Need help deciding on whether or not a fish is right for your tank? Post here and we'll help!

[Voorheez90]

Hey guys. First time posting here, so excuse me of any etiquette mistakes. I set up a 72g bowfront (fowlr) about 6 years ago and have been enjoying it every since. So I'm not exactly new. But the past few years I've neglected it. I'm in the process of revamping it and making things right, and keeping them right. System is a 72g bowfront with a 20g sump, reef octo 150 skimmer, 125lbs live rock, ~2" sand bed, and 2 3200 gph powerheads. Algae every where, sand bed is very dirty, and the only inhabitants are 2 clown fish and coral banded shrimp. Nitrates are of course too high, so a few larger water changes over the next few weeks are planned. Any tips on getting her cleaned up? As soon as I get my nitrates down I am planning on getting a CUC (looking for advice on this), vacuuming up top layer of sand, and getting a filefish (slight aiptasia problem) as my first addition in a long time. Just looking for advice and opinions on this and my possible stocking list:
2 clown fish
Filefish
Orange spotted goby
Royal gramma
3 Yellowtail Damsels
One spotted foxface
Flame angelfish
And possibly 2 Firefish

 

[Gareth elliott]

Hey guys. First time posting here, so excuse me of any etiquette mistakes. I set up a 72g bowfront (fowlr) about 6 years ago and have been enjoying it every since. So I'm not exactly new. But the past few years I've neglected it. I'm in the process of revamping it and making things right, and keeping them right. System is a 72g bowfront with a 20g sump, reef octo 150 skimmer, 125lbs live rock, ~2" sand bed, and 2 3200 gph powerheads. Algae every where, sand bed is very dirty, and the only inhabitants are 2 clown fish and coral banded shrimp. Nitrates are of course too high, so a few larger water changes over the next few weeks are planned. Any tips on getting her cleaned up? As soon as I get my nitrates down I am planning on getting a CUC (looking for advice on this), vacuuming up top layer of sand, and getting a filefish (slight aiptasia problem) as my first addition in a long time. Just looking for advice and opinions on this and my possible stocking list:
2 clown fish
Filefish
Orange spotted goby
Royal gramma
3 Yellowtail Damsels
One spotted foxface
Flame angelfish
And possibly 2 Firefish

Welcome to r2r!

I think https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/ this page should help with getting your tank back under control.

As far as your stocking,
Fox face i think requires more foot print than the 72 bowfront.

Only 1 fire fish unless a true bonded pair.

Damsels and clowns are related there could be squabbling amongst them.

Also if located near a reef club, they often rent out file fish, just something to think about.

 

[Voorheez90]

Thanks for your reply. I'm disappointed about the foxface... That's one that I've always had my eye on and wanted to be the star of the tank alongside the flame angel. I'll stick to one Firefish. Would 3 chromis be a suitable replacement for the damsels? I'm hoping that they will school. Any ideas as far as stocking? Looking for a couple "star of the show" fish and a variety of color. Also looking for advice on inverts for my tank.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Thanks for your reply. I'm disappointed about the foxface... That's one that I've always had my eye on and wanted to be the star of the tank alongside the flame angel. I'll stick to one Firefish. Would 3 chromis be a suitable replacement for the damsels? I'm hoping that they will school. Any ideas as far as stocking? Looking for a couple "star of the show" fish and a variety of color. Also looking for advice on inverts for my tank.

For midsized tanks.
I would look at wrasses, few fish have their color and there are many that will fit your tank. Unlike a lot of other groups of stand out fish.

Inverts i like a utilitarian mixture along with some that are fun to watch.

Trochus, ceriths, astraea snails.

Red and blue leg Hermits and my new favorite pom pom crabs. Hermits will help get those small particles you cant get yourself. The pom poms are just pretty [emoji23]

If you have a lot of algae there are urchins and turbo snails. I have mixed results with turbos personally, think i always end up with temperate species that die a few months after purchase. But they eat A LOT of algae.

 

[Voorheez90]

Never even thought about a wrasse. There are some gorgeous species... I will definitely look into them. Just installed new filters in my ro/di unit. It's currently doing its 1 hour "flushing" thing. Should be about done and going to get some filtered water going finally! I have two 44 gallon brute cans waiting to be filled. But all of my salt that I had put up (big box of instant ocean individually bagged) is rock solid... Is this safe to break up and use? Or do I need to get more?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Never even thought about a wrasse. There are some gorgeous species... I will definitely look into them. Just installed new filters in my ro/di unit. It's currently doing its 1 hour "flushing" thing. Should be about done and going to get some filtered water going finally! I have two 44 gallon brute cans waiting to be filled. But all of my salt that I had put up (big box of instant ocean individually bagged) is rock solid... Is this safe to break up and use? Or do I need to get more?

Will be safe, just verify salinity hard to measure when doesn’t break up.

