Restarting Tank, Need Fish Suggestions

[DrSoussou]

My dad and I have jointly taken care of a 150 gallon marine reef tank for about 10 years now. Recently, due to a takeover of button polyps, algae, and aptasia (glass anemone pests), my dad chose to hire a crew to renovate and aquascape our tank. Aside from our paired maroon clowns that were just re-introduced, they're holding our fish in quarantine and offered to keep them as credit towards new fish.

Now that you know the status of our tank, I'm hoping that those of you who have read this will be able to suggest what fish we should add and in what order. I am hoping to find a comprehensive list of reef-safe fish that will fit within the natural niches of a reef community (grazers, bottom-feeders, etc).

We are not beginners. We realize what it takes to maintain delicate fish and corals and are willing to take on the challenge. We are not strangers to mainstream fish and are looking to avoid fish that we have housed in the past as well as those species that are commonly found in your neighborhood store (yellow tangs, hippos, flame angles, bg chromis). Without further ado, allow me to describe what I have been thinking.




Objective: Non-aggressive community whose members get along peacefully with each other and with our tank's other occupants (invertebrates and corals). Avoid common fish and previously-owned fish.

Current species: 1 pair maroon clowns, ~10 peppermint shrimp, ~40 snails/crabs, 2 small colonies of giant mushroom polyps, 2 small colonies of orange button polyps, 3 large heads of hammerhead coral, 2 medium sand starfish, 1 large cerianthus tube-anemone.

Previously-owned species:
- (towards credit/still own in quarantine) Sohal Tang, Kole Tang, 2 Domino Damsel, Lemon Damsel, Panther Grouper
- (owned over the years) sailfin, yellow, purple and hippo tangs, coral beauty and flame angels, bicolor blenny, engineer goby, valenti puffer, harlequin sweetlips, fire and purple gobies, foxface rabbits, various sandsifting gobies, various clowns, various chromis

Seriously considering: harem of flasher wrasses, pair of anthias, rabbitfish, perhaps one peaceful tang, 1 goby for cleaning substrate, 1 goby that prefers climbing rocks/perching, cleaner shrimp/wrasse?

Wish-list/Unsure: pistol shrimp/goby symbiote pair, comet (marine betta), mandarin goby, leopard wrasse, most peaceful hawkfish possible (falcos?)

The skimmer, filter, and sump are my dad's area of expertise, but if any of your comments rely on knowing what kind of equipment I am running, feel free to ask and I will do my best to provide details. Feel free to ask my any questions in general.

I would prefer responses in the following format:

Fish #1 - Reasoning
Fish #2 - Reasoning
etc

Your wish list - Reasoning

Other possibilities - Explanation/Comparison with other lists (prev owned, wish, current)


I'm sorry for the lengthy post, but I really appreciate the help of anyone willing to read this and leave suggestions. Thank you all so much.

 

[Joke]

How about a reef safe trigger but if your planning to keep to keep shrim an clams its not the greatest idear. I wouldc give a mandarin goby a shot just make sure is eating frozen or dry food. I found mandarins eeasy to keep once their feeding. Strongly recommend staying away from sohal or clown tangs but they are beautiful fish that are bulies. You could try an angle fish. Never had a problem with scribbles or majestics eating corals but i could of been just luck. If your living in australia try a ribbon eel they do realy good in our country for some reason.

 

[Genera]

DrSoussou, are you looking for fish that almost no one has in their tanks? If so, I have some fish to tell you about!

 

[nuxx]

I'd do at least 3 female anthias not a pair.

 

[SoloChromis]

(1-2) Fathead Sunburst Anthias - One of my all time favorite fish, gorgeous, relatively hardy (if acquired healthy), and not too commonly seen. I'd stick with a single specimen or a bonded pair, but groups of this species very rarely last for any considerable amount of time.

Hi Fin Perchlet/Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish - Not exactly a hawkfish (more closely related to anthias), but they may as well be. Their appearance and behavior is very similar to the hawks, however it maxes out at 2" long, remains docile, and won't pick off shrimp or small fish (with the possible exception of tiny, delicate shrimp i.e. Pederson).

