Looking for a centerpiece fish

R

rpc07

New member
I have a Red Sea max E170 which is a 24" cube and I am looking to add my last fish but I want it to be something that pops. I have attempted a flame angel and it nipped my acans. I'd love to add a potters angel but again I am on the fence since I have a good amount of lps.

The sunburst anthia cought my eye last time I was at my lfs. The thought of adding a small juvenile tang (kole or tomini) crossed my mind but I don't really want to catch it a re home it when it starts to out grow the tank plus it isn't exactly fair to the fish so I have crossed that off the list.

Here is my current stock list :
Pair of false perc clowns
Flasher wrasse
Trio of purple fire fish

Any suggestions are welcome.
 
I would add a toby puffer. Great looking, great with other fish, cool personality, generally good with most corals.

lg-39853-puffer.jpg


Another great fish would be a flame hawkfish, tonnes of personality.

Flame-Hawkfish.jpg
 
Any of the small angels are hard to beat for a centerpiece fish in a smaller tank. You could try another flame angel again or the potters angel. I've had some that would nip and others that did t bother anything. Usually coral nipping is a sign of being under fed though.
 
I'd skip the angels and puffer (even though I love them) expessially if you like your corals

I think you could do a flame hawk or a shrimp/goby combo for a bottom dweller along with one other 'center piece' fish.

The flame hawk would be the aggressor of the two (shrimp/goby or hawkfish)

I like the sunburst idea as it is peaceful and would go with your purple firefish. Only thing is they can be tough to keep. I'd ask your LfS how long they had it. Also ask to see it eat. I probably wouldn't touch it if they've had it under two weeks.

Question is do you want something that swims around or stays in generally one location?

Stays in one location I would say cardinals (pajama), the sunburst.

Moves around I maybe would do another wrasse pending on what your flasher is.

Good luck


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ThRoewer said:
Pictures of the tank would help.
What inverts and corals are in there?
Click to expand...
Inverts are a mix of snails, sand sifting conch about 6 or so Halloween hermits and a small fromia star. As far as corals it's pretty well mixed from acans, zoas, Acro's, a scoly and open brain on the sand. The tank is around 6 months old so corals are smaller and just starting to grow out.

Dkuhlmann said:
Midas blenny is another good choice. Great fish and will become a tank favorite.
Click to expand...
I had a flame tail blenny that I had to remove it was nipping at my lps but I'll look into the Midas.

RyanSweatt2004 said:
Any of the small angels are hard to beat for a centerpiece fish in a smaller tank. You could try another flame angel again or the potters angel. I've had some that would nip and others that did t bother anything. Usually coral nipping is a sign of being under fed though.
Click to expand...
I'd love to do another dwarf angel I'm just a nervous. And the flame wasn't underfed I feed heavy and dose nopox.

RDtrack said:
I'd skip the angels and puffer (even though I love them) expessially if you like your corals

I think you could do a flame hawk or a shrimp/goby combo for a bottom dweller along with one other 'center piece' fish.

The flame hawk would be the aggressor of the two (shrimp/goby or hawkfish)

I like the sunburst idea as it is peaceful and would go with your purple firefish. Only thing is they can be tough to keep. I'd ask your LfS how long they had it. Also ask to see it eat. I probably wouldn't touch it if they've had it under two weeks.

Question is do you want something that swims around or stays in generally one location?

Stays in one location I would say cardinals (pajama), the sunburst.

Moves around I maybe would do another wrasse pending on what your flasher is.

Good luck


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Click to expand...

I will check out the sunburst next time I'm at the lfs. I'm also going to look into the hawk fish.

I appreciate all the suggestions.
 
Well... A flasher wrasse would be your best bet. Uber-pretty, sparky personality and peaceful w/tankmates.
ChoiceAquariums01Carpenters.jpg

-BlueDolphin123:fish2::fish1:
 
My own favorite for that size tank is a yellow watchman, or watchman pair. Personable, bright, and funny. Also the most devoted pair-bond I've ever seen in fish.
 
Tiny Red Sea regal angel. They grow super slow. Many people (in the thread I will say!) have kept regals with success in tanks smaller than yours. Nothing pops like a regal.
 
To me the ideal centerpiece fish in a shrimp-less and rather calm tank would be a Marine Betta (or better 2). Other than eating shrimp they are perfectly reef safe. They usually don't bother any other fish and have not the slightest interest in corals.

My suggestion would be to get tank raised baby bettas from ORA (you may need to contact them as they don't have them listed).

I have right now 2 in a 42 gallon tank, a larger wild one, a smaller tank bred from Sustainable and plan to add a tiny tank raised from ORA as the third.

attachment.php


If the rockwork is right (lots of overhangs and shelves) you will see them all the time.
 

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Just throwing this out there, but this is a 37 gallon tank we are talking about. Some of the fish mentioned seem to need more than that IMO.

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