Time for Fish! Want LPS Keepers Opinions

[blange3]

My 75 gallon LPS reef is ready for stocking and I want to put together my fish list with a focus on LPS friendly fish. Tank details in my tagline.

The corals so far are frogspawn, hammer, short tentacle plate, merletti, acans, platygyra and candycanes. I will be adding torch, bubble and some lords as time goes on.

I was thinking of staying clown free to avoid hosting interference. I was considering a Mandarin as I have 100+ lbs of rock that has been growing pods for five months.

If I go Mandarin I guess the emphasis shifts to kinder gentler tank mates. Otherwise I would like a small tang and dwarf angel.

The only thing I really set my heart on is a Royal Gramma.

So what do you think?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I would skip the mandarin just because pods will feed your LPS. A tang might be okay to keep unwanted algae from growing on any skeletons. Might I suggest a Kole Tang if you did. A Royal Gramma would be a fine and beautiful addition. Good idea about staying away from clownfish. I wouldn't even try a dwarf angel because of their tendency to nip LPS and Clam Mantles. It would be dwarf angel heaven in your tank. You might want to consider various wrasses such as lined wrasses, coris wrasses, flasher wrasses, and fairy wrasses. Blennies might be a decent option, but be careful, some can be biters. I wouldn't recommend a goby if you have anything on the sand. It would just cause undue stress of anything that you would keep on the substrate such as Fungia and Heliofungia.

 

[blange3]

Thanks Travis! You touched on all my reasons for posting here. I cycled for 5 months and fed DT's to get the pod population up for the LPS. It did so well that the temptation for the Mandarin snuck in!

The dwarf angel topic is the main reason I posted here. If I went to the fish forum I'd get a list a mile long of mostly "reef safe" dwarf angels. But I know our favorite corals are a bit more tempting! I was wondering if the smaller ones like a Potters or a Cherub might be good candidates?

Will all gobies be a sand nuisance? How about neons and clown gobies?

 

[clsund]

I'm in a similar situation with a LPS tank. I love my wrasses especially the cirihabilus (sp?) species. Beautiful and playful. Out in the open. I was also considering some anthias, but space may be a limitation (though with you it might not be).

 

[ACBlinky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7659611#post7659611 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blange3
The dwarf angel topic is the main reason I posted here. If I went to the fish forum I'd get a list a mile long of mostly "reef safe" dwarf angels. But I know our favorite corals are a bit more tempting! I was wondering if the smaller ones like a Potters or a Cherub might be good candidates?

Potter's are actually one of the largest Centropyges, they can reach 5-6", and IME it's incredibly hard to find a healthy one. I've had three now, two of which ate like pigs for a week, looked great and then died for no apparant reason. The other one died of a nasty bacterial infection that wouldn't respond to antibiotics. Cherubs are much smaller (~2.5") and quite tough. If you choose to keep an angel make sure it's eating well in the store -- those that refuse food are often doomed.
IME there aren't any 'safe' dwarf angel species, it's really dependant on the individual fish. I have a flame and a flavicauda (white-tailed pygmy) with my LPS right now, the flavicauda has been with them for a year but everything was just moved into the flame's tank so I'll have to see how he behaves (so far, so good). If you want to guarantee the corals aren't harassed, it's probably better to stay away from angels but IMHO they're incredible fish and worth the risk.

Will all gobies be a sand nuisance? How about neons and clown gobies?

Clown gobies don't go anywhere near the sand. They can sometimes irritate corals (in the wild they nest in Acropora, chewing off sections of coral to lay eggs) and like to host LPS, but mine hasn't caused any damage or stress and he's been with me nearly a year. He has made a home in a fox coral, but regularly visits the other LPS -- he ignores the softies, these guys seem very particular about where they spend their time!

Here's a pic just for fun

 

[All Delight]

I have a flame angel. The first 2 weeks I had him he bit at my clam about every 30 seconds. Then all of sudden he stopped. Hasn't taken a nip in over 4 months. I'll see him nip at the rocks but avoid the corals. Once in a great while I'll see nip at a lord or micromussa. When I see him do that I'll feed him mysis right away. Thinking he wants something meaty. Otherwise I feed him flake food 6 days a week.

I have lords, micromussas, yumas, echino's, clam, floridas, favites war coral, toadstool, gonipora, zoos and a few other stuff. But, he's been pretty well behaved compared to what I've heard (keeping my fingers crossed).

 

[blange3]

Thanks for all the input. Right now I'm passing on the pygmies in the LPS tank. I might risk a Cherub in my softie tank since it's mostly the easy quick growing stuff!

I made my first purchase this week, 2 Chalk bass. Next will probably be the Royal Gramma. After that I think I'll explore some wrasses.

A Kole Tang will probably be the "centerpiece" and the last edition.