Stocking a 75 (with Existing Clowns & Green Band Gobies)

[GrumpyAlison]

I think I'm about to pick up a 75 gal tank to condense my 3 separate systems into and I was curious to get people's opinions/experiences with a few fish. 75 is the biggest I can reasonably go in the space I have.

I have a pair of clowns and a pair of green banded gobies that will be in the tank, as well as some big brittle stars. Corals are mostly softies (musrooms, leathers & zoas) and a few duncans and there is a lid on the tank. I was also looking at getting some skunk cleaner shrimp (or other cleaner shrimp as long as they won't mess with my corals when I feed - I'm open to suggestions on the shrimp). There will be lots of rockwork in the tank once I'm done with it.

The two fish I REALLY like I was never able to have before are midas blennys and engineer gobies, but I've read the midas can be kind of a jerk and I have concerns about space for the engineer gobies once they grow larger (especially since they apparently do better in groups) as I def don't want them knocking over rocks or covering $200 mushrooms in sand. I'm not overly worried about the clowns, but I dont want anything I get to terrorize the gobies (worst case they could live in my coral quarantine tank, but I'd rather not downsize their tank from a 20L).

I'd LIKE an engineer, i just feel like that's probably out because of size/strength (I am curious how they do with smaller fish though, even if I don't get one).
I suppose I was mostly curious on people's experience with the midas blenny (or other blennys - I sort of just like the weird way they move) and how they do long term with small dudes like the green bands. I also like the forktail, harptail, blackline striped, bundoon, canary or smith's blenny. Bonus points for the blackline & harptail because they're theoretically more peaceful? But still venemous ;n;

Other stocking options I was loosely considering (not all of them, these are just fish I like):
anything that schools/schoals
--chromis
--cardinal fish
--if there's any tiny schooling fish that aren't crazy expensive and wouldn't get eaten, that would be neat - I like tiny fish.

perhaps some kind of dottyback, though I've heard they can be jerks too
--neon
--orchid
--splendid
--electric indigo

any small/bright goby that wouldn't heckle the green band
--sharknose or neon
--yellow watchman (I know they like pistol shrimp and I was wondering if that's a necessity and if the pistol shrimp would get weird with my corals or skunks)
--hectors

Maybe a dartfish? (curious if they hang out together or just like occasional company for those that prefer multiples)
-- zebra barred (I REALLY like these dudes for some reason and was wondering if anyone had experience with them/how many should be kept together)
--exquisite or purple
--blue gudgeon

Wrasse
-- carpenter or mcCosker (for looks)
--filamented flasher
--sizline
--melanarus

Misc
--royal grama

I do have some red flatworms atm, but I'm slowly/systematically flatworm exiting all my rocks, waiting a week, dipping them again and then moving them into the new tank. Hopefully that eliminates the issue, but part of the reason a wrasse appeals is because if that doesn't get rid of the flatties, their numbers will hopefully be kept down, but I also know people have lots of issues with them, so I'm not sure if I care enough to actually get one. I've also heard the Melanarus can/will eat the whole cuc if given the change, so that seems... not good considering the cuc is my favorite part of the tank XD I do think wrasses are really pretty though.

If anyone has thoughts on the above fish or other usually-not-jerk fish that might do well with the fish I already have/will be moving into the new setup, I'm super open to suggestions.
Thanks!!

 

[Jseimo]

I think I'm about to pick up a 75 gal tank to condense my 3 separate systems into and I was curious to get people's opinions/experiences with a few fish. 75 is the biggest I can reasonably go in the space I have.

I have a pair of clowns and a pair of green banded gobies that will be in the tank, as well as some big brittle stars. Corals are mostly softies (musrooms, leathers & zoas) and a few duncans and there is a lid on the tank. I was also looking at getting some skunk cleaner shrimp (or other cleaner shrimp as long as they won't mess with my corals when I feed - I'm open to suggestions on the shrimp). There will be lots of rockwork in the tank once I'm done with it.

The two fish I REALLY like I was never able to have before are midas blennys and engineer gobies, but I've read the midas can be kind of a jerk and I have concerns about space for the engineer gobies once they grow larger (especially since they apparently do better in groups) as I def don't want them knocking over rocks or covering $200 mushrooms in sand. I'm not overly worried about the clowns, but I dont want anything I get to terrorize the gobies (worst case they could live in my coral quarantine tank, but I'd rather not downsize their tank from a 20L).

