36G bowfront stocking?

Just in case the wife agrees and wants to use this tank for Saltwater down the road, I want to put my idea out there first. Thinking a FOWLR and live sand substrate. A 36G bowfront is 30x15x18. I tried to go simple, hardy, non-aggressive for a nice little community. Plus a variety of shapes, colors, and behaviors to make everyone (esp. me) happy. As I am not super familiar with Saltwater as much as Freshwater please give me feedback.


Stock Plan: (everything between ~1.5-3")
(1) occelarus clown (no special variant)
(1) purple firefish (realize this may reach 4")
(1) banghaI cardinal
(1) blue/green chromis
(1) gold assessor basslet (these guys aren't cheap)
(1) hi-fin red banded goby with red banded pistol shrimp

inverts:
(5) trochus snails
(5) nassarius snails
(1) margarita snail
(1) bumblebee snail
(1) red legged hermit crab
(1) scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp
(1) peppermint shrimp
(1) emerald crab


BTW, are there any low-light corals that are peaceful, compatible, and look alright? I know I might be asking for a lot there.

 

Hi, any of the soft corals would be fine-at least most and I love mushrooms!
I like your stock and I guess you are aware that one of my saltwater tanks is a 36 gallon bowfront, the seahorse tank!
Good luck and I hope you do it!

 

I haven't officially started my Saltwater setup yet but I'm getting very close to being ready. Not familiar with them all but I like your stocking plan and it's very close to what I am planning for stocking my 46gal bowfront after I've finished buying all the gear. Good luck with your venture into Saltwater and I'm looking forward into seeing your progress

 

would a 6-line wrasse be pushing it, or doable?

 

Not sure but my stock plan for my 46gal was/is

(2) occelarus clown (would like a black and an orange but now am really starting to like some different species and they can't mix. I really fell in love with a maroon gold band at my LFS but he's gone)(1) purple firefish
(1) banghaI cardinal (maybe 2)
(1) 6 line wrasse (after looking around I kinda like some of the fairy wrasses better)
(1) goby like the watchman goby but am undecided

I'll have to do some reading still. I think maybe, the firefish might be a goby. I cannot remember. I did have a coral beauty or a flame angel on my list but I intend on having corals later on and have read that angels are a no no with corals. I haven't really looked at a cuc as of yet. Was mostly just getting my fish stocking ideas ready. I have asked pretty much about your stocking idea before and was told it was ok. Even with the wrasse. The only thing in your fish list I didn't have when I asked was the chromis or the basslet. Yesterday while at my LFS tho I saw a multI colored anthia that I really liked so I think I may read up on them aswell for myself. I think your 36 gal and my 46gal are almost the same size aside from depth. I'll check in a sec and edit my post with the size of my 46gal originally I only wanted the orange clown but wanted something different when people saw my tank so they'd be like "hey you have a b/W Nemo? "

46gal size is
36-3/8" L X 16-3/8" W X 20-7/8" H

I thought the tanks were closer in size but didn't realize that yours was only 30" long I still think your list is doable but that's just my opinion and I'm yet to start my tank even. I would just make sure maybe you have a good filtration setup with skimmers etc and stay on top of WC so that your bio load doesn't get too heavy too quickly. Introduce your fish slowly over a period of time and probably add the wrasse last

 

thanks, and good luck with yours!

Oh Nemo, can't get away from that movie. The kids should really appreciate that dentist keeping a Moorish Idol alive in his tank. I just want to try a clown cause I feel it's a fish most Saltwater owners have experienced, and in a good way. Their colors are also nice and different than the rest of my stock. Plus, other "normal" people will recognize them. And now that everyone in my life is having kids, this will make the kids excited too.

 

Lol exactly why I wanted a Nemo. I really wanted a blue hippo tang most (Dory) but bought my tank, light and stand on an impulse buy then started my research only to find that the 46gal was too small. Even my oldest son says the same thing about Gill (moorish idol) Still I'm undecided on my clownfish. I really loved that baby maroon gold band but he's gone. And like I said, I would like a "regular clown" but also something different so my only thoughts are the b/W and the orange and white variant. Of course one will be named Nemo. I won't be able to get away from that lol. But the b/w one if I do go that route will be Oreo. Lol so Oreo and Nemo. I'm almost ready to start. I have my ro/dI coming Monday and 50 lbs of marco dry rock probably on Wednesday then all I really need is to get my 60-80 lbs of substrate and I'm ready. Aside from gloves, food and towels. How far along are you? I also plan on getting a few small pieces of LR to seed the dry rock but I've got all the time in the world to get this thing up and running. I'm having surgery on the 6th and won't be very mobile for 3-6 months so I may hold off starting up. Ohh yeah, I still need to set up a quarantine tank aswell. My plan for that is to just buy a 10 gal starter aquarium that comes with heater and filter etc. I'll ditch the carbon pad in the filter and hang it on my display tank for awhile and let it absorb some bb then just transfer it back to the 10 to populate it when needed.

 

oh, sadly this isn't happening anytime soon. I keep hinting to the wife that we cooooould do Saltwater for the next tank. Then she says she would need her sea horses and all I hear in my head is "whomp whomp"...

This would be my ideal starting Saltwater tank. Then I can eventually move on to lionfish, eels, dragonets, etc...you know, the crazy stuff.

 

I used to have a dishwasher. We broke up tho so now if I want a sw tank I get a sw tank lol. Really I expected it to take me way longer to get all my gear but being single has its advantages lol. I still think it's going to be awhile before I actually start running things. I wanna have everything I need so no snags down the road and do lots of research in the meantime