50 gallon 3’ stocking

[sheasta]

My current fish are a juvenile 1" ora captive bred springers dottyback, 2 CB storm ocellaris clownfish, mccoskers wrasse , yellow coris wrasse and a purple fire fish all in a 3' 50 gallon tank ... can i add a 1-1.5” captive bred biota coral beauty angel or biota 1” multibar angel this tank or do you think it would be overstocked at that point ? I was also considering their captive bred grey yellow watchmen goby since my previous one didn’t survive QT now I have a lone pistol shrimp. Thoughts ? Add both the angel and the goby ? Add neither ? 1 or the other? I’m sure the goby would be fine I’m mostly worried about aggression from the dottyback to the angel since the dottyback already has territory /claimed the tank. The springers are supposed to be less aggressive than most dottybacks and it’s a 1” juvenile captive bred so it’s probably best case scenario but I’m still skeptical.

I don’t think bioload is a problem mostly worried about aggression. The tank has a large skimmer, sump , socks , uv , phos reactor , real LR in the sump, it’s about 7/8 months old, etc.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Are you in a position to meaningfully rearrange your rock work in conjunction with introducing a new fish?... that might go a long way towards success.

 

[sheasta]

I’m not sure it’s feasible unless I get LR to replace my current rock. I have the Marco reef saver NSA scape all mortared together so it can’t really be changed lol

 

[JumboShrimp]

Oh, I see.

 

[kevgib67]

Yes it would work with that many fish and the amount of biologic filtration you have but you already understand the difficulty with the dottyback. So it is going to be some work. As @JumboShrimp mentioned re-scaping would make it have to re-establish a new territory and would help as well as creating more hiding places for the new fish. You could put the new fish in an acclimation box and fatten them up until the dottyback loses interest, it will gain it back once they are released but should be a much shorter duration since they have been in there for a while. An even better way would to be to put the dottyback in a the acclimation box let the new fish settle in for a few weeks before releasing but I hate trying to catch a fish in my tank. One last option, one I think you won’t like because you seemed to be attached to your dottyback ( why not they are beautiful fish) is rehome the dottyback and replace with something like a royal gramma. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[sheasta]

Yes it would work with that many fish and the amount of biologic filtration you have but you already understand the difficulty with the dottyback. So it is going to be some work. As @JumboShrimp mentioned re-scaping would make it have to re-establish a new territory and would help as well as creating more hiding places for the new fish. You could put the new fish in an acclimation box and fatten them up until the dottyback loses interest, it will gain it back once they are released but should be a much shorter duration since they have been in there for a while. An even better way would to be to put the dottyback in a the acclimation box let the new fish settle in for a few weeks before releasing but I hate trying to catch a fish in my tank. One last option, one I think you won’t like because you seemed to be attached to your dottyback ( why not they are beautiful fish) is rehome the dottyback and replace with something like a royal gramma. Good luck with whatever you choose.

I love the dottyback and even if I didn’t I’d have a very difficult time actually catching them all the caves and tunnels in my rock work.

 

[kevgib67]

I love the dottyback and even if I didn’t I’d have a very difficult time actually catching them all the caves and tunnels in my rock work.

I figured, that’s why it was my last option, good luck!

 

[sheasta]

I figured, that’s why it was my last option, good luck!

I’ll give it a shot and maybe add some more live rock to the left and right corners where it’s indented to the sides of the overflow to give the angel a place it can establish. Worst case he’ll get moved to my 75 grow out tank where he’ll stay or eventually get moved to the 350. I doubt the established juvenile 1” golden dwarf, juvenile 1” regal angel or juvenile 1” majestic angel will try to bully a slightly larger 1.5” coral beauty but I also have a 20 gallon QT tank so I have a few options and can try musical tanks and reintroduction with acclimation box or putting the aggressor in the acclimation box ….. I’ll need to purchase a nice fish trap at this point I think. The aggressor in the acclimation box is my next attempt on my Bali Aquarich captive bred regal angels since the established slightly larger one was bullying /relentless chasing and fin nipping the new one (I’m trying to get a pair for my 350).