Stocking a 40 gallon

[Musho3210]

In the very very near future we plan on getting a 40 gallon breeder, an upgrade from our current 20 gallon.

Here are the planed specs of the new tank:

40 gallon breeder
20 gallon sump with refugium
Octopus 110 recirculating skimmer
1 150 watt metal halide and one or two compact fluorescents/T5 fluorescent to light the edges
Very very shallow sand bed (with the very high possibility of a bare bottom)
around 60 pounds of lr

Currently, these are a must since they are already in the 20 gallon:
2 clownfish
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
2 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Pistol Shimp
Monti cap
Pavona coral
yellow fiji toadstool
xenia, clove polyps, green star polyps (the weeds)
various mushrooms
various zoas
Open brain coral
Bubble coral
torch coral
candy cane

This is the extras that i currently want:
Crocea Clam
More lps (blastos, acans, frogspawn etc)
Lawnmower blenny
2 kaudern cardinals (mated pair)
1 Mantis shrimp (isolated in the refugium part of the sump)


I wanted to get a lionfish, i heard about fu manchu and how they dont grow big (less of a chance of my fish being a meal) but i hear of the near immposity of feeding them prepared foods and i dont have the "heart" to feed it live foods, plus live feeders arent healthy for them.

But i still want one largish display fish, things that come to mind are valenti puffer (but i hear they are not reef safe) a type of dwarf angelfish (i hear they are a risk) a snowflake eel (a risk and tank may be too small). I know its not a display fish but i wouldnt mind a scooter blenny or a mandarin fish. I wouldnt mind a slight challenge. Is the tank big enough for one of those if they take prepared foods?

Suggestions welcome.

 

[Musho3210]

hmm people seem to like stocking bigger tanks...

 

[reefman8471]

40 breeder

40 breeder

In a tank that shallow a bare bottom tank would be ideal although not the only way of setting it up. Because the tank is only 16 inches deep a bare bottom would allow you to maximize your water flow without making sand storms. However, if you do go bare bottom I would not recommend getting a scooter blenny or mandarin as they love eating copepods and similar crustaceans. I would think a healthy sand bed is a necessity for keeping a large population of copepods. Your right about the Fu-manchu lionfish but their is the fuzzy dwarf lionfish which doesn't get much bigger and is easier to keep. If you do an angelfish the Coral Beauty may be your best bet although they are not 100 percent safe either. I wouldn't do an eel. Your equipment sounds fantastic.

James

 

[Musho3210]

i wouldnt go with the fuzzy dwarf, 7 inches (3 inches bigger than the fu manchu) seems to be pushing it when i got 2-3" gobies and blennys swimming around.

Coral beauty seems to be the best bet now...

 

[N0okie]

I would highly recommend a mandarin after you get a good pod population going. They are amazingly beautiful fish, and while they may not be out all of the time, when the people see them they will want to come closer and look throughout the rocks to follow the mandarin around while it hunts.

 

[N0okie]

I forgot to add, that I also had a Valentini puffer, and he was in a tank with ricordea, dendros, crabs, snails, and an open brain. He never bothered a thing in that tank.

 

[Sitarangi]

Lawnmower Blennies are great, just be sure you got some junk growing on the walls before you get him. A snowflake would outgrow the tank in a couple months and most likely eat the clowns and goby.

Check out the Midas Blenny, they are very cool active fish. Unlike most blennies, these ones eat brine shrimp and he'll live peacefully with a lawnmower. NTM they always look like they got a smile on their face .

Not sure, but you may be able to keep a small (flame) angelfish.

They key to any smaller reef tank is not to have 1-2 giant fish but lots and lots of small fish. So i'd just go with the clowns, blennies, the goby, maybe a gramma or 2. If you have ALOT of rockwork get a mandarin, but wait a couple months, or start breeding copepods in your fuge