PLEASE check out your intended fish purchases here first!

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by bamse

Hi,

I have a blackcap basslet getting acclimatized using dripping as we speak. I hope it will feed on frozen mysis I got (also have some New life spectra optimum flakes and thera pebbles, jic).

I've read they are usually living in deeper waters, is there anything special I have to take care of?

I have a newly-cycled 30 gallon long tank, lots of algae growing on the rocks, a bit of diatom on the sand. I have 40# of fully cured rock, covered in all kind of stuff (from tube feeders to coraline algae), and 2-3" of sand.
My temp is ranging between 78 to 81 deg (when hot outside, towards the end of the light cycle), sg is 1.025-1.026.
Thank you

Although not overly aggressive, they will vigorously defend their favorite hole or place in the rock. As long as you have plenty of hiding places you are good

[bamse]

Originally Posted by capn_hylinur

What size of tank do you have. If you have plenty of reef they should all get along together.

Would a 30 gallon be enough? (i.e. for bcb and yellow wrasse, and hopefully neither will chew on the planned shrimp and crab that will join the tank soon).
I have 40# of rock in there, this is a photo:

[conwayscience]

Originally Posted by capn_hylinur

you do not need the dsb especially in the display tank. It's just extra maintenance that you don't have with the refugium. The fuge is far better at eliminating nitrates----and phosphates---then a dsb--without the headaches

with all the live rock to beat you are good with a 1/2 inch to one inch sand bed which you can keep sqeaky clean and is good enough for any fish you might add

7 chromies is too much---they just eliminate each other and whittle down the school to 2 or 3. So it is a waste to add the extra number.
Every thing else is fine
I would suggest you go with a couple of fire gobies, anthias and or bangii cardinals which will stick together rather then the 7 chromies

Thanks for the advice. The anthias are very pretty.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by bamse

Would a 30 gallon be enough? (i.e. for bcb and yellow wrasse, and hopefully neither will chew on the planned shrimp and crab that will join the tank soon).
I have 40# of rock in there, this is a photo:

I love the reef setup--plenty of holes for the fish to swim in and out of.
Excellent job on the reef.
You should not have a problem with the fish you want--there is ample reef for all

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by conwayscience

Thanks for the advice. The anthias are very pretty.

I just picked up a couple of magenta ones today--beautiful fish

[rick12]

want to add a six line wass, will it eat my micro brittle stars?

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by rick12

want to add a six line wass, will it eat my micro brittle stars?

probably not. But it could harass other reef dwellers and other wrasse if you add them.

[starfish prime]

I have a 38 gal, with 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 LM blenny,
the stocklist consist of:
coral beauty/flame angel (still havent decided)
six line wrasse
diamond goby/yellow headed sleeper (havent decided)
and maybe a fire goby

too many?
any recommendations?
any advice between coral/flame---diamond/yellow headed sleeper?
and if I were to add any of these which should be first/last

[kolosy]

stocking up new tank. 48" 90G mixed/sps dominant. has an ocelaris clown, and a tailspot blenny.

looking to add a powder brown tang, diamond watchman (pistol shrimp already in tank), a two-spot hogfish.

thoughts?

any schooling fish i can add?

total water volume is about 160g

edit - also planning on adding a mandarin once the pods are up (have about 130lbs lr), so can't have anything that'll diminish that food supply.

[fowlclay-boaeef?]

my agenda i want to add many small colorfull fish in my aquarium. i am in not any hurry to do so. instead of fewer larger fish. i have an 80 gallon tank with dead rock in it. i have quite a bit of rock. it is all stacked at the back of the tank almost to the top. unsure of the wieght of this rock but the ratio of rock to water is higher than the tank pictured in the thread above. also have seeded my (dead rock) with some live sand and rock. have good brown algea and very little to none green algea. no red algea present. have recently added 4 damsels to decrease my cycle time. i intend to sell these back to my LFS after tank cycling is complete if my significant other does not get too attached to them. lol. nice looking rock by the way. the above referenced picture. so any who i have a list of small pretty looking fish that i eventually intend to buy some of which i will post to this thread in a minute. but before that i want to stress that i do not intend to buy all these fish they are just (small pretty fish) that i am looking at and am not in any hurry to purchase. the max size of the fish that i'm look to purchase is 3 through 4 inches and will not eat the other ones. have done some research and am looking to thin the herd so to speak. also i would like an honest opinion on how many fish i should stock. a ratio. fish=x snail=x shrimp=x. have sump with bio balls soon to be replaced with seeded lava rock. lava rock purchased online with live sand both in main tank to seed live rock at the moment. and adequate if antique lighting. will upgrade soon.

