What should I add?

[Gordi]

Tomorrow I will be driving 40 miles (a long way on British roads!) to visit a place I only heard of recently which is supposed to be the best LFS in the SW. I still have a little money from what I put aside for the aquarium so what should I add?
It's a 50 gallon corner aquarium with the following livestock:-
2 clownfish, 1 PJ cardinal, 1 orange firefish, 1 royal dottyback and a Mandarin (they all seem to get along fine now). There's also a fireshrimp, 2 LPS corals, about 9 softies, 2 hermits, maybe 9 snails, 2 starfish ( the red one seems to be improving now he's getting used to the surroundings), a yellow cucumber and a mysterious small red crab somewhere under the rocks.
Should I put anything else in? If so, what would you add? Or should I just go take a look?

 

[i cant think]

Tomorrow I will be driving 40 miles (a long way on British roads!) to visit a place I only heard of recently which is supposed to be the best LFS in the SW. I still have a little money from what I put aside for the aquarium so what should I add?
It's a 50 gallon corner aquarium with the following livestock:-
2 clownfish, 1 PJ cardinal, 1 orange firefish, 1 royal dottyback and a Mandarin (they all seem to get along fine now). There's also a fireshrimp, 2 LPS corals, about 9 softies, 2 hermits, maybe 9 snails, 2 starfish ( the red one seems to be improving now he's getting used to the surroundings), a yellow cucumber and a mysterious small red crab somewhere under the rocks.
Should I put anything else in? If so, what would you add? Or should I just go take a look?

I would take a look and see what fish are there first, personally I would try find a wrasse like a radiant or adorned (These are good “CUC” fish and help to deal with any unwanted animal on corals).

 

[Gordi]

I would take a look and see what fish are there first, personally I would try find a wrasse like a radiant or adorned (These are good “CUC” fish and help to deal with any unwanted animal on corals).

Many thanks for the suggestion. I've not seen these before. They're both gorgeous but will the dottyback bully them ( or just lose interest after 10 minutes?)

 

[ying yang]

+1 on wrasse .
My cheap as chips silver belly wrasse is my favourite fish in my tank and also the cheapest but got it for its ability to help with pests if ever got any

 

[ying yang]

And there internal clock is brilliant, at nearly exact time every night between 8.15- 8.30 it burrows itself under sand and lights go out at 8.45 and cool to watch and Sam in morning when rises from sand bed ^_^

 

[i cant think]

Many thanks for the suggestion. I've not seen these before. They're both gorgeous but will the dottyback bully them ( or just lose interest after 10 minutes?)

In all honesty, I would say the dottybacks will avoid the wrasse and just ignore it after say 5 minutes.
I find the Adorned wrasse to be better for eating unwanted animals but I honestly find Iridis (Im in the UK and I think I bought mine as a Radiant wrasse for around £48) to have more of a curious personality, here’s a photo of mine in my 4’ tank (Other small Halichoeres and Cirrhilabrus will fit in this tank size). OR! If your fauna is thriving and you find one that gladly eats in the LFS then you could try one of the easier leopard wrasse, one is the Blue Star Leopard Wrasse often called Peacock wrasse over here.
Halichoeres are better for eating the unwanted animals, but Cirrhilabrus fairies especially Lubbock’s from Indonesia if you can find one are filled with just as much colour but don’t help with coral eating creatures, neither do leopard wrasses unfortunately.
Radiant (Under the clownfish)

Peacock wrasse

 

[Uzidaisies]

Saw some pintail fairy wrasse at a place I visited yesterday, very pretty fish.

 

[i cant think]

Saw some pintail fairy wrasse at a place I visited yesterday, very pretty fish.

Yeah, I’ve seen one transitional male pintail fair and it is now my dream wrasse (Such a pain the price at £125 for a 1.5” transitioning phase one)

 

[i cant think]

And there internal clock is brilliant, at nearly exact time every night between 8.15- 8.30 it burrows itself under sand and lights go out at 8.45 and cool to watch and Sam in morning when rises from sand bed ^_^

It’s even more funny when you wake up in the morning and it’s your first ever wrasse then panic to see half it’s body just swaying in the flow.
My son got caught with that and I was just sat there trying so hard not to laugh whilst he was panicking about his favourite fish being dead.

I have two Halichoeres, one radiant and the other is a jade, I find that the bigger Halichoeres give these guys a bad wrap because of them being “CUC eaters” the 4” ones wouldn’t even dare to mess with a crab (Jade wrasse aren’t a 4” Halichoeres, they are the 8” ones and mine has gone after a crab once or twice but it’s not constant). I have owned a silver belly and she was my favourite in terms of size and behaviour but in terms of colour, and “Hard to keep” fish, the radiant is the way to go - Radiants are only hard to keep because of them being bad shippers (Over night shipping tends to be the most fatal).

