Want to add a bunch of little fish, advice please

[Paste]

I got a 200 gallon 7 foot reef tank, finally got lighting down and my fish are all happy.... But it's a little empty, especially since my fish all swim together in a small group for some weird reason.

I would like to get some movement in the tank and I think the way to go may be to add a dozen or so little fish. Please let me know of some cool little fish or any ideas to get some movement in my tank.

Current fish:
Blue throat trigger
Yellow tang
Green corris wrasse
2 clowns
Bengai cardinal
And a yellow watchman goby I occasionally see poke out from under the rocks.

 

[BlueMac92]

Per somebody's recommendation on here, I'm going to order 7 or so chalk bass. Cheap and somewhat colorful...

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I would add several different flasher wrasse males. It will give you lots of movement and a lot of beautiful flashing between them constantly a beautiful show going on. Most of the flasher wrasses get to 3" when full grown.

Or if you want really small fish get a few dozen neon gobys

 

[horseplay]

Dwarf angels are small and add a lot of movements to the tank.

 

[fishfreak2009]

I really like the look that chromis and anthias give when schooling together. In my 340 I have 5 green chromis, 4 bicolor chromis, a firefish, 2 dispar anthias, an evansi anthias, and 5 lemon chromis (technically an Abudefduf damsel species) that all school together over the rockwork.

 

[Itz_Koolio]

One of my favorite little fish are the firefish. If I were you I would get five or six of them. They school by themselves and are very active, hardy, and cool. Also I would suggest some 3 stripe damsels. Best of luck, man!

 

[Paste]

Anthias' need fed 3x a day or so though right?
I don't want to say I am "under feeding" my tank, but I really do worry about water quality from over feeding.
I'll look into the flasher wrasses but won't they fight?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

No they won't fight. There are several threads here with members keeping dozens of them together.

 

[anbosu]

Chrysiptera damsels would fit the bill. They come in a variety of colors, are hardy, and have no special care requirements. I have a bunch in my 360 and they really add a ton of activity and color - they help make it feel more like a real reef, in my opinion.

 

[velvetelvis]

You could keep a good-sized shoal of threadfin cardinals in that tank, or a group of pajama cardinals. I also like the idea of a group of fairy or flasher wrasses.

 

[Martini5788]

Are you wanting to add a group of little fish? Or you want different species? If it were me, I would get a mated pair of yellow head jawfish, some basslets, firefish or damsels, and some lyre tail anthias. That should cover you for all areas. I like to have a combination of open water swimmers as well as ones that stick to their specific area so all parts of the tank are occupied. Flasher wrasses could be supplemented instead of anthias

 

[Paste]

I do like the idea of a bunch of different species,
Jaw fish are jumpers though and I have a 3/4 canopy (the back is open for air) and I am not sure it's sufficient

 

[Martini5788]

If you put egg crate or netting over that back portion that is open, it should be fine. It's easy for them to get out of egg crate going straight up, but hitting it from that angle would be a challenge to get through. Wrasses are jumpers too, as well as a lot of smaller fish species so it's definitely something I would look into either way

 

[o2manyfish]

Take a look at the different pseudochromis that are captive bred by ORA. I have about a dozen of them. They have bright colors, they are sometimes out in the water, sometimes slithering between the corals.

The other night while photographing the tank there were 4 different pseudos hanging out together in the folds of a monti cap colony. It was pretty neat to watch.

There are lots of damsels that are outside the myth that damsels are devil fish. They are inexpensive, brightly colored and you can have lots of them - Springeri Damsel, Starki, Stegassi, Kupang... You can have a bunch of them and you will have bright bits of color all over the tank. You mentioned worried about overfeeding. In all my tanks I have always kept the classic blue damsels. They are bright colored and they will make sure that no food is left uneaten.

Dave B

 

[Kizzy911]

Movement? Get a pair of wrasse, rhomboids or flame wrasses. They're amazing and very entertaining. Also, cleaner wrasses have a spunk to them. Also try an assessor !

 

[o2manyfish]

Kizzy911 --- Shy away from the cleaner wrasses. In a captive environment the survival rate of cleaner wrasses is very very low.

There are some people that have kept them long term. But the VAST majority have a very short lifespan in captivity.

Dave B

 

[fishfreak2009]

Kizzy911 --- Shy away from the cleaner wrasses. In a captive environment the survival rate of cleaner wrasses is very very low.

There are some people that have kept them long term. But the VAST majority have a very short lifespan in captivity.

Dave B

I have a cleaner in my tank and have to agree. He harassed all his tankmates in my 180, and still does to some extent in the 340. He is occasionally seen darting away as he gets chased by the Niger trigger, the regal angel, the vlamingi tang, and the koran angel.