stocking suggestions for very active fish for a 60gallon?

antimatter

New member
I am setting up a tank right now that I am mostly interested in fish that will be active and hide the least. any suggestions? It will be marine with mainly softies and some hardier lps and a couple sps.
 
We had a 57g and a 45g cube.
I like lots of small fish and lots of activity.
At various times we had:
assessor basslet(s)
helfrichi firefish (2)
clowns
neon gobies
false shephardi angel (flame-rusty hybrid)
Sunburst anthia
flasher wrasse
barnacle blennies
 
Is your tank a std. rectangular 60 gal?

Kinda depends on the kind of activity you're looking for...do you want water column swimmers, or fishes that have spurts of activity?

M&N listed some nice fishes, however, most of them aren't "out and about" all the time:

Assessors: cave dwellers that do venture out every so often. They even swim upside down because they're used to having the roof of their cave against their bellies.

Firefish: Often rather shy. Also notorious jumpers, so cover the tank.

Neon gobies: great fishes, but they sit at their cleaning stations waiting for customers...when one shows up, it's a great show tho. A couple of my fishes used to line up every AM for a grooming.

Sunburst anthias...can also be rather shy. Our specimen was even shy in a SH tank.

Barnacle blennies: Hilarious when first introduced (I recommend a half dozen), they all try to find the "best" lair. After that, they sit in their holes until feeding time, then it's like Whack-A-Mole as they pop up to grab food. We kept a small colony for quite a few years.

So, as you can see, it's really dependent on what floats your boat. Are their any specific types of fishes you fancy? Choosing another person's fishes is like choosing their wardrobe...very tuff without some guidelines.

For instance, if you were to ask what I'd stock, the list would include a dwarf fuzzy lionfish (red or yellow morph), a cockatoo waspfish, maybe one of the smaller hogfishes or a flasher wrasse, etc.

Altho some will say that the lionfish will sit around, it will be right up front to greet you whenever it sees you, as will the waspfish...and they're completely reef safe. The lionfish will indeed eat small fish and ornamental crustaceans, altho hermits and snails are safe.
 
I love sand sifting gobies. They are so busy digging holes and stuff. They add a lot of movement to a tank. A bonus is that they help clean your sand!
 
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