[fowlclay-boaeef?]

1 gramma loreto royal gramma yellow purple
1 Pterapogon kauderni banggai cardinal silver black
1 sphaeramia nematoptera` pajama cardinal yellow blue red
1 Ecsenius midas midas blenny yellow w/blue eye(not african)
1 Ecsenius bicolor bicolor blenny blue orange
1 Ecsenius stigmatura tailspot blenny blue yellow orange red
1 Pseudochromis springeri springers psuedo/dotty lightblue darkblue
1 Pseudochromis splendens splendid psuedo/dotty blue white yellow
1 Cryptocentrus cinctus yellow watchman goby yellow
1 Elacatinus multifasciatus green banded goby lightgreen darkgreen red
1 Lythrypnus zebra zebra catalina goby red blue
1 Nemateleotris magnifica firefish goby white pink orange
1 Pseudocheilinus hexataenia sixline wrasse multi
1 Paracheilinus tetrataenia fourline wrasse multi
1 amphiprion percula percula clownfish orange white black
1 Opistognathus rosenblatti blue spotted jawfish yellow blue
1 Lythrypnus dalli catalina goby red blue
1 Pseudochromis fridmani fridmans psuedo/dotty orchid/purple
1 Pseudochromis aldabraensis arabian psuedo/dotty orange blue
1 Lysmata wurdemanni peppermint shrimp
the 2 catalina gobies like cooler water than the other fish. love the red colors though
the 2 wrasse may not be possible together.. both gorgeous fish
i will have a sixline wrasse
i will have a royal gramma basslet
i will have more than one psuedo/dottyback
i will have more than one blenny
i will have more than one goby
i will have an ornimental shrimp
i will have a banggai cardinal

any constuctive critisisim or input greatly appreciated. will eventually start a build thread.

[fowlclay-boaeef?]

notice list does not include an tangs, sharks, rays, eels, dolphins, or whales. started gathering materials to build refugium today and topoff water filtration project. seriously looking at reefkeeper elete controller or building my own out an old industrial plc. plc=programmable logic controller. this is used in industrial factories to run automated equipment. as this is inline with my chosen profession, i will compare the cost effectiveness of such a move.

[fowlclay-boaeef?]

Originally Posted by kolosy

stocking up new tank. 48" 90G mixed/sps dominant. has an ocelaris clown, and a tailspot blenny.

looking to add a powder brown tang, diamond watchman (pistol shrimp already in tank), a two-spot hogfish.

thoughts?

any schooling fish i can add?

total water volume is about 160g

edit - also planning on adding a mandarin once the pods are up (have about 130lbs lr), so can't have anything that'll diminish that food supply.

relatively inexpensive small schooling fish. green chromis
gorgeous schooling fish slightly more expensive bangghai cardinal

as far as not diminishing the pod population a refugium either on the back of tank or in sump would be the best bet.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by starfish prime

I have a 38 gal, with 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 LM blenny,
the stocklist consist of:
coral beauty/flame angel (still havent decided)
six line wrasse
diamond goby/yellow headed sleeper (havent decided)
and maybe a fire goby

too many?
any recommendations?
any advice between coral/flame---diamond/yellow headed sleeper?
and if I were to add any of these which should be first/last

coral beauty is alot more hardier and less aggressive then the flame angel. It will also hold its own in a more aggressive tank.

