What fish to add?

[justrock79]

Hey Fam., it's been a minute,

We are, again, thinking of what to add to our swimming children for a 90 gal. reef tank and at the moment can't think of what would be good or ok. So, we're curious for the Collective thoughts.

Here's what we have currently:

A pair of green Mandarin dragonets,
Pistol shrimp and YWG pair,
A Firefish,
2 Kupang/Azure damels,
A Tomini tang (3 1/2inch), [we know we need/should upgrade soon],
And, the usual CUC plus 2 cleaner shrimp.

Any thoughts, advise and opinions are welcome and thanks.

 

[Fish Styx]

Hey Fam., it's been a minute,

We are, again, thinking of what to add to our swimming children for a 90 gal. reef tank and at the moment can't think of what would be good or ok. So, we're curious for the Collective thoughts.

Here's what we have currently:

A pair of green Mandarin dragonets,
Pistol shrimp and YWG pair,
A Firefish,
2 Kupang/Azure damels,
A Tomini tang (3 1/2inch), [we know we need/should upgrade soon],
And, the usual CUC plus 2 cleaner shrimp.

Any thoughts, advise and opinions are welcome and thanks.

The Tomini will be fine in the 90. Obviously, larger is always better, but it is a smaller Ctenochaetus and not like a Regal Blue.

If it were me, my next addition would be a wrasse, but I would be concerned about it outcompeting the mandarins for food. How do you replenish your pod supplies and / or do you have them weened onto frozen?

 

[KrisReef]

Depends on how you want to progress in the evolution of your tank.

Do you want to keep it casual or do you want to add a lionfish to migrate towards a more aggressive tank?

 

[justrock79]

The Tomini will be fine in the 90. Obviously, larger is always better, but it is a smaller Ctenochaetus and not like a Regal Blue.

If it were me, my next addition would be a wrasse, but I would be concerned about it outcompeting the mandarins for food. How do you replenish your pod supplies and / or do you have them weened onto frozen?

We use to have a Sixline wrasse, but had to remove it due to super excessive aggressiveness towards the Mandarins.

We've been fortunate to get our Mandarins to transition to eat frozen foods, but every so often we'll throw in some copepods for live hunting.

 

[justrock79]

Depends on how you want to progress in the evolution of your tank.

Do you want to keep it casual or do you want to add a lionfish to migrate towards a more aggressive tank?

We'd rather not go towards aggressive fish. We like our bottom dweller defenseless fish (Mandarins, Gobies and such), but we know those species limit greatly what we can add going forward.

 

[Michael71]

What about a pearl jaw fish if you like bottom dwellers I have kept those and blue spot jaw fish with shrimp Gobi's and blennies without problem and in your 90 they should have plenty of room

 

[justrock79]

What about a pearl jaw fish if you like bottom dwellers I have kept those and blue spot jaw fish with shrimp Gobi's and blennies without problem and in your 90 they should have plenty of room

Ooh, haven't thought of those. I'll definitely have to look into them.

 

[justrock79]

Would a Starry Blenny be an ok addition? or would a different algae eating fish be better suited?

 

[Michael71]

With the smaller fish in the tank look at court jester goby, they eat algae as well

 

[Michael71]

Starry blenny works as well. If you go to live aquaria, they have a pretty decent compatability chart

 

[Michael71]

This was my blue spot jawfish and i think Dr. Reef can get them and quarantined which i highly recommend for a decent price as they are a bit expensive...packed with personality though. The lfs i got mine from did a 30 day acclimation and quarantine for me.

 

[exnisstech]

Maybe a Dwarf angel. I keep a Flame angel and
coral beauty. The flame add a really nice splash of color.
I've not kept a tomini but I've read that can be aggressive so something to maybe keep in mind.

 

[DaScubaSteve]

For a splash of red I would do flame angel, love mine, they are one of the most beautiful fish IMO. If your corals are big and established they can handle a nip here or there. And for me if he liked favia or acans I would just not get those corals as I really do love the fish.

Also for red I have a hawk fish that has always left all my fish alone (even blue spotted goby) but did eat a cleaner shrimp. Super interesting fish.

For some yellow I'd go long nose butterfly fish. Super peaceful but will be able to hold its own against a tomini once established. may need to use an acclimation box and be prepared to put the tomini in a sump time out for a few days. I have no hammers or torches so I don't know if they would pick at those. I have Rbta but he hasn't touched them, yet.

Or for yellow you can get a yellow wrasse(i know that's not the actual name)

Midas blenny as well for some yellow. Interesting fish and perches like the hawkfish.

Lastly I have 4 blue green chromis in my 100g for over a year now, started with 5 but the 5th didn't last a week. I really like the chromis they add so much life to the reef.

And to what someone else said about the tomini, they do get aggressive as all tangs, he's in the 6 foot 100 gallon frag sump setup with a lavender tang, and yellow tang, and singapore angel, they swim around together eating all the algea in there. So if the tomini is going to be a problem a wrasse or small angel would be your best bet, probably wouldn't bother a blenny either.

 

[justrock79]

Maybe a Dwarf angel. I keep a Flame angel and
coral beauty. The flame add a really nice splash of color.
I've not kept a tomini but I've read that can be aggressive so something to maybe keep in mind.

Our Tomini is ok for the most part, it typically acts aggressive only with new addition fish for a day or 2 then leaves them alone after realizing there's no threat and that he's bigger. I'm not sure how it would react to a dwarf angel.

 

[fishywishy]

This was my blue spot jawfish and i think Dr. Reef can get them and quarantined which i highly recommend for a decent price as they are a bit expensive...packed with personality though. The lfs i got mine from did a 30 day acclimation and quarantine for me.

How long have you had it? They usually don’t do good in warm water systems.

 

[Michael71]

I had him for the better part of a year before my ex wife killed my tank

 

[justrock79]

With our current set-up being only a 40gal. breeder, would you guys think we're maxed out fishwise? Or, do you think it possible to add a small Blenny or Courtjester Goby?

 

[Michael71]

If its a 40 i would say you are maxed.....the thread opening said it was a 90.

 

[Michael71]

Also the tang needs a bigger tank if its in a 40 recommended minimum size is a think 70 for that fish.

 

[justrock79]

Thought we were maxed out, just wanted to make sure and hear thoughts/opinions. We're planning an upgrade to 90 soon, the Tomini is still small, but will need a bigger home, also soon.