




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And (of course - ) - Sixline Wrasse





See: Pseudocheilinus hexataenia (Six Line Wrasse) - Sept '05 Fish of the Month

I Love My Sixline!

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When comes to fish selection...always plenty of advice here on forum...we each have our own favorites of course...But some species, like above, are almost universally accepted/recommended as great fish for about any tank

 

I've never found that to be the case.

 

I think I will stick with the Kole tang, after all--the yellow tang seems a bit too mean. And a sixline wrasse--cool! Maybe one of those instead of the dottyback. I did make a clear mesh net top for my tank so that nobody jumps out!

 

For a 150g, thats a short fish list. As mentioned before, dottybacks are down right evil when they get bigger. Triggers will eat all of your snails and shrimp, and knock over a lot of stuff looking for them. Kole tangs are not a hardy tang but they sure are pretty. I would look into a powder brown tang over a yellow tang. Yellow tangs are one of the most aggressive tangs, if you do go with a yellow, make sure its the last fish.

When you go to cycle your tank, I would go ahead with 2 small clowns to break it in.

You can also go with more then one tang in that tank, just make you add both of them at the same time.

Look at clown gobies and other fish that dont require a lot of space. When it comes to fish that dont move about the tank much, the general rules on adding fish dont apply. The old general rule was 1" of fish per 5g of what. So in a 150g tank, you can only have 30"s total adult size fish. Well a lot of tangs get over 12"s, so that eats up a big chunk of that. Your small gobies, 1-2" would 5-10g going by that, when they only hang out in about 10"s of tank space. So the general rule is worthless.

IMHO, I would go with about 15 or so fish as long as your have a skimmer rated for 3-4 times your tank volume.

Dont forget a school of 5-7 green chromis...

 

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone! I've got some more thinking to do--decisions, decisions! But really fun and exciting ones!

 

HaHa...geek and I think about same...

If using the frequently recommended rule of 1" of fish per 5 gallons...my tank needs to be close to 300 gallons...

But just don't try for long period of time yet. Add fish or two, wait, keep eye on water params...when completely stable for couple of weeks, then add a couple more, again keeping eye on params.

Doing that testing regularly and frequently is really important when adding fish to that new tank.

Water params will let you know when and if to add more.

Have fun!

 

I concur captain!