fatoldsun
NJRC Member
This is a discussion that morphed from another thread but I figured I may as well start fresh and get some opinions. It’s long – SORRY. I preface this saying I know this area of the hobby (stocking) tends to be a touchy subject and carries with it a lot of strong opinions. I’m not one to buck the system and I am aware of the limitations that this hobby sets in terms of trying to keep something in captivity with deference to doing so humanely and ethically...and having lectured on personal and professional ethics I know these things will mean different things to different people. But I digress, enough about that. I have a bit of a stocking dilemma. I have a 90g display with a 40b sump/refugium. The system is currently home to a single 4” Maroon Clown and a single 4” yellow tang. Otherwise, the tank has 3 small zoa frags, a paly frag, a nice “baseball” sized hammer coral, an RBTA (that’s recently split to a pair) and a CUC including a brittle star and 1 or 2 mythrax crabs, ~150lbs of LR and LS (maybe 3” in the DT, 4.5” in the fuge)
In an effort to strike a balance between my interest in the hobby and keeping my wife and kids interested (i.e., keeping my funding source) I need to have fish first and reef second. In other words, I hope to grow down the road and keep some SPS and a larger variety of coral – who knows maybe I can even swing a bigger tank one day (Fingers crossed) but for now it was time to add some fish (before anymore coral and/or associated equipment upgrades)
Along comes an opportunity. Someone was selling a group of fish on RC – they were in Hypo – presumably due to an Ich outbreak and since I would QT anything I got regardless of where from (LFS, reefer, etc), this didn’t scare me too much. It was a good deal so I thought I would cherry pick my two favorites from the bunch – a 2” blue hippo tang and a 2” coral beauty. I know the Hippos are prone to get Ich, especially when stressed from a move so certainly anything I got from an LFS would almost certainly have a flare-up (I think it’s like the herpes virus for tangs – almost all will carry it). Well with the storm and all last month, there were some delays and by the time I got a proper QT setup, the seller had lost the coral beauty. In fact he also lost a damsel (blue/yellow tail) and a royal gramma. What was left was:
1. the Hippo,
2. a small (<2”) Singapore Angel,
3. a Tomni tang (also <2”)
4. a <1” damsel,
5. a 4.5” foxface,
6-9. and 4 mollies (3 black, 1 albino)
As I saw it, this would be too heavy a bioload for my <130g system but the fish that were still alive seemed stressed and made a knee-jerk reaction and decided to take all of them. I was told that they were at Hypo for 4 weeks (5 if you add the time I lost due to the storm) after any sign of Ich had disappeared. Doing my homework I checked RC and found the seller posted questions about setting up a QT to treat ich and it was from late July so it was consistent with what he said (assuming he set up the QT soon after asking). He told me he started to raise it for me to ease the transition (it was 1.014ish when I got it) so I wanted to be sure that they are healthy and thus I slowly dropped to 1.010 and it has been there since. Will keep the QT there a few more weeks and then raise them back to 1.026 before I slowly start adding some to my DT.
This brings me to my question. If i want to keep the 2 tangs (yes, with my yellow that makes 3 in a 48” tank, cue the gasps
) and the Singapore angel do I have to give up the foxface and the damsel? What about the mollies? I was told they had been at full SW and they are healthy but I’m not sure I’d want to devote the bioload for 4 fish over say a small pair of percs or a goby or wrasse down the road. Anyway, I know I will get some response that may make me uncomfortable but hey I’m asking for opinions so let ‘em fly. I guess that goes for the tang police too - also anyone have any opinion on the mollies? I read that they can be good at algae eating (especially the surface type – hence my thought about the fuge) but I’m not sure if there is any merit to keeping them. Maybe the fry will be a good food source for my Clown and the nems? Is that worthwhile? Is it fair to offer/sell some of the fish given the uncertain history?
In an effort to strike a balance between my interest in the hobby and keeping my wife and kids interested (i.e., keeping my funding source) I need to have fish first and reef second. In other words, I hope to grow down the road and keep some SPS and a larger variety of coral – who knows maybe I can even swing a bigger tank one day (Fingers crossed) but for now it was time to add some fish (before anymore coral and/or associated equipment upgrades)
Along comes an opportunity. Someone was selling a group of fish on RC – they were in Hypo – presumably due to an Ich outbreak and since I would QT anything I got regardless of where from (LFS, reefer, etc), this didn’t scare me too much. It was a good deal so I thought I would cherry pick my two favorites from the bunch – a 2” blue hippo tang and a 2” coral beauty. I know the Hippos are prone to get Ich, especially when stressed from a move so certainly anything I got from an LFS would almost certainly have a flare-up (I think it’s like the herpes virus for tangs – almost all will carry it). Well with the storm and all last month, there were some delays and by the time I got a proper QT setup, the seller had lost the coral beauty. In fact he also lost a damsel (blue/yellow tail) and a royal gramma. What was left was:
1. the Hippo,
2. a small (<2”) Singapore Angel,
3. a Tomni tang (also <2”)
4. a <1” damsel,
5. a 4.5” foxface,
6-9. and 4 mollies (3 black, 1 albino)
As I saw it, this would be too heavy a bioload for my <130g system but the fish that were still alive seemed stressed and made a knee-jerk reaction and decided to take all of them. I was told that they were at Hypo for 4 weeks (5 if you add the time I lost due to the storm) after any sign of Ich had disappeared. Doing my homework I checked RC and found the seller posted questions about setting up a QT to treat ich and it was from late July so it was consistent with what he said (assuming he set up the QT soon after asking). He told me he started to raise it for me to ease the transition (it was 1.014ish when I got it) so I wanted to be sure that they are healthy and thus I slowly dropped to 1.010 and it has been there since. Will keep the QT there a few more weeks and then raise them back to 1.026 before I slowly start adding some to my DT.
This brings me to my question. If i want to keep the 2 tangs (yes, with my yellow that makes 3 in a 48” tank, cue the gasps
) and the Singapore angel do I have to give up the foxface and the damsel? What about the mollies? I was told they had been at full SW and they are healthy but I’m not sure I’d want to devote the bioload for 4 fish over say a small pair of percs or a goby or wrasse down the road. Anyway, I know I will get some response that may make me uncomfortable but hey I’m asking for opinions so let ‘em fly. I guess that goes for the tang police too - also anyone have any opinion on the mollies? I read that they can be good at algae eating (especially the surface type – hence my thought about the fuge) but I’m not sure if there is any merit to keeping them. Maybe the fry will be a good food source for my Clown and the nems? Is that worthwhile? Is it fair to offer/sell some of the fish given the uncertain history?
