Best small/active fish

-Logzor · May 8, 2011

Hey Folk - I'm having a difficult time deciding which fish to stock in my new aquarium.

Currently have:
1 Tomini Tang
1 Two-barred rabbitfish
1 lyretail anthias
1 true perc clownfish

The new tank is 150g (48x30x24) rimless. So I will not be planning a top for the tank. Therefore wrasses may be out of the question.

As far as big fish go, I think that the Tomini and Rabbitfish are plenty. So I mainly want to focus on smaller fish like anthias, firefish, etc.

What are the best active smaller fish? I definitely don't want anything that are prone to killing each other off, such as b/g chromis.

What's the story on the ORA dottybacks? I never hear about these fish but always see them for sale on liveaquaria.

Anyways, propose a list of fish that you think I should add to my system.

swannyson7 · May 8, 2011

I'd add some female lyretails! Also, FWIW... I've had 8 chromis in my 180 (transferred from my 125) for about a year and I've never had any problems with them killing eachother off.

lps1212 · May 8, 2011

Can't go wrong with a mandarin and look awesome or red scooter blenny 2 very small fish if you have sand you could look into some goby's maybe a nice catalina goby

swannyson7 · May 8, 2011

I'd stay away from the catalina only because they prefer cooler water temps and are prone to disease when kept at temps found in most reef tanks

nikesb · May 8, 2011

cryptic six line wrasse

hkornel · May 8, 2011

How about a Gramma??? Loreto or Melacara....

I have both, and they are great fishes, however they are not that swim active better posing before their rock.

subielover · May 8, 2011

A group of lyretail anthias are always nice. Midas blennies are very nice looking active fish. I also really like clown gobies, although they aren't very active, they make it up with personality. I would look through Liveaquaria.com and see what you like, if you have question on compatibility, ask away

Troylee · May 8, 2011

Yasha gobies are pretty sweet.... Stay away from the dottybacks I have one it kills anything similar to it.... Mine was a role model until I added wrasses it has killed everyone of them....:sad:

lps1212 · May 8, 2011

swannyson7 said:
I'd stay away from the catalina only because they prefer cooler water temps and are prone to disease when kept at temps found in most reef tanks

Yea they are delicate I run a chiller on a 28jbj mh nano my temp stays at 75 continously

CoralReefDoc · May 8, 2011

As far as the best small, active fish goes it is the Candy Basslet, IMO. More realistically speaking you should also consider:

Royal Gramma
Sixline Wrasse
Dispar Anthias harem
Helfrichi Firefish

Dottybacks, especially if added early on, tend to be pugnacious

tclipse · May 8, 2011

CoralReefDoc said:
As far as the best small, active fish goes it is the Candy Basslet, IMO. More realistically speaking you should also consider:

Royal Gramma
Sixline Wrasse
Dispar Anthias harem
Helfrichi Firefish

Dottybacks, especially if added early on, tend to be pugnacious

+1 to anything mentioned here. sixlines can sometimes be a PITA but I wouldn't see any issues in that size tank & the current stocking.

nikesb · May 8, 2011

thats why instead of the regular sixline, get a cryptic six line. SUPER docile fish and doesnt go around messing with anyone.

nixer · May 8, 2011

how about a rainfordi goby or a bunch of barnacle blennies i also really like the red scooter blenny

-Logzor · May 8, 2011

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, this is very helpful.

I really like the idea of the candy basslet.

Tabasco1 · May 8, 2011

Love firefish as mentioned above but can also be jumpers

SDguy · May 8, 2011

Just get more anthias... mix species too, like ignitus, dispar, or carberryi. %

its fry · May 8, 2011

Midas blenny. But they will jump on certain ocassions just like anything else.
A safer smaller and cheapar option would be a bi color blenny or a harpstail blenny.

-Logzor · May 9, 2011

Holy crap SDguy that is sweet. Do you feed them multiple times per day?

-Logzor · May 9, 2011

Would a 30gallon tall QT tank be big enough to QT say 4 anthias and 2-3 other fish (midas blenny, etc)?

How many fish should I add considering my current stock and tank size? I would like to add a bunch of antihas and 2-3 smaller fish, such as gobies, etc.