Yellowfin Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus flavidorsalis) - for all the fanboy-ing that goes on about fairy wrasses, rarely does this species come up in the conversation, and I can't help but wonder why. It's as hardy as any other fairy/flasher wrasse, but has a unique, sorta stocky body shape that makes them stand out among the rest, and they retain this beautiful, almost hot pink coloration, with of course, a bright yellow dorsal fin. Highly underrated fish, and one of my favorite fairy wrasses available.

Starcki Damsel - Arguably *the* most attractive damselfish out there, with a good personality to boot. It's a pain in the neck convincing your LFS to order in $50 damselfish, but these guys are well worth every penny IMO. They seem to be gaining popularity recently though and this species definitely deserves it :beer:

Thomson's Tang - a very unique looking tang that undoubtably stands out among the crowd of David Schwimmer-esque tangs, that all seem to have long faces. These tangs are an uncommon sight to see in your average reef tank, but they max out at 10" and are supposedly fairly peace loving for a tang.

Lavender Tang (Acanthurus nigrofuscus) - a relatively small species and highly underrated in the hobby. They're pretty much your typically tang, but don't get too big and have a subtle beauty that I really appreciate.

Pearly Jawfish - Loads of personality and pretty bold for a jawfish, just make sure your tanks covered :hmm2: . They'll just dig a burrow and spend every day rearranging their little fort, providing endless entertainment value. one of my favorites :spin1:

Springeri Dottyback - Thank God for ORA, otherwise many of us wouldn't be able to keep this beautiful species. Despite all the "evil dottyback" posts, this species in particular is fairly laid back and won't mess your average sized (cleaner, blood etc.) shrimp. Supposedly they eat bristleworms and red bugs as well, but I didn't really keep an eye on that with mine as I didn't have a problem with either.

Stripey (Microcanthus strigatus) - If you can manage to get your hands on a couple of these robust fish they'll prove to be reef safe, near bullet proof, and sociable with each other :thumbsup:

Zebra Moray Eel - I could easily make a whole thread on these fish, as they're probably some of the most misunderstood in the hobby it seems. 100% reef safe, as long as you don't care about your emerald crabs (and even they may be safe in a big enough tank). People, myself included, keep them with a whole variety of tiny fish and shrimp, without any negative side effects. After you get a chance to keep one of these eels, and see for yourself how slow moving and docile they are, you stop seeing them as any kind of threat (and almost wonder how they survive in the wild without being hand fed)

Longspine Cardinalfish (Zoramia leptacantha) - not the most striking of SW fish, but in a large group they really add a nice, natural looking element to a well fed tank, absent of aggressive, boisterous tankmates.

Possum/Pygmy Wrasses (Wetmorella sp.) - Anyone that's read any of my previous posts knows how much I love these fish. Slow moving, hardy, peaceful, and supposedly take care of flat worms (can't testify to this myself).

... Good luck :beer:

 

[Genera]

Thomson's Tang - a very unique looking tang that undoubtably stands out among the crowd of David Schwimmer-esque tangs, that all seem to have long faces. These tangs are an uncommon sight to see in your average reef tank, but they max out at 10" and are supposedly fairly peace loving for a tang.

Needs more swimming room, they are open water fish that spend pretty much all day swimming. I'd wait for a bigger tank of about 8-10ft long and 2ft wide, their swimming room needs are similar to that of Naso Lituratus, the Orangespine Unicorn Tang, or what most reefers call it, the Naso Tang. A good alternative would be Ctenochaetus Marginatus, the Bluespotted Bristletooth Tang, if you can find one that is. Needs are similar to other Ctenochaetus tangs, and it grows to 10in.

 

[Deinonych]

You guys realize the original post was from 6 months ago, right?

 

[Genera]

You guys realize the original post was from 6 months ago, right?

Lol I didn't notice, how attentive of me! :rollface: :lolspin: