40g FOWLR stocking (I’m new to saltwater!)

TheXpander

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Hi all,
I’m getting a 40g tank up and running and planning the following fish;
2 Ocellaris clownfish
1 Royal Gramma
1 Mandarin Fish
1 dwarf angel (lemon peel or similar)

I’d like to add some crabs for cleanup, any suggestions on what type, also is this amount of stock going to be ok?
Thanks!
 

Nigel35

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Welcome to R2R and Enjoy! Mandarin won't exactly work in a 40 unless you want to spend a bajillion dollars in pods. Or you could get a captive bred one that will eat frozen foods etc. Everything else should be good. If I were you I would just go with snails and ditch the crabs. Astrea, nassarius and probably a conch or two. If your stuck with the crabs I would go with scarlet red hermits.
 

JGT

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Hi all,
I’m getting a 40g tank up and running and planning the following fish;
2 Ocellaris clownfish
1 Royal Gramma
1 Mandarin Fish
1 dwarf angel (lemon peel or similar)

I’d like to add some crabs for cleanup, any suggestions on what type, also is this amount of stock going to be ok?
Thanks!
List is OK except for mandarin, Tough to keep without ample live foods/pods. Blenny might be nice. For cleanup would do some hermits and snails. Maybe a cleaner shrimp as well.
 

DaddyFish

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Consider a Molly Miller Blenny, absolute workaholic tank janitor that eats everything! Lightning fast, gnarly and entertaining. Might be hard to find but they tend to cycle into availability 2-3 times each year.

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Here's a short video of two I have in a 90-gal DT. Call them Thing-1 & Thing-2.

 
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TheXpander

TheXpander

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Thanks for the advice re the mandarin, will think again about that one. How many snails can you add (ie enough to clean up without overloading the bio?)
 
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TheXpander

TheXpander

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Welcome to R2R and Enjoy! Mandarin won't exactly work in a 40 unless you want to spend a bajillion dollars in pods. Or you could get a captive bred one that will eat frozen foods etc. Everything else should be good. If I were you I would just go with snails and ditch the crabs. Astrea, nassarius and probably a conch or two. If your stuck with the crabs I would go with scarlet red hermits.
thank you!
 

nereefpat

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Hi all,
I’m getting a 40g tank up and running and planning the following fish;
2 Ocellaris clownfish
1 Royal Gramma
1 Mandarin Fish
1 dwarf angel (lemon peel or similar)

I wouldn't do the mandarin. It may be possible, if you have a large sump/refugium for pods, and lots of live rock, and you wait 1 year, and you stock pods.

A lemonpeel angel gets pretty big for a 40 gallon. There are smaller dwarfs, sometimes called pygmy angels. This would include cherub, flame back, and others. These would be better choices.
 

dennis romano

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I have a 40 gallon breeder reef. It is full of fish that stay small e.g. C. argi, neon gobies, yashi gobies, etc. There is constant interaction.
 

Coralsdaily

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+1 for no mandarin. Can someone please add this as a sticky to the fish forum- No Mandarin fish if your tank is less than a year old and less than 120G? I've been seeing so many people planning this fish for their tank build. It may be a small fish but the size is very misleading on the tank size this little guy needs to roam and pick pods in a matured reef.
 
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