Suggestions for stocking my aquarium

[Hults]

I want to add more fish & inverts to my stocking list would love to hear some suggestions for my 50 gallon (40” long 18” wide 18” tall) reef tank

If I listen to google my tank would be empty because nothing is “compatible” so I would rather hear from the community about your experience stocking tanks and combining different fish

Tank currently has:

2 Clownfish
Royal gramma
Trochus snail
Blue leg hermit crab

Things I plan to stock:

Tomini tang
6 line wrasse
Diamond goby
Cleaner shrimps
More hermit crabs
More snails
Anemone
Corals

Things I want to add but am skeptical about because of my current stocking list please tell me if any of these would be a hard yes or no:

Lawn mower blenny
( worried about fighting with tomini tang because I am already pushing the limit of tank size with that)

Fire fish
Worried 6 line wrasse will pick on it

Watchman goby + Pistol shrimp
Love their relationship but worried the diamond goby would cause problems

Flame Hawkfish or Long nose hawkfish
Really like the perching nature of these fish but worried for my inverts if I got either of these

Thank you for your suggestions r2r is so helpful to me!

 

[Tahoe61]

Congrats on your new tank.

It's my experience that a Fire Fish versus a Sixline Wrasse is a better choice. Many Six Line are good citizens but a lot are not long term. It's very hard to catch a Six Line if it goes rogue.

Remember that a Pistal Goby duo is going to lead to periods of diminished water clarity. That's a deal breaker for me.

I have no current experience with Tangs or Benny.

I like Red Hawk Fish, you're just going to have to risk it. I never had many issues.

 

[dank.reefer]

I want to add more fish & inverts to my stocking list would love to hear some suggestions for my 50 gallon (40” long 18” wide 18” tall) reef tank

If I listen to google my tank would be empty because nothing is “compatible” so I would rather hear from the community about your experience stocking tanks and combining different fish

Tank currently has:

2 Clownfish
Royal gramma
Trochus snail
Blue leg hermit crab

Things I plan to stock:

Tomini tang
6 line wrasse
Diamond goby
Cleaner shrimps
More hermit crabs
More snails
Anemone
Corals

Things I want to add but am skeptical about because of my current stocking list please tell me if any of these would be a hard yes or no:

Lawn mower blenny
( worried about fighting with tomini tang because I am already pushing the limit of tank size with that)

Fire fish
Worried 6 line wrasse will pick on it

Watchman goby + Pistol shrimp
Love their relationship but worried the diamond goby would cause problems

Flame Hawkfish or Long nose hawkfish
Really like the perching nature of these fish but worried for my inverts if I got either of these

Thank you for your suggestions r2r is so helpful to me!

IME gobies and blennies don't do well together. So it's one or the other there. Also diamond gobies are quite difficult to keep alive with a virgin sand bed such as yours simce they primarily feed on detritus and microfauna in the sand. I have a flame hawk he perches on everything in the tank(corals, powerheads, returnjets, nori clip, etc.) and causes no harm, I probablywouldn'tkeep a tank without one now I really loke their personality. I also have a lawnmower blenny in one tank and a starry blenny in the other. The starry is definitely more aggressive but I still would not advise putting a goby in the same tank as a lawnmower blenny either.

 

[Hults]

Congrats on your new tank.

It's my experience that a Fire Fish versus a Sixline Wrasse is a better choice. Many Six Line are good citizens but a lot are not long term. It's very hard to catch a Six Line if it goes rogue.

Remember that a Pistal Goby duo is going to lead to periods of diminished water clarity. That's a deal breaker for me.

I have no current experience with Tangs or Benny.

I like Red Hawk Fish, you're just going to have to risk it. I never had many issues.

Thank you and I agree 6 line would be much more utility to me and I never thought of water clarity to be an issue with the pistol + goby and probably will roll the dice on the flame hawk any other fish you’d add on top of my list?

 

[Hults]

I want to add more fish & inverts to my stocking list would love to hear some suggestions for my 50 gallon (40” long 18” wide 18” tall) reef tank

If I listen to google my tank would be empty because nothing is “compatible” so I would rather hear from the community about your experience stocking tanks and combining different fish

Tank currently has:

2 Clownfish
Royal gramma
Trochus snail
Blue leg hermit crab

Things I plan to stock:

Tomini tang
6 line wrasse
Diamond goby
Cleaner shrimps
More hermit crabs
More snails
Anemone
Corals

Things I want to add but am skeptical about because of my current stocking list please tell me if any of these would be a hard yes or no:

Lawn mower blenny
( worried about fighting with tomini tang because I am already pushing the limit of tank size with that)

Fire fish
Worried 6 line wrasse will pick on it

Watchman goby + Pistol shrimp
Love their relationship but worried the diamond goby would cause problems

Flame Hawkfish or Long nose hawkfish
Really like the perching nature of these fish but worried for my inverts if I got either of these

Thank you for your suggestions r2r is so helpful to me!

