I'm finally ready to post my fish wish list. I'm working on my 75 gallon build, and while I'm not quite ready to purchase my fish, I'd like to go ahead and start this part of the planning process. Here are the specs: 75 gallon mixed-reef, 48x18x21 with about 2 inches of sand. I plan to have a good balance of swimming room and rock (probably about 50 lbs). Fish are important to me, so I want plenty of swimming room and open substrate, but will be sure to have plenty of hiding places in the rockwork. Also, this is kind of a peninsula-style tank, so there will be swimming room and open substrate on both sides of the tank. I have an Alpha 170 protein skimmer in a 40 gal sump. I plan to have a fuge to provide beneficial nutrients to my reef inhabitants.
My list seems long, but I only plan to have one of each of these, with the exception of one or two of them as noted. To get a better idea of how they would fill the tank, I've grouped them by "lifestyle", according to my reference book.
Active swimmers
Bartlett's Anthias
Redbelted Anthias
Reticulated Dascyllus
Flasher wrasse (haven't chosen species, but they all seem the same, behaviorally speaking)
Blackline Fang Blenny
Kole Tang
Substrate Only one shrimp/goby for long term stability
Wheeler's shrimp goby
Randall's shrimp goby
Yellownose shrimp goby
Among rock/coral
Yellow assessor
Ocellaris clownfish (possibly a pair if not a problem with tankmates)
Coral goby (haven't chosen species, but they all seem the same, behaviorally speaking)
Cleaner goby (haven't chosen species, but they all seem the same, behaviorally speaking) short lived
Others
Bluedot goby (group of 5) these will deplete your sand bed of beneficial organisms then starve plus they will create constant sand storms. I do NOT recommend these fish
Pajama cardinal
Firefish introduce early
I guess my main concern is the number of gobies. I have intentionally chosen the shrimp gobies that are supposed to be the most peaceful ones. My reference book even states that one of them is willing to share a burrow with other gobies. But I wanted some feedback from "the real world." My tank will be right in the middle of my living room, so I really would like to have a nice, peaceful tank without having to worry about watching too much agression.