 

[Lissa1987]

Ok, so I posted previously but have narrowed my list down...I have a 90 gallon FOWLR with a sump and protein skimmer. I have massive rock and a fish maintenance company that says I should have no issues with bioload, the issues i would have is with aggression. I currently have a Harlequin Tusk, Bluethroat Tigger and Flame angel. I am considering adding some of the following:
Flame hawkfish
Regal angel
Foxface
blue chromis trio
Some type of anthias trio
Pair of clowns
Kole tang
Yellow tang
Royal gamma or black cap basslet
A blenny of some sort
Trio of damsels of some sort
Goby of some sort
Butterfly
Wrasses- I need help here as there are so many and I don't know anything about them
Which of these would be suitable for my current setup and inhabitants?

 

[a;lksdjf]

Hey guys. First time posting here, so excuse me of any etiquette mistakes. I set up a 72g bowfront (fowlr) about 6 years ago and have been enjoying it every since. So I'm not exactly new. But the past few years I've neglected it. I'm in the process of revamping it and making things right, and keeping them right. System is a 72g bowfront with a 20g sump, reef octo 150 skimmer, 125lbs live rock, ~2" sand bed, and 2 3200 gph powerheads. Algae every where, sand bed is very dirty, and the only inhabitants are 2 clown fish and coral banded shrimp. Nitrates are of course too high, so a few larger water changes over the next few weeks are planned. Any tips on getting her cleaned up? As soon as I get my nitrates down I am planning on getting a CUC (looking for advice on this), vacuuming up top layer of sand, and getting a filefish (slight aiptasia problem) as my first addition in a long time. Just looking for advice and opinions on this and my possible stocking list:
2 clown fish
Filefish
Orange spotted goby
Royal gramma
3 Yellowtail Damsels
One spotted foxface
Flame angelfish
And possibly 2 Firefish

For a CUC, get 15-20ish nassarius snails to keep the sand bed stirred and eat bits of food that fall down, some red-legged hermits, a pincushion urchin if you have a surplus of algae, some turban snails, maybe a sand sifting starfish or brittle star once your nitrate levels under control, and maybe 6 or so peppermint shrimp would be the easier route for aptasia than a filefish if you aren’t able to rent one out like garreth elliott said. In terms of stocking, the damsels might fight with the clowns, you need a slightly bigger tank for a foxface, and you would do best with only 1 firefish since they very rarely pair up. As alternatives, you could get a group of pajama cardinals, a melanurus wrasse, a midas blenny, or a dispar anthias

 

[a;lksdjf]

Ok, so I posted previously but have narrowed my list down...I have a 90 gallon FOWLR with a sump and protein skimmer. I have massive rock and a fish maintenance company that says I should have no issues with bioload, the issues i would have is with aggression. I currently have a Harlequin Tusk, Bluethroat Tigger and Flame angel. I am considering adding some of the following:
Flame hawkfish
Regal angel
Foxface
blue chromis trio
Some type of anthias trio
Pair of clowns
Kole tang
Yellow tang
Royal gamma or black cap basslet
A blenny of some sort
Trio of damsels of some sort
Goby of some sort
Butterfly
Wrasses- I need help here as there are so many and I don't know anything about them
Which of these would be suitable for my current setup and inhabitants?

A blue throat trigger, harlequin tusk, regal angel, and yellow tang require bigger tanks than a 90 gallon. A 120 gallon would be much better for those fish. The chromis, damsels, and clowns will probably fight since they are all different kinds of damsels, so only get one of those groups. A good wrasse to keep is the melanurus wrasse or most flasher wrasses, a burgess’ or spotband butterflyfish will do good, midas blennies are always fun to watch, most gobies are peaceful and easy enough to keep so I wouldn’t worry too much about what kind you get for them, and I don’t know enough about anthias to recommend a species

 

[Voorheez90]

Will be safe, just verify salinity hard to measure when doesn’t break up.

How often can I do water changes? I just did a 50% last night and want to do as many as I can and as big as I can without crashing anything...

 

[Voorheez90]

For a CUC, get 15-20ish nassarius snails to keep the sand bed stirred and eat bits of food that fall down, some red-legged hermits, a pincushion urchin if you have a surplus of algae, some turban snails, maybe a sand sifting starfish or brittle star once your nitrate levels under control, and maybe 6 or so peppermint shrimp would be the easier route for aptasia than a filefish if you aren’t able to rent one out like garreth elliott said. In terms of stocking, the damsels might fight with the clowns, you need a slightly bigger tank for a foxface, and you would do best with only 1 firefish since they very rarely pair up. As alternatives, you could get a group of pajama cardinals, a melanurus wrasse, a midas blenny, or a dispar anthias

Would the urchin be OK with my nitrate levels high? I've added 10 nassarius snails, 10 astrea, and 10 blue leg hermits after I did my water change and acclimated them. Why do you suggest peppermint shrimp over the file fish? I actually like the ugly little guys, and want to keep him.

