Fish stocking suggestions...

[SecretiveFish]

Hoping to get some responses over here.....

I am wanting to add one more fish to my 65g aquarium and am looking for suggestions. My biggest concern is peace in the tank! I tried adding a tomato clown, and that turned out to be a huge mistake as he terrorized the firefish. I ended up re-aquascaping the tank and removing a lot of water to get him out and moved to another tank..... I do not want to do that again. This tank has been running ~4 years and is extremely stable.

Current tank residents:
- Melanurus wrasse, male
- Starry Blenny
- Orange Spotted Goby
- Firefish
- Fire Shrimp, large
- Soft corals, leathers and polyps
- snails
- hermit crabs
- sand sifting star
- fromia starfish

Fish I like:
- Swallowtail hawkfish but am concerned that it would eat the fireshrimp
- Flame Hawkfish, same concern as above
- Flame Angel or Coral Beauty but am leaning against as I had a coral beaty that would not stop nipping my leathers.

However, any suggestion you have as long as it is not a hidey fish (i.e. no dusky brotelids!), would be greatly appreciated. I just want to stack the deck in my favor so I don't have to tear my tank apart again!

 

[Mcluett]

What about a different species of clown fish?

 

[DustyReefer]

What about a different species of clown fish?

The tomato you tried is a fairly aggressive species. You'd probably have far better luck with ocellaris clowns. I've never seen either of mine attack anything at all

 

[gmate]

How large is the tank?

 

[jaa1456]

Maybe an Argi angel or flame back. They are known to nip the least. I have never had a problem with my Argi nipping.

 

[SushiGirl]

How large is the tank?

I am wanting to add one more fish to my 65g aquarium and am looking for suggestions.

Are you looking for a swimming fish or another perching fish, or do you not care as long as it doesn't hide?

 

[SecretiveFish]

Are you looking for a swimming fish or another perching fish, or do you not care as long as it doesn't hide?

I like both, but perching fish are definitely fun.

But the main criteria is that I would like a fish that is out at least some of the time and will not pick on existing fish. I have an Ocellaris clown in another tank and was hoping to get something different in this tank (sorry, I should have mentioned that in the original post).

Thanks for the suggestions! Please keep them coming.

 

[SushiGirl]

How about a cardinal? They kinda perch in the water LOL. We have 3 pajamas across 2 different tanks & 1 orbic in another tank. Ours are always out.

 

[SDguy]

Orange line cardinals are nice. They hover... sort of a hybrid between swimming and perching fish

 

[SushiGirl]

You would think I would remember those since we've been looking at them for the 140.

 

[b_newman]

Anthias come in many different colors and are always swimming in the open

 

[68551]

Its a shame you have a sand sifting starfish who probably wiped out the pods or I would suggest a mandarin since your tank has been up for 4 years.
I wouldn't trust any hawkfish with ornamental shrimp, mine is in the sump because he was too expensive to feed shrimp to!!!!

 

[SecretiveFish]

Thanks for the suggestions!

- I really like the pygmy cherub angel, but I am afraid he might pick on the firefish. Also, if he doesn't work out I don't have a tank I could move him to... Do you think this might work out?

- I don't think I am a good candidate for anthias as I only feed once a day.

- I like the idea of cardinals, hadn't really considered them. Could I keep a small group (2-3) of Pajama cardinals or are they like the Kauderns Cardinal which can only be kept M-F or M-F-F? Same question for the orange striped cardinal, can they be kept in a small group (3)? I would be looking at keeping either the pajama cardinals or the orange striped cardinals, not both.

- I had reservations about the hawkfish and looks like my suspicions were confirmed. I will pass.

 

[SushiGirl]

Cardinals are supposed to get along. That said, our remaining Orbic cardinal bullied its slightly smaller counterpart to death about 6 months after we got them. We bought 3 tiny Pajama cardinals to put in the 20 long to grow out for the 140, and the slightly larger one bullied/nipped the crud out of the smaller 2 in the QT tank. When we moved the 2 smaller ones to the 20L, they chase each other often but don't actually nip. Years ago I had 3 in a 38 & they were fine. Definitely get them all the same size at the very least, I've had no luck with one being slightly larger than the others.

The Orange-lined are supposed to be able to be 3 or more, but so are the Orbics & Pajamas LOL.

Another kind we thought about for the 140 are Red-Spot cardinals, they stay really small & look like freshwater Tetras. They're supposed to "school" well in tanks.

 

[SecretiveFish]

UPDATE: Thanks for the suggestions; I really appreciated them. I was all ready to do a small group of orange-lined cardinals, and then I looked at LA DD (always a mistake ). My 65g tank is now home to a Barred Hamlet instead of the cardinals. He is awesome now (although poor guy did not ship well, was not sure if he was going to make it honestly), all injuries from transit are healed, is finally getting used to his surroundings and coming out more and more. He sure made me realize how much my Indigo Hamlet has grown over the last year in one of my other tanks!

I think Hamlets are underrated!