IME gobies and blennies don't do well together. So it's one or the other there. Also diamond gobies are quite difficult to keep alive with a virgin sand bed such as yours simce they primarily feed on detritus and microfauna in the sand. I have a flame hawk he perches on everything in the tank(corals, powerheads, returnjets, nori clip, etc.) and causes no harm, I probablywouldn'tkeep a tank without one now I really loke their personality. I also have a lawnmower blenny in one tank and a starry blenny in the other. The starry is definitely more aggressive but I still would not advise putting a goby in the same tank as a lawnmower blenny either.

Thank you diamond goby I wouldn’t add for 8 months at least I love the flame hawks gonna add one at some point anything else you would add on top of my list?

 

[joseph scott]

I would have a mellanarous wrasse instead of the terror a six line can become.

 

[dank.reefer]

I want to add more fish & inverts to my stocking list would love to hear some suggestions for my 50 gallon (40” long 18” wide 18” tall) reef tank

If I listen to google my tank would be empty because nothing is “compatible” so I would rather hear from the community about your experience stocking tanks and combining different fish

Tank currently has:

2 Clownfish
Royal gramma
Trochus snail
Blue leg hermit crab

Things I plan to stock:

Tomini tang
6 line wrasse
Diamond goby
Cleaner shrimps
More hermit crabs
More snails
Anemone
Corals

Things I want to add but am skeptical about because of my current stocking list please tell me if any of these would be a hard yes or no:

Lawn mower blenny
( worried about fighting with tomini tang because I am already pushing the limit of tank size with that)

Fire fish
Worried 6 line wrasse will pick on it

Watchman goby + Pistol shrimp
Love their relationship but worried the diamond goby would cause problems

Flame Hawkfish or Long nose hawkfish
Really like the perching nature of these fish but worried for my inverts if I got either of these

Thank you for your suggestions r2r is so helpful to me!

IME gobies and blennies don't do well together. So it's one or the other there. Also diamond gobies are quite difficult to keep alive with a virgin sand bed such as yours simce they primarily feed on detritus and microfauna in the sand. I have a flame hawk he perches on everything in the tank(corals, powerheads, returnjets, nori clip, etc.) and causes no harm, I probablywouldn'tkeep a tank without one now I really loke their personality. I also have a lawnmower blenny in one tank and a starry blenny in the other. The starry is definitely more aggressive but I still would not advise putting a goby in the same tank as a lawnmower blenny either.

Thank you diamond goby I wouldn’t add for 8 months at least I love the flame hawks gonna add one at some point anything else you would add on top of my list?

I think that since you have a nice sand bed a yellow coris wrasse would be a better choice than a six line wrasse. For the six line or the coris it would be one or the other. The six line if you do decide to go that route should be the last of the small fish added. I have both a six line and a yellow coris wrasse in 2 separate tanks. I can say hands down I like my yellow coris wrasse better.

The six line wrasse I hardly ever see, in fact I sometimes forget I even have him. I think the six line wrasse tends to get a bad rap because people keep them in too small of a tank without enough tank mates. Wrasses in general are very active and curious; and without enough freinds to checkin on, it's like having a 5yo child hopped up on red bull and candy with nowhere to go and only 1 freind. Most retailers list sixline wrasses for a minimum tank size of 20g. That is way too small IMO. I feel that 50g and bigger is a more appropriate tank size for them.

I also have a Tomini tang he is a great fish. I also like to suggest a convict tang. I really like that fish. What they lack in appearance they really make up for in character. My convict is always the first to greet me when I walk up to the tank, and has no fear of me when I am working in and around the tank. He will actually swim up and kiss my fingers to see if I have any food. I keep both the tomini and the convict in the same 50g tank together, they are pals. They will be moving into my 100g tank at the end of the year.

