Stocking for 35 gallon reef (Cherub Angel)

[Sigmund]

Set-up a tank for my mother (her first saltwater tank) and things are going great so far. Current stocking is a Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish (first in), very small royal gramma (2nd in) and a Pearly Jawfish (last in).

Plan was to add one more fish a Pygmy Cherub Angelfish. Decision was to add this last for obvious potential aggression related problems. As mentioned things are going very well, all of the current fish really do not compete as they all have a slightly different niche in the tank. My concern was that the angel could potentially have problems with the gramma (primary concern) or the Geo Hawk (secondary concern).

Have thought this out, and the angel is going to be the last introduced, and plan is to get as small of a Cherub as I can find. Really want to get the angel, as you can't beat the color, activity, and personality of angels.

Any thoughts? I think this should work, just looking for feedback.

 

[ocellaris123]

I think you will be fine, cherubs can be pretty aggressive, but it seems like you have all the problems figured out.

 

[Sheol]

As long as he is the last fish in, and there are no other Centropyge angels in your tank, you should be fine. IME, they are fine with the fish that are living in the tank already. But they can be lethal to smaller fish added later! Or other small angels.
They DO tend to become rulers of their home tanks, though..
I kept mine for 3+ years, until a heater short circuit caused a tank crash, in a 36 gallon Bowfront..

Matthew

 

[GoingPostal]

Mine's in a much larger tank, but ok with the fish already in, bully to the new ones added, even if they are much larger than it, been over 2 months since I added my kole tang and they are still battling it out on occasion even though the tang is 3x the cherub's size (it's only 1" btw).

 

[Sigmund]

Thanks for all of the responses. Do not plan to add anything after the cherub assuming none of the fish already in do not die expectantly.

The only other fish considered was a small barnacle blenny, but I think I will stick with the list as first proposed.

Outside of the Geo Hawk, I believe that all of the others (Royal Gramma, Pearly Jawfish, Cherub) are all carribean species.

 

[didz04]

I'm also looking at stocking in a cherub angelfish last but if it does attack your current stock (added first) or even if you decide to stock another fish after the angelfish then you could try placing a mirror at the side of the glass and it should put its aggression towards its reflection allowing the other fish to settle in. Its worked so many times.