what would your BEST utilitarian fish stock be (bonus: for most tank sizes)!

[shakacuz]

what would your BEST utilitarian(fish with a job/purpose) fish stock list be?
- bonus, you can include different lists for different tank sizes.

ideally, for a 40B, my stock list would be:

1. court jester goby
2. 6line wrasse, possum wrasse, or yellow wrasse
3. lawnmower blenny

with this list you can be at 3 fish with room for other fish. court jester gobies are captive bred and have been known to eat some species of cyanobacteria as well as algae off rocks/sand. lawnmower blenny for supplemental support as they eat algae as well, and any of the above mentioned wrasses as they help with pests. the possums wrasse, to my knowledge eats flatworms, but am unsure if other pests like acropora/montipora eating nudibranchs, zoa eating spiders/nudibranchs, or bristle worms. the other 2 wrasse eats all of the recently mentioned pests!

 

[Slocke]

what would your BEST utilitarian fish stock list be?
- bonus, you can include different lists for different tank sizes.

ideally, for a 40B, my stock list would be:

1. court jester goby
2. 6line wrasse, possum wrasse, or yellow wrasse(all 3, or just 1)
3. lawnmower blenny

with this list you can be at 3 fish with room for some other fish, or be “somewhat” at max capacity with 5. court jester gobies are captive bred and have been known to eat some species of cyanobacteria as well as algae off rocks/sand. lawnmower blenny for supplemental support as they eat algae as well, and any of the above mentioned wrasses as they help with pests. the possums wrasse, to my knowledge eats flatworms, but am unsure if other pests like acropora/montipora eating nudibranchs, or zoa eating spiders/nudibranchs, or bristle worms. the other 2 wrasse eats all of the recently mentioned pests!

Never pair a sixline with other wrasse. Sixlines are not the happy community fish other wrasse are.

For me a couple Halichoeres wrasse, a leopard wrasse, and a onespot foxface. If we include captive bred then a court jester goby and a blue streak cleaner wrasse.

 

[shakacuz]

Never pair a sixline with other wrasse. Sixlines are not the happy community fish other wrasse are.

oooof! thanks for that insight/correction. i’ve edited my OP!

For me a couple Halichoeres wrasse, a leopard wrasse, and a onespot foxface. If we include captive bred then a court jester goby and a blue streak cleaner wrasse.

great thought on the blue streak! what minimum tank size would you recommend the above for? 100+?

 

[Slocke]

great thought on the blue streak! what minimum tank size would you recommend the above for? 100+?

I think length matters more than size. So with the fox and cleaner wrasse in mind a 4ft+ tank. If smaller then agree with the lawnmower blenny and how about a neon goby instead of the wrasse?

 

[shakacuz]

I think length matters more than size. So with the fox and cleaner wrasse in mind a 4ft+ tank. If smaller then agree with the lawnmower blenny and how about a neon goby instead of the wrasse?

solid!! i meant in regards to the stock list you posted. 125 would have to be the minimum, right?

 

[KrisReef]

If there is an anemone in the tank I want a pair of clowns to keep it from moving around and to breed to feed the other corals and fish in the system.

 

[shakacuz]

If there is an anemone in the tank I want a pair of clowns to keep it from moving around and to breed to feed the other corals and fish in the system.

renew, reuse, recycle!

 

[Slocke]

solid!! i meant in regards to the stock list you posted. 125 would have to be the minimum, right?

Nah
Maybe a 70 long honestly. Foxes aren’t as lively as a tang though the cleaner should be added last.

 

[pal98111]

A diamond goby is great for keeping the sand beautifully clean. They sometimes will bury something if it is where they want to dig though. I think anywhere from a 20 gallon up is fine for them. Maybe even a 10 gallon with a lot of sand. Also very entertaining to watch.

 

[RedoubtReef]

tailspot blenny would be my pick over lawnmower.

 

[o2manyfish]

I think selecting fish for pest removal is not really that utilitarian. The majority of Pest Removing fish are rumor mills. Short of Bumble Bee Snails eating vermitid snails, Harlequin Shrimp eating Asternia and berghia eating aptasia, and cleaner shrimp cleaning parasites - The rest are really myths purported by a friend of friend, whose friend, has an Uncle who has a reef tank and he found that upside down swimming pink lyre tail damsels eat AEFW on Wednesdays when there is a full moon and only 2 clouds in the sky.

After being in this hobby for almost 4 decades the Pest eradicators which are confirmed are creatures other than fish.

But there are utilitarian fish. Lawnmower blennies can be great workhorses. That is till they realize there is food coming thru the top of the tank that is less work that biting rocks all day long. Then they become obeses little cuties who just loll around all day waiting for you to drop food in.

Tangs by far are the most utilitarian fish we can get. They are mostly herbivores and they like eating algae - and not just sheets of nori we hand them.

But it takes an assortment of tangs to get the full utility. Each tang has a different shaped and sized mouth with a different amount of teeth - each suited for eating different types of algae. Zerbrasomas with their long snouts get into smaller spaces and tighter crevices. Acanthurus are really good at some of the softer turf algaes. Naso's are great at longer more filamented algaes that smaller tangs might find over whelming.

