upgrade!??

[Moonstream]

I'm setting up my last ever upgrade (or, at least, my last until I go to college). I'm looking to setup a tank of hardy, personable fish that dont require special feeding or care, and are safe with coral. Unfortionately, I have a few issues in combining my current stock.

in the 20, I have three main problems:
pair of occy clowns (one is VERY tiny, no more than an inch, if that)
YWG (worried the hawk won't take kindly to him; I've read multiple reports of longnoses bullying YWG's)
royal gramma (also TINY, no more than 1.5ish inches, def. under 2")

in the 29 are another three problem fish:
longnose hawk (who Im worried is very likely to eat the smaller clown and gramma)
yellowtail damsel (who I dont trust with peaceful clowns like occy's; I had to pull him from two tanks previously because he didnt get along with the perc or occy in them)
sixline wrasse (worried that the gramma is too small to stand up to himself agains a mature wrasse)

I'm leaning towards the following stocking: (current fish are listed in bold)
Longnose Hawk
Coral Beauty
Sixline Wrasse
Yellowtail Damsel
1-2 engineer gobies (I realize they get large and shift lots of sand, but they're some of my favorite fish)
Pair of larger clowns (leaning towards tomato, considering clarkii as well; I've found fish that are larger/of equal size to the damsel do okay with it)

that is, as I said, what I am leaning towards; however, I did draft up a second stock list of my more peaceful creatures, again current fish are listed in bold:
pair of Occy clowns
royal gramma
YWG
Pajama Cardinal (Im thinking I might add 1 more)
Tailspot Blenny
some sort of dartfish (probably a common firefish, maybe a purple, or possible one or two bar gobies)

input? is one foreseeable as being significantly more work to upkeep than another?

also, if anyone can think of an alternate stocklist in which I could keep more of my current fish, and maybe include a few of my new choices, I'm all ears (or, I guess, eyes)

 

[scalowagreef]

My 40 breeder is in the works too - I am sitting right next to the unfinished stand and I just ordered an overflow kit from glass-holes. I'm upgrading from a 25G.

I'd go for the second list of fish. There's nothing wrong with getting a small engineer goby. You can always trade him when he gets too big although you might have some trouble catching him.

Tomato clowns are very aggressive and I think your pair of ocellaris are perfect for a 40 breeder.

How about anthias?

 

[snorvich]

I too vote for the second list (do I get a vote?). But I want to commend the original poster for doing research and thinking about her issues! A purple dartfish may do better than a firefish once the clowns mature.

 

[Moonstream]

I've decided to go more invert-oriented with the 40; I want some small shrimp species, so the first list is out, as is the cardinal. I'm going to keep the goby, the clowns, the gramma, and the angel. I will be adding a tailspot blenny for sure, and as well as one or two more fish, either a single or mated pair of neon gobies, a purple firefish, or a normal firefish.

 

[scalowagreef]

Sounds good. What kind of shrimp do you have in mind?

From the new list fish my personal preference fish is the purple firefish. I had the chance to get a helfrichi firefish for a steal of a deal but I have a pH problem in my display tank and didn't want to take the chance.

 

[Moonstream]

I'll be transferring over my pair of skunk cleaners, and then Im hoping to add a medium sized group of sexies (start with three, see how they do, end number should be somewhere around 7), a small group of spotted anemone shrimp (think three), plus a pair of pederson's anemone shrimps. also going to add a pair of porcelain anemone crabs (the larger ones, not the normal porcelains, who IME you never see), and maybe a pom pom crab eventually.

as for fish, I think my list is:
gramma (have)
clowns (have)
YWG (have; planning to get him a pistol shrimp ASAP)
coral beauty (have)
blenny (tailspot, probably, although I am also considering a bicolor or striped fang for the spot)

while I could probably fit one or two more in their, I dont think I really should. this plan leaves me with every strata occupied (angel and gramma in the open water, goby in the sand, blenny in the rocks, and the clowns everywhichwhere) plus Im trying to to stock to capacity, like I did with my other tanks, as I would like not to have to constantly worry about WC's.

 

[Brickyardgreg]

Bring the longnose hawk in there. They don't bother any one. I've had one for years great fish, model citizen

 

[Moonstream]

oh, I have a feeling mine would LOVE to make a little snack of my cleaner shrimp, and eat the anemone shrimp with her midday tea. she's much larger than the cleaners, and would be downright massive compared to the sexies and other small shrimp.

I was thinking about trying it; if the cleaners were full-grown, then I probably would, but they're still relatively small.

 

[Uncko Macko]

How is your 40 coming along? I am building a custom 40 mixed reef and have a similar interest in livestock.

 

[snorvich]

Those shrimp would not be safe with a longnose hawkfish.

 

[Camel413]

Hey Snorvich my mom used to live in Barrington. Very nice place, I loved it when I went to visit.

I have always wanted a pom pom crab are they pretty entertaining to watch?