The sixline is a fair choice if that is the only wrasse you ever want to add

If you add the fire goby and the sixline then there is a good chance the six line could terrorize the goby

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by fowlclay-boaeef?

relatively inexpensive small schooling fish. green chromis
gorgeous schooling fish slightly more expensive bangghai cardinal

as far as not diminishing the pod population a refugium either on the back of tank or in sump would be the best bet.

I agree plus two or three purple anthias would look great in there.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by fowlclay-boaeef?

1 gramma loreto royal gramma yellow purple
1 Pterapogon kauderni banggai cardinal silver black
1 sphaeramia nematoptera` pajama cardinal yellow blue red
1 Ecsenius midas midas blenny yellow w/blue eye(not african)
1 Ecsenius bicolor bicolor blenny blue orange
1 Ecsenius stigmatura tailspot blenny blue yellow orange red
1 Pseudochromis springeri springers psuedo/dotty lightblue darkblue
1 Pseudochromis splendens splendid psuedo/dotty blue white yellow
1 Cryptocentrus cinctus yellow watchman goby yellow
1 Elacatinus multifasciatus green banded goby lightgreen darkgreen red
1 Lythrypnus zebra zebra catalina goby red blue
1 Nemateleotris magnifica firefish goby white pink orange
1 Pseudocheilinus hexataenia sixline wrasse multi
1 Paracheilinus tetrataenia fourline wrasse multi
1 amphiprion percula percula clownfish orange white black
1 Opistognathus rosenblatti blue spotted jawfish yellow blue
1 Lythrypnus dalli catalina goby red blue
1 Pseudochromis fridmani fridmans psuedo/dotty orchid/purple
1 Pseudochromis aldabraensis arabian psuedo/dotty orange blue
1 Lysmata wurdemanni peppermint shrimp
the 2 catalina gobies like cooler water than the other fish. love the red colors though
the 2 wrasse may not be possible together.. both gorgeous fish
i will have a sixline wrasse
i will have a royal gramma basslet
i will have more than one psuedo/dottyback
i will have more than one blenny
i will have more than one goby
i will have an ornimental shrimp
i will have a banggai cardinal

any constuctive critisisim or input greatly appreciated. will eventually start a build thread.

If you want to go with small fish then I would suggest you cut down on the live rock and build a reef in the centre of the tank with plenty of holes in it. Alot of the gobies etc you have on your wish list will swim in and out rather then hide.
I would put the extra rock in the sump. As long as it is in the same water column as the display system then you are still getting the bacterial filter from it
If you have lots of flow and are prepared to due weekly water changes then you could add alot of the fish on your list.

What I am concerned with is that when a tank is loaded up then it is very vunerable to a crash. For eg one fish dying in your tank when there are 5 others in there probably would not be a problem. However that one fish dying with 20 others in the tank then you could get a chain reaction very quickly.

[fowlclay-boaeef?]

i am not planning to put that whole list of fish in my tank. it is a list of possible fish. how many would you put in is basicly what i am wanting to know. if i put in small fish of these types that range from a 2in size to a max of 4in size fully grown. there are only like 3 fish on that list that will grow to 4 inches. are there any that i might rule out right away as completely out of the question.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by fowlclay-boaeef?

i am not planning to put that whole list of fish in my tank. it is a list of possible fish. how many would you put in is basicly what i am wanting to know. if i put in small fish of these types that range from a 2in size to a max of 4in size fully grown. there are only like 3 fish on that list that will grow to 4 inches. are there any that i might rule out right away as completely out of the question.

I would not put the six line wrasse in there--it limits the choice of other wrasses.

I know you want someone to give you a definite number of fish to add like 10 or something but there is no magic number. If you add all those fish slowly like once every week or two then biologically you could add them all. But you take your chances of a tank crash like I explained in the post above.
I think if you start to add the fish then you will get to the point where your tank looks busy enough to you and not over crowed and you will stop.
What number that is really depends on you and how diligent you want to be on your water changes.
eg.
I have sixteen fish in a 110 gal--four of them are five-6 inches. The reef looks busy but my wife and I like it that way. I am confident my filtration system can handle an unexpected accident because I have two 40 gal refugiums, a 40gal sump, over 225 lbs of live rock in the system, a 250msx skimmer which is oversized for that system, and run phosban and carbon.
Plus I do weekly water changes.

