Open swimming fish that don't hide much?

[DanielJay]

I have a 125 gallon tank in my basement. My current stock of fish is: 4" blue regal tang, 1x yellow tang, 1x yellow eyed kole tang, 1x blue/green chromis and 2x ocellaris clown fish. My fish except for the clowns are frequently hiding if there is movement out in front of the tank. They love to come out when I walk behind the tank to feed them. (They all come out as soon as I push the feed button on my Apex to shut the return pump off.) I want to find a group of good fish that are not timid to hopefully entice the other fish to not hide as much. I want to move my chromis to the 100g sump as he seems to be a bit of a bully.

Suggestions on good fish to add? Considering some captive breed Bangaii Cardinals. (I don't have a mesh net on the top of the tank yet)

Back info on my tank: The tank has been setup/running for 4 almost 5 years. The tank is a 125 gallon 6 ft long tank, has a 50 gallon sump tank right below the display and then a remote 100 gallon stock tank filled with rock/macro algae/ATS. The tank has experienced its ups and downs when my father past away and then got married 4 months later. I just finally got rid of almost all of the MASSIVE amounts of hair algae. Now the bubble algae has started to take its place but working on getting that cut down as well. Coraline algae is everywhere in the tank and is growing at a good rate. I don't have many corals yet but would like to add SPS to the tank once I get my fish stocked the way I want it.

*Before the tang police come out. I know a 125g is not preferred for the Blue Regal tang but it gives me an excuse to get a larger tank once that day comes. Next house I move into will have a 220g tank or larger.

 

[Winwood]

Firefish and dartfish tend to be very outgoing once established. A group of barred dartfish make excellent dithers for other fish to feel secure.

 

[DanielJay]

Would a group of 3 Zebra Barred Dartfish be a good addition?

 

[Japsican]

What about some anthias? They are usually very active fish which add a lot of color.

 

[DanielJay]

I bought 6 Ignitus Anthias 2 years ago. 5 of them died off fairly quickly and the last one just died. Not sure if my large blue/green chromis was a bully and kept them in hiding. I never saw them at all. They hid in the rocks and wouldn't come out except occasionally to eat. I loved the looks of them though. I am considering removing the chromis and trying again. I was also just looking at some wrasses possibly. Thoughts on that?

 

[Japsican]

I've had wrasse that would constantly be out in open water and I've had some just hide in the rocks most of the day and only come out during feeding. The only wrasse that is ever constantly out is my 6 line, swimming around looking for pods.

 

[Dmorty217]

Every fish I own is out in the open constantly, even with only 10 fish currently in my DT with 650lbs of rock. Unless you buy a extremely reclusive fish like a golden angel, most all will be out in the open swimming.

 

[Marshall O]

Keep in mind almost all of the fish mentioned require a completely covered tank (1/4" mesh is ideal imo).

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

 

[Winwood]

Would a group of 3 Zebra Barred Dartfish be a good addition?

Yes, they tend to "hang" with each other, and I've never had any aggression issues between individuals.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Dartfish and wrasses are big time jumpers.

A group of bartletts or squammipinnis anthias would fit the criteria well.

 

[DanielJay]

I don't have a mesh lid on the tank yet. I wouldn't be opposed to adding one for dartfish and wrasses to keep them in. It may keep my clowns in the tank as well! A couple of times I have found one of my clownfish had jumped into my overflow.

For those anthias, would they handle 1 feeding per day? I do have an automatic feeder for pellets runs through the day and then I feed flake later in the night. I also add some nori several times a week and some frozen brine/mysis during the week as well.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I don't have a mesh lid on the tank yet. I wouldn't be opposed to adding one for dartfish and wrasses to keep them in. It may keep my clowns in the tank as well! A couple of times I have found one of my clownfish had jumped into my overflow.

For those anthias, would they handle 1 feeding per day? I do have an automatic feeder for pellets runs through the day and then I feed flake later in the night. I also add some nori several times a week and some frozen brine/mysis during the week as well.

Of all anthias species, these 2 are better suited for that feeding regimine, but will benefit from more frequent feedings.

Most reef species are better suited to multiple small feedings a day.

 

[DanielJay]

It may be time to look into building one of the refrigerator automatic feeding systems. Get some dosing pumps and a fridge to feed throughout the day for me and when we go on vacation for the weekends. Possibly time to cash in some of the 30+ vacation days at work for some extra $$.

 

[brett559]

Anthias, butteflies, hogfish (love my candy-cane hogfish - ALWAYS out, every second of the day), most dwarf angels and wrasses are usually out and about.

 

[Jeff4777]

+1 on anthias. I will never have a reef without them.

 

[DanielJay]

I very much enjoy Anthias as well. I guess I save up and see about how to feed them more often. Should I go with Ignitus Anthias again or a different variation?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Bartletts and squammipinnis accept dry foods more readily.

 

[madweazl]

My female lyretail will eat Hikari S on occasion but my male never did. Havent tried other dry foods.

 

[Shivsreef]

Lyretail anthias just make sure you can keep up with their feedings.