 

[Uzidaisies]

Yeah, I’ve seen one transitional male pintail fair and it is now my dream wrasse (Such a pain the price at £125 for a 1.5” transitioning phase one)

Yeah, I didn’t even notice what price these ones were marked at.

 

[Uzidaisies]

Yeah, I didn’t even notice what price these ones were marked at.

I knew I wasn’t getting one for my 14 gallon cube so why check the price haha

 

[i cant think]

There’s a thread on here that has many different species of wrasses (It’s dominantly fairy and leopards, but there are some VERY pretty Halichoeres in it). The thread has really made me decide what my dream tank would be though, a 6-7’ long wrasse only reef.

 

[Gordi]

There’s a thread on here that has many different species of wrasses (It’s dominantly fairy and leopards, but there are some VERY pretty Halichoeres in it). The thread has really made me decide what my dream tank would be though, a 6-7’ long wrasse only reef.

They're all beautiful but I just read that the firefish might be at risk????

 

[i cant think]

They're all beautiful but I just read that the firefish might be at risk????

wrasse don’t tend to attack other fish, strange how it says that fire fish are at risk.
If anything was at risk it would be an unwanted invert (Flatworms!). I have kept my wrasses with many small things, my newest one has been in a tank with:
- Yasha goby,
- Golden dwarf boxer shrimp,
- Dot dash Blenny,
- Naoko fairy wrasse,
- Pink streaked wrasse
The tank is a 20g cube (Growout tank for the naoko and leopard wrasse, I will have them in Atleast a 45g tank eventually). No fish has got after eachother - Instead I would say they have actually become more brave with the two more dominant wrasse in the tank.

 

[Gordi]

wrasse don’t tend to attack other fish, strange how it says that fire fish are at risk.
If anything was at risk it would be an unwanted invert (Flatworms!). I have kept my wrasses with many small things, my newest one has been in a tank with:
- Yasha goby,
- Golden dwarf boxer shrimp,
- Dot dash Blenny,
- Naoko fairy wrasse,
- Pink streaked wrasse
The tank is a 20g cube (Growout tank for the naoko and leopard wrasse, I will have them in Atleast a 45g tank eventually). No fish has got after eachother - Instead I would say they have actually become more brave with the two more dominant wrasse in the tank.

I'm very nearly convinced! I'll see what's there at around 12 tomorrow. Thanks for all the replies, keep 'em coming!!!

 

[i cant think]

I'm very nearly convinced! I'll see what's there at around 12 tomorrow. Thanks for all the replies, keep 'em coming!!!

A few other thoughts of fish could be:
- Almost any cardinal (This is if you want a more common fish for that tank size)
- Any Blenny (I personally prefer the Starry blennies and most Escenius blennies),
- Any wrasse that stays below 4” (Flasher wrasses tend to dark into things in smaller tanks so maybe try avoid that).

 

[Gordi]

A few other thoughts of fish could be:
- Almost any cardinal (This is if you want a more common fish for that tank size)
- Any Blenny (I personally prefer the Starry blennies and most Escenius blennies),
- Any wrasse that stays below 4” (Flasher wrasses tend to dark into things in smaller tanks so maybe try avoid that).

I'm very much leaning towards your first suggestion. If I can find an Adorned Wrasse tomorrow he's coming home with me!!!

 

[i cant think]

I'm very much leaning towards your first suggestion. If I can find an Adorned Wrasse tomorrow he's coming home with me!!!

Yeah, I would for sure love an adorned, I’m pretty sure my LFS has two (I can’t tell if they’re timorensis or not though). For sure one of the many wrasse I would love to have in a 50g tank!

Also, I would love to see photos if you do get one! Adorned wrasse are my second favourite Halichoeres (My favourite is the radiant)

 

[Gordi]

Yeah, I would for sure love an adorned, I’m pretty sure my LFS has two (I can’t tell if they’re timorensis or not though). For sure one of the many wrasse I would love to have in a 50g tank!

Also, I would love to see photos if you do get one! Adorned wrasse are my second favourite Halichoeres (My favourite is the radiant)

If there's one at SW Marine tomorrow, I'll send a photo from there.
What's Timorensis???

 

[i cant think]

If there's one at SW Marine tomorrow, I'll send a photo from there.
What's Timorensis???

It’s Halichoeres timorensis, very similar to the adorned (I think the Adorned wrasses get sold as pudding wife wrasses here). Here’s a photo of the Timor wrasse against the Pudding wife wrasse.
Timor wrasse (note it’s more dotted compared to the Pudding wide wrasse’s patterning)

Pudding wife wrasse (These are more common and tend to come in much smaller than most of the Timor’s that will come in)

I would be careful though, if the scientific name is on the tag then read it since the name pudding wife wrasse can be given to the species Halichoeres radiatus where as the adorned wrasse is Halichoeres cosmetus.