[fowlclay-boaeef?]

impressive system and this answers my question. thank you. my system would be inadaquate for a large number of fish at this time. but as to the wrasse. i do not intend on adding any but small wrasse. those two in that list are the only 2 that meet my long term goal criteria. as far as size and reef safeness and pretty color. the plan is to improve the system slowly. i also did not mention i have a protein skimmer and crushed coral substrate that is currently being seeded. i plan on taking baby steps with this tank due to the nature of this hobby it would be imprudent to just go out and buy a bunch of fish and dump them in. is there a proper place to start a build thread? i am new to rc and want to go about things in the right way. i don't wanna just blow up the forum with random posts. thanks in advance

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by fowlclay-boaeef?

impressive system and this answers my question. thank you. my system would be inadaquate for a large number of fish at this time. but as to the wrasse. i do not intend on adding any but small wrasse. those two in that list are the only 2 that meet my long term goal criteria. as far as size and reef safeness and pretty color. the plan is to improve the system slowly. i also did not mention i have a protein skimmer and crushed coral substrate that is currently being seeded. i plan on taking baby steps with this tank due to the nature of this hobby it would be imprudent to just go out and buy a bunch of fish and dump them in. is there a proper place to start a build thread? i am new to rc and want to go about things in the right way. i don't wanna just blow up the forum with random posts. thanks in advance

You have the right attitude and mindset to be very successful in this hobby.

I would start your thread in the New to the Hobby forum.
Blow up the forum with random posts---trust me I've tried but this site is post proof. Don't worry--ask away--we all learn from each others questions and posts

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by fowlclay-boaeef?

relatively inexpensive small schooling fish. green chromis
gorgeous schooling fish slightly more expensive bangghai cardinal

as far as not diminishing the pod population a refugium either on the back of tank or in sump would be the best bet.

yeah, i have a 27g fuge with a dsb, lr rubble and macro, so that's fine.

any problems with the fish listed getting along?

[goochesfish]

I saw a nice looking banana wrasse but will it get along with my mystery wrasse?

I also noticed this month's TOTM has a long nose butterfly. I've read to add to a reef with caution. Any experience with butterfly's in a reef?

[bamse]

Originally Posted by capn_hylinur

I love the reef setup--plenty of holes for the fish to swim in and out of.
Excellent job on the reef.
You should not have a problem with the fish you want--there is ample reef for all

Thank you, I'll go for the wrasse once I believe the system is ready for the second fish. I got the rocks from three places, I hope the looks are paying off for the extra shipping premium and the one month rock shuffle game

[fowlclay-boaeef?]

Originally Posted by kolosy

yeah, i have a 27g fuge with a dsb, lr rubble and macro, so that's fine.

any problems with the fish listed getting along?

i dont think there would be any problems with the fish getting along. but to get the fish to school there would need to be at the very least 4 or five of the type of fish that you want to school. increasing the number even more than that would increase the likelyhood of them schooling. i have seen many documented pictures of banggai cardinals schooling in tanks. this is not as common a thing as one would think. it is more common in the wild as most hobbyist have a plan with their tanks and that may be to have a lot of different kinds of fish. if your goal is to have schooling fish i say go for it. the bangghai is a beautiful fish that will school. prolly around 20 usd a piece if you buy small ones. maybe cheeper if u find a local breeder. also the bangghai cardinal is one of the easiest of all fishs to breed in captivity. you might be able to offset the cost of your sometimes expensive hobby in this manner.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by goochesfish

I saw a nice looking banana wrasse but will it get along with my mystery wrasse?

I also noticed this month's TOTM has a long nose butterfly. I've read to add to a reef with caution. Any experience with butterfly's in a reef?

the two wrasses should be fine

Long nose butterfly fish and copper banded butterfly fish are timid fish. If you quarantine them to the point that you have them eating then that makes it easier for them to adjust to other tank mates. Long term success with these fish requires you to feed them live black worms.