Choosing fish

[hmotorsol]

Here soon i will be setting up a 44 gallon tank which will be replacing my 10 gallon. I was wondering what type of fish will go well with the ones I have now. I have a purple fire fish and a yellow clown goby.
I am planning on getting 2 neon gobies. Should I stick with other types of gobies or try like a angel or a small tang(if there is a thing).

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Trying to keep the fish to more of a docile eating habits so the purp fire fish will get the food.

[L0S3R]

To small to keep a tang healthy and happy. I like the looks of angels but they are known coral nippers. they get pretty big as well.

Try looking into chromis, fairy wrasses, clownfish. stuff of the smaller stature.

Make sure what you do decide on you research them to see who is more aggressive and put the most aggressive in last.

[dreminon]

making me break out one of my books. lol What fish? A buyers guide to Marine fish by Tristan Lougher. ok lets see group of cardinalfish would work. most angels need at least 60 gal plus may nip at coral. tank to small for butterflys. a pair of bluestreak cleaner wrasse will work. 6 line may work its hit or miss from what I have read. 60 gal minimum for tangs. thats just for kole next closest is 85 gal. one im looking into getting is golden forktail they shoal just like chromis but I think they are better looking. orchid dottyback would work as well.almost any goby Im kinda partail to the yellow watchman and pistol shrimp combo. if you have deep sand bed a jawfish would work to.enough live rock could do a mandarin after pod pop is up. hmm that was a quick throu the book might have missed somthing. have any questions about a fish just ask and ill scan and email the page to you.

[ADMIN2]

I think you would want to stay away from mandarins in that small of a tank unless you were going to supplement pods.

[hmotorsol]

Okay i think i have a partial list.

1 longfin fairy wrasse
3-4 bluegreen chromises
1 purple firefish
1 yellow clown goby

maybe a scooter blenny i know they eat copepod as a main source but maybe i can get lucky again and get one that goes after the food i feed.

I might get a few more on down the road because all of those dont get too big.

[ADMIN]

Good list but if are thinking of doing SPS coral one day, avoid the clow goby they eat SPS polyps. You haven't lived until you catch one out of a fully stocked SPS tank. If not then it's a good choice.

[hmotorsol]

how much lighting does the sps corals need i have a 2x24w t5ho will be going on a 24" deep tank. I am thinking i might have to upgrade to a 150w metal halide's to hit the bottom of the tank. Maybe i will just put mushrooms and other low light corals down there. Are there many low light corals because all i know of is mushrooms.

[ADMIN]

Yep you will need a bit more light for SPS in a 24" tank. I suggest 250s instead of 160s as you can run 14 K bulbs in them for color and still get more light to the bottom. If you want to keep T5s you would likely need at least 6 55wt IMO.
Low light coral, mushroom, some zoas, bubble coral.

[package]

I am not familiar with the fairy wrasse but every wrasse I have ever had picked at smaller fish. I have a cleaner wrasse now in both of my tanks, I tried to add a purple fire fish - no luck. Same thing with a 6 line, dragon, cloris (sp?). Again I am not familiar with the fairy wrasse but take caution if the word wrasse is used.

Disclaimer - as with the tang thread, fish temperament likely still applies.

[ADMIN]

Jul 31, 2009 9:33:15 GMT -5 package said:

...I am not familiar with the fairy wrasse but take caution if the word wrasse is used.

Disclaimer - as with the tang thread, fish temperament likely still applies.

Yep he's right, most wrasses are going to give you problems, however there are a few you should have less or no problems with. Smaller wrasses like the fairy, flasher, lemon, lime green, leopards, etc are pretty much OK. They are wrasse though and will likely go after your crabs, snails, and shrimp.