And then the most utilitarian tang is the Bristletooth - And in particular the Chevron tang. Sadly I don't know when or if we will see Chevron tangs in the hobby again, as they only come from one place, Hawaii. But the Bristle tooth tangs, which includes lavendars, flames, kole - all have a set of teeth designed only for tearing algae off any kind of surface it will grow on. I have had Chevron tangs in community tanks and they will feed exclusively on what the tank grows and ignore added foods.

For enclosed environments like our aquariums where balance is so critical and fluctuations in balance greatly affect the amount of algae available - Having tangs in the tank to keep the algae in check and keep the tank clean and pristine is critical.

Dave B

 

[shakacuz]

tailspot blenny would be my pick over lawnmower.

personal preference, or just because the tailspot was/is more effective than a lawnmower?

I think selecting fish for pest removal is not really that utilitarian. The majority of Pest Removing fish are rumor mills. Short of Bumble Bee Snails eating vermitid snails, Harlequin Shrimp eating Asternia and berghia eating aptasia, and cleaner shrimp cleaning parasites - The rest are really myths purported by a friend of friend, whose friend, has an Uncle who has a reef tank and he found that upside down swimming pink lyre tail damsels eat AEFW on Wednesdays when there is a full moon and only 2 clouds in the sky.

After being in this hobby for almost 4 decades the Pest eradicators which are confirmed are creatures other than fish.

But there are utilitarian fish. Lawnmower blennies can be great workhorses. That is till they realize there is food coming thru the top of the tank that is less work that biting rocks all day long. Then they become obeses little cuties who just loll around all day waiting for you to drop food in.

Tangs by far are the most utilitarian fish we can get. They are mostly herbivores and they like eating algae - and not just sheets of nori we hand them.

But it takes an assortment of tangs to get the full utility. Each tang has a different shaped and sized mouth with a different amount of teeth - each suited for eating different types of algae. Zerbrasomas with their long snouts get into smaller spaces and tighter crevices. Acanthurus are really good at some of the softer turf algaes. Naso's are great at longer more filamented algaes that smaller tangs might find over whelming.

And then the most utilitarian tang is the Bristletooth - And in particular the Chevron tang. Sadly I don't know when or if we will see Chevron tangs in the hobby again, as they only come from one place, Hawaii. But the Bristle tooth tangs, which includes lavendars, flames, kole - all have a set of teeth designed only for tearing algae off any kind of surface it will grow on. I have had Chevron tangs in community tanks and they will feed exclusively on what the tank grows and ignore added foods.

For enclosed environments like our aquariums where balance is so critical and fluctuations in balance greatly affect the amount of algae available - Having tangs in the tank to keep the algae in check and keep the tank clean and pristine is critical.

Dave B

great insight on the different uses of each different tang! i currently have a small (yet growing) tomini tang in my 40B. originally had the idea of upgrading to a bigger tank but just got overwhelming for me so now i am looking to rehome it but man has it done wonders for algae in my tank. nonexistent!

 

[RedoubtReef]

personal preference, or just because the tailspot was/is more effective than a lawnmower?

A bit of both I guess, Lawnmowers are larger and have more potential to get ornery. I like the disposition of the tailspot better and it fits better in smaller tanks in my opinion.

 

[exnisstech]

A bit of both I guess, Lawnmowers are larger and have more potential to get ornery. I like the disposition of the tailspot better and it fits better in smaller tanks in my opinion.

Neither of these two have been utilitarian for me. Lawnmower has never touched algae and I've never seen my tailspot eat anything in the tank but pods. They're in seperate tanks

 

[shakacuz]

Neither of these two have been utilitarian for me. Lawnmower has never touched algae and I've never seen my tailspot eat anything in the tank but pods. They're in separate tanks

@o2manyfish's post makes much more sense now! does raise the question on the legitimacy of some of the info we have in the hobby.

 

[RedoubtReef]

Neither of these two have been utilitarian for me. Lawnmower has never touched algae and I've never seen my tailspot eat anything in the tank but pods. They're in seperate tanks

Bummer. I'm on my 3rd tailspot now. It's in QT and has been doing nothing but eating the algae on the surfaces of the QT tank and looks fat and happy

 

[exnisstech]

@o2manyfish's post makes much more sense now! does raise the question on the legitimacy of some of the info we have in the hobby.

Never buy a utilitarian fish unless you like their looks or mannerisms
I think my 2 six lines and yellow striped possum wrasse are doing their job, or so I tell myself as I haven't had bugs on my acros yet.

 

[exnisstech]

Bummer. I'm on my 3rd tailspot now. It's in QT and has been doing nothing but eating the algae on the surfaces of the QT tank and looks fat and happy

If he's eating it now it will hopefully continue. To be fair to mine there really wasn't much algae for mine to even eat. I got it mainly because I like the looks and behavior in the tank.

 

[RedoubtReef]

If he's eating it now it will hopefully continue. To be fair to mine there really wasn't much algae for mine to even eat. I got it mainly because I like the looks and behavior in the tank.

yeah, they have great markings and are fun to watch.

 

[shakacuz]

Never buy a utilitarian fish unless you like their looks or mannerisms
I think my 2 six lines and yellow striped possum wrasse are doing their job, or so I tell myself as I haven't had bugs on my acros yet.

that’s exactly what i said to myself when i got my yellow wrasse but i did witness it eat a few ghost flatworms when i had a small case of them. i’m more of a skeptic now and believe it when i see it haha

yeah, they have great markings and are fun to watch.

blennies in general are very personable