Help me pick the fish

[Ka0s]

Hey guys,

I have a mixed reef 29g that is about 5 years old, just completed a lot of upgrades to the system and everything is doing wonderful. I am looking to add maybe a couple of fish to the system. I want to be sure I add the correct fish so I do not upset the balance. I want to add in some larger food sources for the corals that are getting larger. I am looking for something that will add some color and help gobble up the new food sources. As always its a balance when keeping a closed system.

The current live stock is as follows.

1 black and white clown hosting a bubble tip anemone
1 watchman goby

cleanup crew
snails
hermits
1 small serpent star
1 emerald crab

Corals
Acros
wall hammer
wall frog spawn
blasto
grafted favia
zoa garden
chalice
large tree sponge

Thank you for any help provided and I am not sure I want to add another clown as I think it would require another anemone and I for sure don't want to do that.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Clowns don’t require anemones...... but I wouldn’t recommend a third one either way.


Probably a blenny or something?

 

[Kal93]

Your system is very similar to mine!

Before the bacterial infection took out my fish, I had 1 resplendant and 1 ventralis anthias; they stayed in a 12" region on either side of the tank, flowing against the current. Very beautiful splashes of color! I did feed them 2-6x per a day--despite their small size, they added substantial bioload.

I would advise against a flasher wrasse; my McCosker swam all over the tank and would have appreciated more space.

What about a royal gramma, flame cardinal, or dartfish?

 

[Jesterrace]

So have the current fish been in there for years? It can be tricky to add new fish especially when a very well established clown is in play.

 

[Ka0s]

Exactly what I was getting at. I am hesitant to add but I need to increase the load. Hence the post.

 

[mattzang]

there's only one clown? you could add a second

since the other clown will be busy with 2nd clown, add another fish or two at that time so aggression is dispersed a bit

some kind of blenny, royal gramma or blackcap basslet, assessors of some sort would be my go to