Help me with stocking my 75 gal please.

Question
Hi John,
My names Austin im 13 years old and i love aquariums. For my birthday this
june im getting a 75 gallon FOWLR marine aquarium. I have been working everything out for months and im really exited. My aquarium would include
90-121 Lbs of live rock a 130 watt light and a AGA model 3 wet/dry filter
along with all the other essentials: heaters,power-heads,protein skimmers
ect. The problem is i dont really know how to stock a saltwater aquarium that
well. I came up with a few that i thought would be ok so maybe you could tell
me if they would work here is one: 1 snowflake eel/1Volitan Lion-fish/ and 1
Foxface Lo.
Another one i thought up was 1 Auriga Butterflyfish or something similar/ 2
tank bred ocellaris clownfish/ and 6 Blue/Green Chromis.
Can you tell me some general stocking rule for FOWLR aquariums? and some
75 gal FOWLR setups that you like or think would be good for a beginner to
saltwater maybe even one that had trigger fish?

Thanks for any help you can give me.
Austin,

Answer
Sounds like you are really prepared for your tank. I love to see young aquarists that know what they are talking about and are not surprised at the fact that a goldfish cannot be kept in a bowl!

I would not keep a snowflake eel and a lion fish together. Both are territorial and you would end up with a dead eel.

The butterfly is beautiful but gets a little too large to be kept with tank mates in this sized tank. I would suggest a smaller butterfly fish like a teardrop butterfly or a dwarf angelfish, like a coral beauty. Otherwise that second list looks good.

Personally my favorite stocking for that tank would be:
3 fuzzy dwarf lion fish (the coolest and cutest fish EVER!)
1 coral beauty angelfish

Those just happen to be may favorite fish and I think that they have great personalities.

As for a general stocking rule I would say about 1 inch per 3 gallons or less. This will give you enough fish room and let the levels stay manageable.

As for a trigger fish, I think that you could get one of the smaller species in there and then get about 5 chromis. That would make for a good balance because you would have the star of the tank (trigger) and the schooling fish to catch the eye.

Now, I have to state a few disclaimers because some of the fish here are dangerous and I do not feel like being in trouble for something:

I am not responsible for anything (harm or otherwise) bridging from the purchase of a toxic (or otherwise) lion fish, a triggerfish that has spines that it can pop out at any moment (or otherwise). The only thing that I take responsibility for is a good time and some cute fish.

Just some legal stuff I had to get through,
John Kliewer



FOLLOW UP:
Actually, in that size tank, a lion fish and an eel will duke it out. They will normally end up injured/dead. Liveaquaria is not always correct as they are trying to sell fish.

Remember, I am not making any money from this. Liveaquaria is trying to make it out rich, and will occasionally "mis-state" information to achieve that goal.