Will these 4 fish work in my new 29g?

[C5Chad]

Hey guys...I've been doing my best to set up my 29g sumpless reef tank as close to perfect as possible. Right now I have a 4 small hermit crabs in my tank to help with cleaning the tank and I just put a tank bred Clownfish in my tank. I have a little over 40lbs of a half and half mix of live rock and base rock in my tank with live sand.

The 3 fish I'd like to put in my reef (no corals as of yet) tank to go with my clownfish are:

Purple Dottyback
Azure Damselfish
Black & White Chromis

I have a marineland biowheel filter, polyfilter in place of a protein skimmer at least for the time being, hydor circulating pump, heater set at 78 degrees and a Aquaticlife dual T5 HO marine light. My pH is at 8.2, no ammonia or nitrites, and very low nitrates.

Would love to know if these fish will possibly work. Would like to keep a total of 4 fish in my tank. Thanks for any help and or suggestions guys.

[Scuba_Steve]

That is going to be a very aggressive tank. All of those fish are highly aggressive fish. Damsels are evil. Most people even with large reefs avoid them like the plague. Clowns are the exception (clowns are damselfish). The dottyback will hold his own though. I see nothing but trouble IMO. I would ditch the damsel and chromis (and maybe dottyback) and get some more peaceful fish like a blenny or gobies.

[C5Chad]

I was afraid of that. I'm not a fan of gobys or blennies. Maybe one of those I wouldn't mind doing. Are there any others that could be done? I was somewhat going by liveaquaria.com's compatibility chart and tank size recommendation is how I came up with those fish. Not sure if that was the right way to go or not...

[Scuba_Steve]

I will tell you this, are you speaking from experience or just looks when you say you dont like blennies? In a mid sized tank, they are some of the most entertaining fish on the planet. They just have a lot of personality. Look into a starry blenny. And how about a royal gramma. A lot like a dottyback, just not as aggressive.

[C5Chad]

No just im not speaking from experience... Just from what I've seen they never really stood out to me. Just want some colorful fun fish to add to my tank. I have zero experience when it comes to saltwater

[igot2gats]

Cardinalfish are good Nano fish.

You could do a small group of them. 3 or 4 would be good.

[C5Chad]

I was considering cardinalfish before like the pajama Cardinal or the Kauderns Cardinalfish. Ive been hoping to have as much variety and colorful fish that I possibly can in my tank. 4 total and only one of each. I wish I had a bigger tank but this is all I have to work with

[gone fishin]

With a smaller tank it becomes even more important to research how aggressive a fish can be. If you have not done so already live aquaria is a great place to browse fishes. once you have some selected there is a thread at the top of the forum "Check here before you buy." Steve "Snorvich" is extremely knowledgeable and will give you some honest advice on your list. Good luck

[C5Chad]

Live Aquaria is how I selected my fish above. I selected fish that were either peaceful or semi-aggressive, Didnt select fish that needed anything over 30 gallons to live in, and were reef compatible. From there I went to live aquarias compatibility list to see which species would all be compatible together and thats how I came up with my original list of 4 fish above.

I guess now I'm learning those fish even though that site tells me they are compatible to be in a tank together, will end up being aggressive together

[GOSKN5]

Check out the captive bred ORA orchid dottyback... a much more peaceful option... take out the damsel and pick a different fish in its place and that mix should be fine IMO

[uncleL]

I would get two clowns "Nemo" Lawnmower Blenny and a Royal grama.... a good combo

[C5Chad]

I really appreciate all of your opinions. Im taking each opinion and putting serious thought into it. What I did was had everyone in my house pick a few fish they would like to see in the tank and from that list we narrowed in down to the 3 I asked you all about.

Would any of these fish work okay together in a reef tank with my clownfish and 4 hermit crabs? These are the other fish that we wanted before we narrowed it down to the ones I had listed:

Pajama Cardinalfish
Purple Stripe Dottyback
Kaudern's Cardinalfish
Yellow Candy Hogfish
Black Axil Chromis
Blue Saphire Damsel
Blue Damsel
Firefish Dartfish
Six Line Wrasse
Purple Dottyback
Azure Damselfish
Black & White Chromis

Is there a group of 3 of these fish here that would work together with my clown and hermit crabs? I havent forgotten about your suggestions, just for the moment trying to get a mix of what everyone in my house picked for the tank....and if it doesnt work, I'll look into other fish that would be close to similar to these fish.

