I'm not particularly new to the hobby, but I think this sort of stocking question is pretty basic so thought it may be more appropriate here!
I have a 125g display, 175g water volume with a nice big sump and a good refugium. The refugium contains a peppermint (he took a ride down the overflow), some rubble, and a bunch of macro. There is also some isolated hair algae down there.
In the display, I have a mated pair of false percs, 3 cardinals (2 paired up and one exiled), a desjardini sailfin tang, coral beauty, and lawnmower blenny. I was thinking it would be nice to add one more fish to this tank. Everyone is peaceful, even the exiled cardinal has more or less the run of the tank (I haven't been able to catch him to try to rehome him).
I added a mandarin some time ago and he didn't survive. He was in the tank a week or so when I noticed a large abscess on his side. I read it may heal itself, but he died a few days later. I had thought perhaps the little spike on his side had been pulled off when the LFS bagged him for me, as I had read that was pretty common. He was eating fine up (lots of pods) until the hours before his death. Now I wonder if the Lawnmower Blenny didn't attack him. I didn't see any real aggression from the Blenny, but he DID seem 'interested' in the mandarin. But if he attacked, or was at all aggressive towards the mandarin, he did it on the sly. I was intending on getting another mandarin, but now I am not sure since I don't know what caused the death of the first one.
Other thoughts are a wrasse, but I had a beautiful one that jumped during the 2 minutes the tank top was opened during feeding time and couldn't be rescued. There went a gorgeous fish and $80. So I'm a little hesitant in case I get another jumper.
I have thought about a few anthias, a royal gramma, and I love gobies, but worry about my blenny's response to them. I thought about trying to relocate the blenny to the refugium, but without a lot of rock to perch on and some heavy macro in there, it may not be terribly pleasant for him.
Other tank inhabitants (besides a lot of LR, crabs & snails), are lots of various zoos, an toadstool leather, some mushrooms, torch coral, a monti cap, some other random SPS - not a lot. The tank was relocated cross country about a year and a half ago and I haven't invested as much time and money into it as I did my previous setup.
So, what fish would you add? I want to keep a lightish stocking so I'm only thinking of adding one or two.
I want to add some new coral too but am also stuck on what to get. ;-)
I have a 125g display, 175g water volume with a nice big sump and a good refugium. The refugium contains a peppermint (he took a ride down the overflow), some rubble, and a bunch of macro. There is also some isolated hair algae down there.
In the display, I have a mated pair of false percs, 3 cardinals (2 paired up and one exiled), a desjardini sailfin tang, coral beauty, and lawnmower blenny. I was thinking it would be nice to add one more fish to this tank. Everyone is peaceful, even the exiled cardinal has more or less the run of the tank (I haven't been able to catch him to try to rehome him).
I added a mandarin some time ago and he didn't survive. He was in the tank a week or so when I noticed a large abscess on his side. I read it may heal itself, but he died a few days later. I had thought perhaps the little spike on his side had been pulled off when the LFS bagged him for me, as I had read that was pretty common. He was eating fine up (lots of pods) until the hours before his death. Now I wonder if the Lawnmower Blenny didn't attack him. I didn't see any real aggression from the Blenny, but he DID seem 'interested' in the mandarin. But if he attacked, or was at all aggressive towards the mandarin, he did it on the sly. I was intending on getting another mandarin, but now I am not sure since I don't know what caused the death of the first one.
Other thoughts are a wrasse, but I had a beautiful one that jumped during the 2 minutes the tank top was opened during feeding time and couldn't be rescued. There went a gorgeous fish and $80. So I'm a little hesitant in case I get another jumper.
I have thought about a few anthias, a royal gramma, and I love gobies, but worry about my blenny's response to them. I thought about trying to relocate the blenny to the refugium, but without a lot of rock to perch on and some heavy macro in there, it may not be terribly pleasant for him.
Other tank inhabitants (besides a lot of LR, crabs & snails), are lots of various zoos, an toadstool leather, some mushrooms, torch coral, a monti cap, some other random SPS - not a lot. The tank was relocated cross country about a year and a half ago and I haven't invested as much time and money into it as I did my previous setup.
So, what fish would you add? I want to keep a lightish stocking so I'm only thinking of adding one or two.
I want to add some new coral too but am also stuck on what to get. ;-)