fish suggestions?

[peircer]

I just moved my 75 soft coral reef over to a 125 and it looks really empty. I just can't figure out what to put in it though. I'm not a big fan of the larger fish like full sized angels or tangs. So far I've got:

2 green chromis (having a hard time getting any that stay alive longer than a week)
1 yellow tailed blue damsel
1 flame angel
1 cherub angel (no, they don't fight)
1 lawnmower blenny
2 percula clownfish

once I get my fuge running and a good population of pods going I'll be adding a mandarin dragonnette.

I don't think I'll be having a lot of success with the Chromis, people keep saying they start killing each other off, so I'm looking for alternative ideas. I've seen some pretty cool gobies and firefish, but I don't know about compatability with what I've got already. I was thinking more damsels too, but I'm worried about aggression.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Jojoyojimbi]

2x bannerfish

 

[peircer]

Hmm. Those are quite a bit larger than I had in mind...

 

[xroads]

wrasse too big, other then that maybe anthias

 

[waverz]

How about some tangs?

 

[leeweber85]

I second the tangs. They don't grow that fast from my experience so you really don't have to worry about size unless it's nasos or sohals

 

[lllosingit]

How about a Foxface rabbitish, Good for algae control always out in the open and mine never seem to bother anything...the only downside is that they are venomous

 

[peircer]

Hmm. I think all of the suggestions are good, but I sort of said at the top that I'm not wild about tangs. All the fish I've got already are pretty small. I do like yellow and purple tangs, but I've been kind of put off by their eventual size. You say they get big slowly, but you know, eventually... I like the fox face rabbitfish, I actually saw one at the store tonight, but if I'm getting something venomous, it's going to be a lionfish, but I'm not so experienced that I want to do that just yet.

I've been considering anathias, but I've heard they're difficult to keep. Is this true?

What about firefish, are they too timid to keep with what I've got?

Thanks for replying

 

[DSMpunk]

How about a group of flasher wrasses?

 

[tibbs2]

Flame Hawkfish

Or a pseudochromis

Or how about a basslet

 

[tibbs2]

I wouldn't put firefish in your tank. I think your tank is more on the aggressive side so I'd put a fish in there that can hold it's own. Firefish are pretty timid.

 

[overanalyzer]

firefish are jumpers too. I would look at some basslets - how about some cardinal fish Bangaii or pajama) or an assortment of gobies - some clown gobies or some shrimp gobies. There are always some jawfish that can go in (they can be jumpers too I've heard) and I would also suggest maybe one nice tang that stays out and moves around a lot. Maybe a lime green wrasse or some other unique reef safe type of wrasse....

Lastly - I had a small school of chromis - got six and 5 ganged up on one but then settled down and looked cool!

 

[Modemagic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9958946#post9958946 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by peircer
I've been considering anathias, but I've heard they're difficult to keep. Is this true?

I've had my Pink Square Anthias 'Squishy' for a few months now. When we first got it, it was the typical fish, adjusting to its new home and didn't eat. After a couple of days he decided he was ready to eat. At first he would only take frozen brine shrimp. Now he will also take some minced frozen herbivore mixture but still loves his brine.

He is quite an aggressive eater, often pushing my clowns, coral beauty, and yellow tang out of the way. From everything I have read about them, getting them to eat is key, so before I took one home, I would make sure he eats in the LFS. I however, never had any real difficulty getting him to eat, other then the first few days which I have yet to have a fish NOT go through that. He is a beautiful fish though, and definately gets attention whem people come to visit my tank. He's big enough that you can see him from the street when the PC's are on.

Hope this helps!

 

[peircer]

I'm considering a yellow tang and one or two small ones. I really like that Macneill's Assessor Basslet that tibbs2 showed me. I can't say I've seen one of those anywhere in the stores around here.

I think I'm giving up on chromis. I've bought 9 of them in the last month, and I've only got one. And I got them from good stores too, I got 5 from Pets Playhouse and 4 from SOM. Never had any other fatalities with all my other fish.

So what I'm considering:

Yellow Tang or an Anthias of some kind

Macneill's Assessor Basslet if I can find one
or a Pseudo Chromis or a Royal Gramma

Some kind of gobie/blenny maybe (would they fight with my lawnmower blenny?)



These are great ideas. Thanks!

 

[overanalyzer]

the pseudo chromis is a territorial fish and will chase all other fish away from where he sets up shop - I would caution you on that. as for the blennies v. goby - avoid similar body shapes is a good rule of thumb - but not sure with gobies v blennies...