 

[Hults]

I want to add more fish & inverts to my stocking list would love to hear some suggestions for my 50 gallon (40” long 18” wide 18” tall) reef tank

If I listen to google my tank would be empty because nothing is “compatible” so I would rather hear from the community about your experience stocking tanks and combining different fish

Tank currently has:

2 Clownfish
Royal gramma
Trochus snail
Blue leg hermit crab

Things I plan to stock:

Tomini tang
6 line wrasse
Diamond goby
Cleaner shrimps
More hermit crabs
More snails
Anemone
Corals

Things I want to add but am skeptical about because of my current stocking list please tell me if any of these would be a hard yes or no:

Lawn mower blenny
( worried about fighting with tomini tang because I am already pushing the limit of tank size with that)

Fire fish
Worried 6 line wrasse will pick on it

Watchman goby + Pistol shrimp
Love their relationship but worried the diamond goby would cause problems

Flame Hawkfish or Long nose hawkfish
Really like the perching nature of these fish but worried for my inverts if I got either of these

Thank you for your suggestions r2r is so helpful to me!

IME gobies and blennies don't do well together. So it's one or the other there. Also diamond gobies are quite difficult to keep alive with a virgin sand bed such as yours simce they primarily feed on detritus and microfauna in the sand. I have a flame hawk he perches on everything in the tank(corals, powerheads, returnjets, nori clip, etc.) and causes no harm, I probablywouldn'tkeep a tank without one now I really loke their personality. I also have a lawnmower blenny in one tank and a starry blenny in the other. The starry is definitely more aggressive but I still would not advise putting a goby in the same tank as a lawnmower blenny either.

Thank you diamond goby I wouldn’t add for 8 months at least I love the flame hawks gonna add one at some point anything else you would add on top of my list?

I think that since you have a nice sand bed a yellow coris wrasse would be a better choice than a six line wrasse. For the six line or the coris it would be one or the other. The six line if you do decide to go that route should be the last of the small fish added. I have both a six line and a yellow coris wrasse in 2 separate tanks. I can say hands down I like my yellow coris wrasse better.

The six line wrasse I hardly ever see, in fact I sometimes forget I even have him. I think the six line wrasse tends to get a bad rap because people keep them in too small of a tank without enough tank mates. Wrasses in general are very active and curious; and without enough freinds to checkin on, it's like having a 5yo child hopped up on red bull and candy with nowhere to go and only 1 freind. Most retailers list sixline wrasses for a minimum tank size of 20g. That is way too small IMO. I feel that 50g and bigger is a more appropriate tank size for them.

I also have a Tomini tang he is a great fish. I also like to suggest a convict tang. I really like that fish. What they lack in appearance they really make up for in character. My convict is always the first to greet me when I walk up to the tank, and has no fear of me when I am working in and around the tank. He will actually swim up and kiss my fingers to see if I have any food. I keep both the tomini and the convict in the same 50g tank together, they are pals. They will be moving into my 100g tank at the end of the year.

Great suggestion with the yellow Corris wrasse just did some research on it seems like a great fit thanks!

 

[dank.reefer]

Great suggestion with the yellow Corris wrasse just did some research on it seems like a great fit thanks!

If you do end up getting any wrasses make sure to get a lid for the tank. If you don't you will come home to a dried up wrasse jerky on the floor. I just use a window screen frame from Home Depot with 1/4" clear netting from Amazon. My yellow wrasse will get excited at dinner time and start jumping and splashing for attention until I feed him.

 

[Hults]

Great suggestion with the yellow Corris wrasse just did some research on it seems like a great fit thanks!

If you do end up getting any wrasses make sure to get a lid for the tank. If you don't you will come home to a dried up wrasse jerky on the floor. I just use a window screen frame from Home Depot with 1/4" clear netting from Amazon. My yellow wrasse will get excited at dinner time and start jumping and splashing for attention until I feed him.

DIY Red Sea lid I have the cutout pieces for my lights on the way as well will have 2 hydra edge 44s on Tuesday

 

[dank.reefer]

Great suggestion with the yellow Corris wrasse just did some research on it seems like a great fit thanks!

If you do end up getting any wrasses make sure to get a lid for the tank. If you don't you will come home to a dried up wrasse jerky on the floor. I just use a window screen frame from Home Depot with 1/4" clear netting from Amazon. My yellow wrasse will get excited at dinner time and start jumping and splashing for attention until I feed him.

DIY Red Sea lid I have the cutout pieces for my lights on the way as well will have 2 hydra edge 44s on Tuesday

Awesome that will work perfectly. Once your Yellow Coris is in there you will be very happy you have that.