[ichthyogeek]

The firefish will be shy, but can live very well in a nano, as long as you have a lid.
Black axil chromis need groups.
How about a yellowbelly damselfish (Chrysiptera hemicyanea)? I have a group of 4 in my 29 (6 weeks so far), and they haven't killed each other, nor shown aggression. One of those might be good too.
6 line wrasses are a bit aggressive in small tanks...

Here are a few ideas off the top of my head:
pair of clowns and a pair of Kaudern's cardinals

one clownfish, one firefish or yellowbelly damselfish, one blenny (Ecsenius stigmatura), and one yellow coris wrasse (Halicheres chrysus)

Or, take out the blenny, and make it a pair of clowns and the above stocking idea

[JammyBirch]

Never had one but the six line wrasse wrote the book on aggression. I've heard they are not reef safe at all times either...don't get me wrong it's my favorite fish that I'll probably never care for. I'm debating a pink streak wrasse...check that one out...

[C5Chad]

Thank you guys... These have all been great suggestions and are helping me out a lot in figuring out what to finish off stocking my tank with.

My biggest obstacle is getting our 10 year old girl over the fact that the purple dottyback that she so badly wants isn't going to really work out with what we want lol

[Lizzy_lray]

I'm going to get burned on this but my very first tank was a 29 gallon and I was a true noob to all of this i had 3 fish. It was a weird combination and it actually was a very peaceful tank. I had a snowflake eel, gold stripe maroon clown and a klunzingers wrasse. If your willing to do the water changes you can have a higher then recommended bio load but in you combination your playing with fire with those damsels they are highly aggressive and there are a lot better fish choices out there

[Lizzy_lray]

Btw I also have a six line wrasse and he is awesome! He is the trouble maker/ comedian/ and most talked about fish in my tank lol

[C5Chad]

I'm not set in stone on any of my choices really. May consider swapping out the damsel for a cardinalfish, and then maybe the dottyback for a basslet or royal gramma. Then not sure about the chromis if I need to swap him out too with those and then for what or not

[Lizzy_lray]

Royal grammas are good

[Scuba_Steve]

If you do get the dottyback, just make sure he is the last fish to go in the aquarium.

[C5Chad]

Originally Posted by Scuba_Steve

If you do get the dottyback, just make sure he is the last fish to go in the aquarium.

Absolutely... I think I will try to find something to replace the dottyback that is somewhat similar in color and size first. Don't want to put anything in my tank that is going to cause me problems on my first reef tank.

[C5Chad]

Ok here is what I'm considering instead now to go along with my clownfish...

Pajama cardinalfish
Royal gramma basslet
Firefish Dartfish

The only one I think after going through the live aquaria compatibility guide is the firefish with the royal gramma. What do you guys think of those two in the tank together? The guide said they are compatible with caution

[ichthyogeek]

ooh! I know! There was an article a couple years back detailing royal grammas and compatible tankmates in...Marine Fish and Reef? It was talking about how since firefish and royal grammas both occupy the same niche in nature, that the firefish would be outcompeted by the more aggressive royal gramma.

Alternatively, cut the gramma, and replace the firefish with a purple firefish? It's purple...and that's about it... or cut the firefish and replace with a yellowbelly damselfish, the damsel would be able to fend for itself.

[Rickhtoo]

Don't count out a Blenny, they are cool fish. I have 2 clowns, 3 damsels (I know, I know..) and a Dottyback which seem to get along ok at the moment, but the damsels are definitely territorial. They have taken over equal 3rd's of rock and dont' appreciate others intruding on it.. The clowns are not a problem they mostly hang out in the front of the tank and own a large clam shell. Not interested in the anemone at all.. I recently added a bicolor blenny, and he is now my favorite fish in the tank. He is peaceful, but will not take crap from the damsels, and defends any spot he decides to sit. The Damsels now leave him alone. He is a joy to watch, and I can guarantee the kids will love him especially if you give him a cool nickname. We call ours PuppyFace.

In my view, there is always room for a Blenny. :-)

[C5Chad]

Is there another name for the yellow belly damsel? I can't seem to find him anywhere or be sure if that's the damsel you are referring to