Need advice on adding fish

[kimbericson]

I have a 40 gallon Cube. Up until 2 days ago I had 2 clowns, 1 Starry Blenny, 1 engineer goby.
Unfortunately my female clown jumped the tank and I now only have 1 clown...

I am a newbie and am nervous about adding fish and risking illness as well as adding fish now that I have an established Starry Blenny.

My plan was to have a clown goby which I purchaser the same time I purchased the Starry. Unfortunately the clown goby died after 24 hours in QT. So, the Blenny ended up being added to the main tank and is now established there.

I want to add more fish but am not sure how to do it now that the Blenny hangs out all over the tank.

I LOVE my Starry!!! It is so funny to watch and it is always peeking at me. I don’t want to upset this personality.

I would like to add another clown to have a pair. I would also like to add. Few more fish that will swim around a bit in the open water.

I welcome any advise/comments.

Thanks

 

[Macbalacano]

Sorry to hear about those losses. Typically here are things to consider when stocking fish:

- Try to have a plan ahead of time to see which fish are compatible or not. Make a list and try to narrow it down to what could work.
- Add fish in this order: from least aggressive to most aggressive
- If you are concerned about adding a new fish due to fish aggression, you can try using a small hang on/suction acclimation box in the tank. You put the new addition in there for a few days. This gives all the fish time to get familiar with each other without instant physical altercations
- It is up to you to decide if you want to continue QT'ing or not before adding in new additions. It is recommended, but recognizing its a bit of work to do so.

 

[Tired]

You should absolutely get a tight lid, if you haven't already. All fish (except seahorses) can jump in the right circumstances.

Agreed with the above advice.

Engineer gobies get very large, over a foot long, and burrow/scape extensively. You may want to reconsider him.

Blennies are most likely to be aggressive towards other blenny-shaped fish. If you want midwater fish, look into cardinalfish. They are very much not blenny-shaped fish.

 

[kimbericson]

Sorry to hear about those losses. Typically here are things to consider when stocking fish:

- Try to have a plan ahead of time to see which fish are compatible or not. Make a list and try to narrow it down to what could work.
- Add fish in this order: from least aggressive to most aggressive
- If you are concerned about adding a new fish due to fish aggression, you can try using a small hang on/suction acclimation box in the tank. You put the new addition in there for a few days. This gives all the fish time to get familiar with each other without instant physical altercations
- It is up to you to decide if you want to continue QT'ing or not before adding in new additions. It is recommended, but recognizing its a bit of work to do so.

Thanks for your reply, I intend to continue QT'ing as I have a 10 gallon tank set up.

Unfortunately my plan that I had ahead of time about what fish to add when got messed up when the Clown Goby died... I wanted to have both the clown goby and the Starry Blenny in my tank but ended up having to add the Blenny without the goby since it died while the 2 were being QT'd side by side (divider between) in my 10 gallon. Now I find myself with my Blenny in the tank and concerned about possible agression.

The hanging box sounds like a good idea, I will check into that.

I'm thinking that I probably won't be able to add a clown goby now since the Blenny has established in the tank...?? What fish would be ok to add now that my Blenny is established?

 

[kimbericson]

You should absolutely get a tight lid, if you haven't already. All fish (except seahorses) can jump in the right circumstances.

Agreed with the above advice.

Engineer gobies get very large, over a foot long, and burrow/scape extensively. You may want to reconsider him.

Blennies are most likely to be aggressive towards other blenny-shaped fish. If you want midwater fish, look into cardinalfish. They are very much not blenny-shaped fish.

Thank you for your reply, I have already gone to the home store and bought screen and framing to make a new lid.

I intend to remove the engineer goby, although it is cool to watch. It belonged to my son.

I have thought about cardinal fish... I have heard that they can pick each other off... I was thinking about getting 3 ( not sure if that would work). I was looking a the pajama cardinals.

Any other peaceful fish you would recommend?

 

[Tired]

Threadfin cardinalfish should be kept in shoals, as they're shoaling fish. Other species will probably pick each other off. Best to just get one, unless they're a mated pair.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

Yes Cardinals are good open water swimmers and nice looking. Or you could have a Javanese and a Blue Damsel instead; they swim about really well and are very beautiful fishes for the paltry prices they bring.