Stocking List: 90 or 125G w/ Mandarin Dragonet

[nivekid]

Well, after about 9 months with my 37G I have reef fever. My little tank is almost completely full of corals. Soon I would like to upgrade my tank to a 90 or 125 gallon. The one fish that I have to have is a mandarin, or a pair. (I won't add it until the tank is at least 6-9 months old).

Other than that I would need to add my current fish: A helfrichi firefish and a tailspot blenny.

What would you stock with these fish? Please help me get some good ideas that won't compete with the mandarin for pods.

Would a blue throat trigger compete? A yellow long nose butterfly? Anthias? Cardinals, etc? Thanks for the input.

 

[USC-fan]

jawfish, tangs, blennies and gobies are your best bet. Stay away from wrasse and hawks.

 

[nivekid]

I can understand why wrasses would be competition but do hawks eat pods? Also what about the blue throat trigger? Competition? Too aggressive?

After reading more it sounds like the butterfly is out of the running. Competition for the same food.

 

[thefurrywarrior]

Trigger = too aggressive IMO. Blue throat might not be depending on the individual fish but I have seen some with a nasty temper. Hawks eat anything that they see and can fit in their mouths and wrasses most definitely would kill out the pods before the mandarins could get to them. I say tangs, gobies, jawfish, clowns, anthias I believe are ok as well.

 

[nivekid]

Hmmm... I was really hoping the blue throat would be ok. From what I've read I though they were quite passive.

 

[USC-fan]

Hmmm... I was really hoping the blue throat would be ok. From what I've read I though they were quite passive.

most list them as Semi-aggressive and need 125+ tank, so no go in the 90.