I'd LIKE an engineer, i just feel like that's probably out because of size/strength (I am curious how they do with smaller fish though, even if I don't get one).
I suppose I was mostly curious on people's experience with the midas blenny (or other blennys - I sort of just like the weird way they move) and how they do long term with small dudes like the green bands. I also like the forktail, harptail, blackline striped, bundoon, canary or smith's blenny. Bonus points for the blackline & harptail because they're theoretically more peaceful? But still venemous ;n;

Other stocking options I was loosely considering (not all of them, these are just fish I like):
anything that schools/schoals
--chromis
--cardinal fish
--if there's any tiny schooling fish that aren't crazy expensive and wouldn't get eaten, that would be neat - I like tiny fish.

perhaps some kind of dottyback, though I've heard they can be jerks too
--neon
--orchid
--splendid
--electric indigo

any small/bright goby that wouldn't heckle the green band
--sharknose or neon
--yellow watchman (I know they like pistol shrimp and I was wondering if that's a necessity and if the pistol shrimp would get weird with my corals or skunks)
--hectors

Maybe a dartfish? (curious if they hang out together or just like occasional company for those that prefer multiples)
-- zebra barred (I REALLY like these dudes for some reason and was wondering if anyone had experience with them/how many should be kept together)
--exquisite or purple
--blue gudgeon

Wrasse
-- carpenter or mcCosker (for looks)
--filamented flasher
--sizline
--melanarus

Misc
--royal grama

I do have some red flatworms atm, but I'm slowly/systematically flatworm exiting all my rocks, waiting a week, dipping them again and then moving them into the new tank. Hopefully that eliminates the issue, but part of the reason a wrasse appeals is because if that doesn't get rid of the flatties, their numbers will hopefully be kept down, but I also know people have lots of issues with them, so I'm not sure if I care enough to actually get one. I've also heard the Melanarus can/will eat the whole cuc if given the change, so that seems... not good considering the cuc is my favorite part of the tank XD I do think wrasses are really pretty though.

If anyone has thoughts on the above fish or other usually-not-jerk fish that might do well with the fish I already have/will be moving into the new setup, I'm super open to suggestions.
Thanks!!

Blennies are hit and miss in my experience. Had jerks and calm ones, no way to know till you get one. Chromis and cardinals can school, but I’ve never had them do it (they kill each other until only one remains). Melanarus wrasse for sure. I wouldn’t do a tank without one now. A lot of gobys will fight each other in a tank that size, wouldn’t risk it. The engineer goby is bad with rocks because they dig under them causing them to collapse. As long as your rocks are on the bottom and epoxied together they’re worth a shot (and I’ve heard 2 is ideal but they do great as a single). Royal grama is a good choice over a dottyback. They can be territorial but not bad. Fire fish are good choices, they can school as well but are prolific jumpers. Other fish to consider small bristletooth tangs ie tomini, kole. Coral beauty dwarf angel, yellow coris wrasse. If you set up a refugium you could also look into dragonettes

 

[GrumpyAlison]

I actually decided on the fish I'm going to get (I actually made another thread since this one wouldn't let me edit it and tried to have this one deleted, so the info was a bit out of date). Thanks for the thoughts though! I listed my stocking plans below if anyone has any specific thoughts on it.

But I'm def getting 2 engineer gobies (and building the rockwork accordingly - they're the only fish I've ever really wanted so I'm jumping through some hoops for them) and I think I'm going to throw the percs in the top display tank.
My other plan was to get a carpenter wrasse, lubbock's wrasse, green canary blenny and 1-3 springeri damsels (since i've heard they were peaceful). And I'm probably going to keep my existing green bands in another tank so they don't get eaten by the engineers once they get bigger.
If it turns out the blenny is a jerk I can always catch it somehow and leave it in the lower tank with my other pair of black clowns since they're a bit better at defending themselves and already slightly larger.

I really like dragonettes, but I'm really not into the maintenance that comes with them tbh For some reason pods never do super well in my tanks and since I'm keeping fish in the bottom tank it might cause issues with whatever ones are there.

I like the look of the melanarus but I'm very much not into the idea of it eating my cuc and like 80% of accounts I read said they were evil or grew up to be evil.

Angels and tangs are also really cool but i'm really not into how aggro the angels get or how not reef safe they are (I reef for the corals, not so much the fish) and I feel like a 75 is too small for basically any tang I've read about in the long run and I don't feel like rehoming fish after they outgrow the setup.