 

[AMBER NICHOLS]

Hi all! I have a 150g deep(wet end of October). I have my clean up crew added. I successfully QT'd 2 very small clowns who are now in DT. I currently have a longnose hawkfish in my QT. All is going well. Hawkfish will go in DT in a few weeks. I am trying to determine my next move for QT. These are the fish I want next but I don't want to QT more then 2 at a time.

Marine Betta
Lubbock's Wrasse
Exquisite Wrasse
Ruby Longfin Wrasse
Lavendar Tang
Coral beauty angelfish

I think my next addition to QT should be the marina betta since it's the least aggressive? Any recommendations/cautions about QTing one of the Wrasse listed with it?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Hi all! I have a 150g deep(wet end of October). I have my clean up crew added. I successfully QT'd 2 very small clowns who are now in DT. I currently have a longnose hawkfish in my QT. All is going well. Hawkfish will go in DT in a few weeks. I am trying to determine my next move for QT. These are the fish I want next but I don't want to QT more then 2 at a time.

Marine Betta
Lubbock's Wrasse
Exquisite Wrasse
Ruby Longfin Wrasse
Lavendar Tang
Coral beauty angelfish

I think my next addition to QT should be the marina betta since it's the least aggressive? Any recommendations/cautions about QTing one of the Wrasse listed with it?

Those wrasses will ignore the marine betta.

The ruby longfin is the most assertive of the 3 species, so I would recommend qting the lubbocks and exquisitus together, then on the next round do the betta and ruby longfin.

 

[Nyx101]

Hi there I have a 92g with 32g sump and 100 lbs of rock. My stock list is beginner friendly and almost complete: baby Kole tang, 2 oscelarris, 1 azure damsel, lawnmower blenny, clown goby and royal gramma. I want to add one last fish which would be the orchid dottyback. I know it is not compatible with the gramma but am wondering if some people have had luck anyway. Thanks for sharing experiences with those two together.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Hi there I have a 92g with 32g sump and 100 lbs of rock. My stock list is beginner friendly and almost complete: baby Kole tang, 2 oscelarris, 1 azure damsel, lawnmower blenny, clown goby and royal gramma. I want to add one last fish which would be the orchid dottyback. I know it is not compatible with the gramma but am wondering if some people have had luck anyway. Thanks for sharing experiences with those two together.

If the gramma is in the tank and well established, it may be possible to add the orchid.

 

[Thibaud]

Hey guys,

I have a 35gal tank with plenty of live rock, a sandbed and a 10gal sump w good skimmer (been running for half a year now).
Right now i have a gramma loreto and a lawnmower blenny, they are doing great.
I am planning to add 2 ocellaris clownfish and a fire red shrimp.
Does this sound good?
I'd like one more fish (or replace the shrimp with a fish) but i think it might be overkill, what are you're thoughts?
(i do weekly whater changes of around 7procent)
Thanks a lot.

 

[mta_morrow]

Hey guys,

I have a 35gal tank with plenty of live rock, a sandbed and a 10gal sump w good skimmer (been running for half a year now).
Right now i have a gramma loreto and a lawnmower blenny, they are doing great.
I am planning to add 2 ocellaris clownfish and a fire red shrimp.
Does this sound good?
I'd like one more fish (or replace the shrimp with a fish) but i think it might be overkill, what are you're thoughts?
(i do weekly whater changes of around 7procent)
Thanks a lot.

You can add another small fish. The clowns will become territorial as well as the blenny.

I would recommend a goby as it would have the sand bed to itself and not compete with any of the other fish.

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Hello all,

Considering a majestic angel or emperor angel (probably majestic at this point) for my mixed reef. Tank contains SPS mainly, however, euphyllia, acans, NPS, and zoas are present too.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Hello all,

Considering a majestic angel or emperor angel (probably majestic at this point) for my mixed reef. Tank contains SPS mainly, however, euphyllia, acans, NPS, and zoas are present too.

Sps and Euphyllia should be mostly safe, the other corals are at risk.

 

[RJ F.]

Hey guys. I'm new to reefing and was looking to have 7 fish in a 40b woth a 29g sump. I have a bubble magus curve 5 elite, refugium w/ cheato, and prolly a little over stocked on live rock. I also have 2 jebao ow-8 for flow. I have a few lps and softies right now. Tank has been running for about 3 months including 1 month cycle.

My stock so far:
2 snowflake clowns
Purple firefish
6 line wrasse
2 cleaner shrimp.

My future plans:
Royal gramma
Yellow tang ( maybe)
Mandarin (in about 9 months)
BTA

Let me know what you yall think. Thank you

Ps- I'm doing water changes every 1.5 to 2 weeks. 10 gallons per water change.

Ph 8.2
Calcium 360
Alk 8
Nitrates 0
Mag ? (Waiting on test kit)