Need advice on new fish choice for my tank

Benoit Martin · Dec 12, 2019

My tank is a 120G, it is about 8 months old and is currently set as a FOWLR. This is my first tank so even though I have learned a lot during the time it's been up and running, I am pretty new to all this.

I am hopping to start adding some corals within 6 months but I would likely stick to "easy" corals as I lack experience and don't want to make the tank maintenance too complicated.

My current stock is:
- 2 ocellaris clowns
- 1 diamond goby
- 1 azure damsel
- 1 banggai cardinalfish
- 1 melanurus wrasse
- 1 skunk cleaner shrimp
- 1 red leg hermit crab
- 2 chocolate chip starfish

I am aware that the starfish are going to be a problem with coral so I'll probably have to remove them from the tank when I add my first coral.
I have not added any fish to the tank in about 3 months

What I would love to add:
- 1 yellow tang
- 1 flame angel
- 1 or more azure damsels

So I have the following questions:
- Can I add all those at once or should I spread? (trying to avoid having to go through quarantine multiple times, not fun)
- Can I add more azure damsels or is it too late because the current one has been there for a while and has established his territory?
- I know that angels are a little bit of a crap shoot for compatibility with corals but are there any other concerns about adding the flame with my current setup?
- Any other recommendations of fish to add?

I value greatly the opinion of this community and I love having additional advice to what I get at my LFS.
Thank you

mta_morrow · Dec 12, 2019

Benoit Martin said:
My tank is a 120G, it is about 8 months old and is currently set as a FOWLR. This is my first tank so even though I have learned a lot during the time it's been up and running, I am pretty new to all this.

I am hopping to start adding some corals within 6 months but I would likely stick to "easy" corals as I lack experience and don't want to make the tank maintenance too complicated.

My current stock is:
- 2 ocellaris clowns
- 1 diamond goby
- 1 azure damsel
- 1 banggai cardinalfish
- 1 melanurus wrasse
- 1 skunk cleaner shrimp
- 1 red leg hermit crab
- 2 chocolate chip starfish

I am aware that the starfish are going to be a problem with coral so I'll probably have to remove them from the tank when I add my first coral.
I have not added any fish to the tank in about 3 months

What I would love to add:
- 1 yellow tang
- 1 flame angel
- 1 or more azure damsels

So I have the following questions:
- Can I add all those at once or should I spread? (trying to avoid having to go through quarantine multiple times, not fun)
- Can I add more azure damsels or is it too late because the current one has been there for a while and has established his territory?
- I know that angels are a little bit of a crap shoot for compatibility with corals but are there any other concerns about adding the flame with my current setup?
- Any other recommendations of fish to add?

I value greatly the opinion of this community and I love having additional advice to what I get at my LFS.
Thank you

You can add them all at once. I personally would add 3+ azures because if you do 1, there will most likely be a fight to the death. I have had 3 for over a year and I want more, but I would have to do 5 or more to avoid fighting. And even then I’m not sure how it would turn out.