Fish stocking suggestion. Please?

[ScottR]

I’m running a fallow tank with SPS and a few inverts. It’s 40g and son has been begging me to stock it. I’m looking for small reef safe fish, preferably omnivores. I don’t want clowns as other tank has. Any suggestions?

 

[Colin Adams]

The Mystery Wrasse would be a colorful and active option, that was my all time favorite fish.
Blackcap Basslett is also colorful, doesn't move as much, another one of my favorites.

 

[ScottR]

Thanks. When you say basslet, wreckfish also comes to mind.

 

[lion king]

There is a number of little wrasses I enjoy, the pink streaked and the tanakas possum wrasse. Basslets are cool also, the swales swissguard is very pretty and the assesors are neat also. These are all cryptic type fish that do hang in the rocks alot, the pink streak is out and about alot.

 

[Keepswiming]

Small Hawaiian flame wrasse. Live aquaria usually has sales on them if you wait.

 

[nereefpat]

Live aquaria did have a sale on flame wrasses yesterday. It's gone today though. I wouldn't recommend a flame wrasse for a 40 gallon however.
Lubbock's would probably do okay in a 40 gallon, as far as fairy wrasses go.

Blackcap basslet and possum or pink streaked wrasse are great suggestions.

Look into cardinals, firefish, and damsels in the Chrysiptera genus.

 

[BestMomEver]

My experience with basslets is that they’re aggressive little beasts. I had one nearly kill my six line Wrasse. Won’t have another except maybe a Royal Gramma. Wrasses are extra cool, though.

 

[Colin Adams]

My experience with basslets is that they’re aggressive little beasts. I had one nearly kill my six line Wrasse. Won’t have another except maybe a Royal Gramma. Wrasses are extra cool, though.

I had a Blackcap with a firefish and a clown and never saw any aggression. I also once had a blue assessor, not a common fish but very dark, not very colorful, there is a yellow assessor but I have never seen one in person.

 

[nereefpat]

My experience with basslets is that they’re aggressive little beasts. I had one nearly kill my six line Wrasse. Won’t have another except maybe a Royal Gramma. Wrasses are extra cool, though.

What basslet?

 

[BestMomEver]

What basslet?

Diadema I think.

 

[BestMomEver]

I had a Blackcap with a firefish and a clown and never saw any aggression. I also once had a blue assessor, not a common fish but very dark, not very colorful, there is a yellow assessor but I have never seen one in person.

Assessors are way cool. I’d get one of those.

 

[Lukas75]

Diadema I think.

Ah yes, pseudochromis can be jerks. Black-caps are in the same genus as royal grammas. My understanding is that they can be more aggressive, but more aggressive than a royal gramma still isn't bad! I've also heard that they take longer to acclimate to higher light tanks as they are found down deeper.

Now that we've talked about that though, a royal gramma wouldn't be a bad addition to a 40 either.

 

[nereefpat]

Diadema I think.

Yep, as @Lukas75 said, those are dottybacks/psuedochromis.

 

[ScottR]

My experience with basslets is that they’re aggressive little beasts. I had one nearly kill my six line Wrasse. Won’t have another except maybe a Royal Gramma. Wrasses are extra cool, though.

Funny you mention this. My friend has a basslet that harassed his six line. He couldn’t catch the basslet. Had to throw six line in his qt.

 

[BestMomEver]

Funny you mention this. My friend has a basslet that harassed his six line. He couldn’t catch the basslet. Had to throw six line in his qt.

I caught the Diadema... finally. He went back to the LFS. Two years later, I still have the six line.

 

[Lukas75]

I caught the Diadema... finally. He went back to the LFS. Two years later, I still have the six line.

This isn't the first time I've heard of a dottyback harassing and in some cases even killing a six line. My experience was the opposite. My six line killed my orchid dottyback and then was fine for a couple more years, then he snapped and started going after my Maroon Clown, tangs etc. He lived out his days in my sump after that.

 

[ScottR]

This isn't the first time I've heard of a dottyback harassing and in some cases even killing a six line. My experience was the opposite. My six line killed my orchid dottyback and then was fine for a couple more years, then he snapped and started going after my Maroon Clown, tangs etc. He lived out his days in my sump after that.

Dottyback is exactly what harassed my friend’s six line lol. Funny how things work out. A lot depends on who was there first and size of tank and fish, etc.

 

[BestMomEver]

This isn't the first time I've heard of a dottyback harassing and in some cases even killing a six line. My experience was the opposite. My six line killed my orchid dottyback and then was fine for a couple more years, then he snapped and started going after my Maroon Clown, tangs etc. He lived out his days in my sump after that.

Everyone tells me that it’s only a matter of time before my six line will lose his mind and start killing everything. I’ve had this guy for two years. He was the first fish I ever had. He’s never given anything a second glance. I put a Naoko Fairy Wrasse in two days ago and the six line has ignored him. I also keep him very busy. I put new pods in every two to three weeks. All he does is hunt!

 

[Lukas75]

Everyone tells me that it’s only a matter of time before my six line will lose his mind and start killing everything. I’ve had this guy for two years. He was the first fish I ever had. He’s never given anything a second glance. I put a Naoko Fairy Wrasse in two days ago and the six line has ignored him. I also keep him very busy. I put new pods in every two to three weeks. All he does is hunt!

The combination makes me nervous, but all fish are different and the size of the tank can sometimes make a HUGE difference (no pun intended). Good luck!!

 

[Lukas75]

Dottyback is exactly what harassed my friend’s six line lol. Funny how things work out. A lot depends on who was there first and size of tank and fish, etc.

Yeah, mine seems to have been the oddball in this. I've seen this so much though that for my purposes at least I'm going to call them incompatible except in large systems. My own experiences plus so many stories, although so far mine is the only one where the six line got the better end of the deal!