1) clown fish pair depends on species; A. percula and A. ocellaris are the least aggressive once bonded and mated
2) sand sifting star will deplete your sand bed, then starve to death; bad idea
3) cleaner shrimp or two
4) Court Jester Goby will compete with a mandarin for copepods; if you want a mandarin, I would not go this route as sustaining a mandarin in your sized tank will be somewhat difficult
5) Blue spotted puffer (open to suggestions: I really want one large beautiful fish that can work in a 55 gallon ) I do understand these are "with caution" for reef compatible I do not recommend this especially in this sized tank unless it is the only fish; large fish and a 55 gallon tank do not mix
6) Thinking about cleaner wrasse too. not a good idea, especially in a small tank. None of your stocking list will allow cleaning and the cleaner wrasse will drive the other fish crazy. Also, has no effect on parasites
Steve,
I will be adding 2 Ocellaris Clown's in about 4 months to my DT to go along with my present fish listed below. I have decided to far go an addition of a Tommy Tang (Ctenochaetus Tominiensis) per having enough acceptable grazers.
Could you please give me recommendations on 1 more suitable fish that would be acceptable with my other tank inhabitants?
(My Current Tank Info listed below is up to date)
My present fish list is,
2- Pajama Cardinals
1- Coral Angel Beauty
1- One Spot Fox Face
1- Diamond Goby
1- Scooter Blenny
2- Ocellaris Clown's (Amphiprion Ocellaris) to be added in 4 months from now
Thanks
I'm back.
135 gallon rimless cube (36x36x24, 50" on the diagonal). 100 gallon Rubbermaid sump/refugium with 250/300lbs of live rock.
Current stock:
Royal gramma
2 - firefish (paired up)
3 - PJ cardinals
Future additions:
Randall's or yellow goby with pistol shrimp
2 snowflake clowns
Midas blenny
Green mandarin
fairy wrasse to be determined need tightly covered tank, best to go with one of the passive ones
Copperbanded butterfly will compete for copepods, australian version is more likely to survive. Not an easy fish because many never eat
Flame angel
2 Anthias to be determined
How does this list look? Looks like I may be setting myself up for an overstock. If so, how many do I need to remove?
Ok latest..realy only one switchup:
Round 4
Foxface - 1 (like the one spot)
Angel - 2 (flame, coral beauty) introduced at the same time
Hi Fin Goby - 1
Midas Blenny - 1
Ocell clowns -pair
Neon blue goby 1
Mandarin (spotted, red, or green)
Thanks so much!
meegwell
1) does it matter if its a black and white ocellaris?
coloration is a morphological issue rather than a genotype (species issue) to that would be fine
2) what do you mean deplete my sand bed? Would a Goby do this too?
Sand sifting sea stars eat beneficial micro detrivores but when they eat them all, they then starve. Gobies are going to eat what you supply to the tank either through a refugium or other supplied food
3) Ive gotten one yesterday and might wait for another reef safe shrimp there are commensal gobies that associate with pistol shrimp and non-commensal which do not. Which did you get?
4) Ill keep this in mind. Is it all gobys that like the copepods? Liveaquaria isnt that specific on their feeding habits
5) Thanks, Ill have to wait for larger fish then. Dont want to harm them
6) Ill look into some other colorful wrasse for movement in the tank wrasses jump. Some wrasses sleep in the sand, others cocoon.
What is the general consensus about chromis? I was looking at the black axil chromis.
generally good
By the way... thanks. You seems to be a friggen fish encyclopedia
refresh my memory on tank size and age. Sorry, I do thousands of these and have no chance at remembering.
Ok latest..realy only one switchup:
Round 4
Foxface - 1 (like the one spot)
Angel - 2 (flame, coral beauty) introduced at the same time
Hi Fin Goby - 1
Midas Blenny - 1
Ocell clowns -pair
Neon blue goby 1
Mandarin (spotted, red, or green)
Thanks so much!
meegwell
It is a bit heavy; personally I would skip the copper banded
If I remove the copper banded, would I still be overstocked? What if I replaced the copper banded with another fairy wrasse would I still be overstocked? This would be the new stock list in the 135 gallon cube:
Current stock:
Royal gramma
2 - firefish (paired up)
3 - PJ cardinals
Future additions:
Randall's or yellow goby with pistol shrimp
2 snowflake clowns
Midas blenny
Green mandarin
2 fairy wrasses to be determined
Flame angel not reef safe
2 Anthias to be determined
Also the 2 Anthias would be last and a long time from now (close to a year). I may think of adding the copperbanded instead of the 2 anthias. Would those equal each other stocking bioload wise?
Hi, we currently have:
1 Orchid dottyback, 1 Neon dottyback, 1 sailfin tang, 1 clown tang, 1 golden midas blenny, 4 clown and 12 cromus. Could we introduce a leopard wrasse and melaurus wrasse into this mix?
Thanks
1) does it matter if its a black and white ocellaris?
coloration is a morphological issue rather than a genotype (species issue) to that would be fine
2) what do you mean deplete my sand bed? Would a Goby do this too?
Sand sifting sea stars eat beneficial micro detrivores but when they eat them all, they then starve. Gobies are going to eat what you supply to the tank either through a refugium or other supplied food
3) Ive gotten one yesterday and might wait for another reef safe shrimp there are commensal gobies that associate with pistol shrimp and non-commensal which do not. Which did you get?
4) Ill keep this in mind. Is it all gobys that like the copepods? Liveaquaria isnt that specific on their feeding habits
5) Thanks, Ill have to wait for larger fish then. Dont want to harm them
6) Ill look into some other colorful wrasse for movement in the tank wrasses jump. Some wrasses sleep in the sand, others cocoon.
What is the general consensus about chromis? I was looking at the black axil chromis. .
Thanks for the quick reply snorvich. We are obviously new to a reef aquarium (3 months) and are going by what the fish store tells us and trying to research as well.
fish stores sell fish. they have already sold you an expert level fish (clown tang) that is highly aggressive.
We've had the 2 dottybacks for 3 months now and they seem to stay on separate sides of the tank and leave each other alone. Actually, the neon was a bit more aggressive but, for some reason, seems to have mellowed out with the introduction of larger fish like the blenny and clown tang. Why would they be toxic toward a leopard wrasse?
this is not really a discussion thread. We provide expert level advice about marine fish compatibility. For the "why" type questions, the marine fish thread would be better for answering questions.
We've had the sailfin for 2 months and just introduced the clown tang last week. The clown tang is much, much larger than the sailfin and they appear to get along. Which of the two is going to present the problem?
The clown tang will present the larger problem, unless, of course, it won't eat and starves to death
Is it best to introduce more than one wrasse at a time?
Thanks...
Thanks Steve. I am now leaning towards getting the CBB totally out of my mind as I may have a clam in the future. I still save the anthias for last in case I get froggy in the the future or find a CBB that someone has had locally for a while. If I got rid of the fairy wrasses would I still need the tight fitting lid? This would be the new list if so:
Current stock:
Royal gramma
2 - firefish (paired up)
3 - PJ cardinals
Randall's or yellow goby with pistol shrimp
2 snowflake clowns
Midas blenny
Green mandarin
Flame angel (I may remove or take a chance that it won't eat my LPS. Trying to figure out my "show" fish since the CBB is out)
2 Anthias to be determined
Thanks Steve. Obviously new to forums as well![]()