Fish stocking suggestions

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

Well, I started out my tank planning it around a jawfish. It has turned out to be more trouble than it's worth. I hate the way the 6" of sand looks in my relatively small tank, and after speaking to Dr. Shimek about the effects of such a sand bed (mixed substrate, crushed coral, rock rubble) combined with a DSB-destructive fish like a jawfish, I have decided to leave it out of my tank. I want an aesthetic tank with colorful and lively inhabitants that will not negatively affect a functional DSB.

 

This weekend is a project of removing a good deal of sand, and arranging everything like I want it.

 

Fish I definitely want:

1 firefish

1 mated pair: true perculas

1 yellow clown goby

 

Any suggestions for other fish to go in a 55? I liked the look of the Bartlett's anthias in Andrey's tank. Are any other anthias suitable for this tank? Any suggestions for unique fish?

 

Thanks,

Amber

[michaelg]

There are a lot of reef safe wrasses that do not get overly big.  Some very colorful. 2 unusual ones are leopard wrasse, any of the fairy wrasse,  and possum wrasse.  With both of these, you should wait a good amount of time before adding as the tank needs to be well established.   Also, is your top fully enclosed?  Some fish are known jumpers so put that into the research on fish.  Are you sure you can't get 2 firefish?  They are of the gobie family, so may be hermaphrodytes.  Personally, whenever possible I like seeing fish in pairs.  Blennies, while some are not the most colorful, have wonderful personalities.  

If you don't want shrimp- hawkfish are fun.

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

Firefish are in fact jumpers.. so I'll watch out for that.  I plan on enclosing my top when I build my canopy. I'm getting the last of my lighting setup this week, so I'll start construction on that this weekend.

 

As far as putting more than one firefish, I've heard a couple times that they will squabble. I put a thread on RC about it and so far people are saying don't house more than 2 at the most. Too bad, they look so gorgeous "schooling" at the LFS.

 

I was thinking about a longnose hawkfish, but I hear they'll eat smaller fish. Do you think he would eat a yellow clown goby or a small firefish?

 

Thanks for the input.

Amber

[michaelg]

If you get a small hawk, it shouldn't bother the other fish.

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

Sounds good. I've been doing some more reading on firefish, and apparently they never school in the wild. The only exception is juveniles, while they are sexless, but after that, the only time more than 1 lives together, is if it's a mated pair.

 

I guess I'll just put in one firefish. I just love their coloring.

[quazi]

Amber,

 

Leroy at Fish Safari has great deals on firefish ($9.99 last I looked)  

 

Also, I kept 3 in my 55 without incident.  Unfortunately, they all jumped after 4 weeks

[Aquariareview]

• Many of the Blenny familylike the Black Sailfin Blenny (Atrosalarias fuscus) or the Bicolor Blenny (Ecsenius bicolor) make a nice addition, but they are territorial in nature... Opinions are mixed as to whether the Blenny is a peaceful tank member and safe for invertebrates. Some believe the Blenny is not safe with other species members and may pick on gobies and firefish. Others say the Blenny is a peaceful community fish. Some say the Blenny is safe around invertebrates and other sources say it will eat them. The best alternative is probably to combine these groups cautiously.

• Watchman goby, with a pistol shrimp (I have these in my nano and they are my favorite critters.

• Royal Gramma Basslet or Fairy Basslet is beautiful.

• Neon Goby or Red Head Goby are very hardy fish, and because of small size, are a great addition to a small reef tank. They a cleaner species which will service tank mates and help control some diseases.

 

There are many nice reef safe wrasse’ that you can keep

• Six Line Wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia)

• Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri)

• Cleaner Common Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus)

• Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus solorensis)

• Filamented Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus filamentosus)

• Banded Possum Wrasse (Wetmorella sp.)

• And most of the Fairy Wrasse family

[tu] read]] Marine Fishes by Scott W. Michael  This is the bible of fish shopping

[Guest cjm033]

michael hate to correct you but firefish are part of the darter family,Chris

[michaelg]

Thanks-

I never mind being corrected

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

Thanks for the suggestions Nathan.

 

Oh and Chris, aren't dartfish part of the goby family? I've seen them called firefish gobies, firefish, fire darts, dartfish, dart gobies. Haha. Gets confusing after a minute.

[Guest goblinshark]

Theyre in the Microdesmidae family (wormfishes), they are in the same order though along with almost everyother type of perch-like fish.  (Thank You Marine Science Consortium)  

 

You could probably get away a yellow tang or something like that.

[michaelg]

Man do we have a bunch of smart youngin's in the crowd!  Wonderful to see!

[tree]

the Orchid Dottyback (Fridmani Pseudochromis) is an entertaining & beautiful fish  to watch.   Even better if you can get a mated pair.

[gudgreef]

I was thinking of a coelacanth for my 55:0

[Caribbean Jake]

Think about which fish is agressive and which are compatible, add their functionality and rate them based on your like/like,  then make the selection based on these criterias. For example; Purple (Magenta) Dottyback has beautiful color and entertaining to watch, but does not get along with a Wrasse or a Mandarin.  The Tang will help you with algae control while the White/Yellow Fin Damsel is very agressive.  The Orchid Pseudochromis is great for controlling worms, while the Clowns basically don't help to clean but they are cute to watch.  I whish I knew these before I bought some of mine, I went for "how preatty" instead of how they match with others in my tank and corals.

Jacob

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

Thanks for those tips, Jake. That will help.