inhabitants for new tank

[bab]

am currently cycling a new 85g tank, and am trying to plan which
fish to add, im thinking to add a pair of clowns, probably percula pair or tomato, 3 purple firefish, a strawberry dottyback and maybey few yellow tailed damsels (im not sure how many would be good for this tank, many ppl say none... i would like to later introduce either a coral beauty or flame angel, though i dont know if this may be harrassed by some of the more territorial fish would this be too many fish for my system/size tank and in which order should this fish be added.. thanks

 

[jake22]

I would put the firefish in first then maybe the clowns then the damsels. I am not sure about the dottyback but i would think to add it before the damsels.

 

[bang guy]

I would add a pair of tank bred True Perculas. Once established get a feel for what else you want in there before deciding on your next fish.

 

[bab]

thanks.. what could be some other small to medium sized fish which could go with some of the fish i have in mind, or by adding more fish later would this be over stocking my tank ?

 

[sgt__york]

You didn't even mention a tang - which have many varietys that are (in my opinion) some of the most beautiful fish - yellow tangs, blue hippo tang; achilees tang; purple tang; nasau tang; etc.
If you are doing a fish ONLY tank - you can stock it a bit heavier than if you want to add corals. The primary reason that the larger the biological load - the quicker your NITRATES will accumulate. Corals need to have levels maintained UNDER 30 - where fish can take them up to 80ppm (keep in mind these are considered upper limits - and would then require water changes to reduce the nitrate levels).
HOWEVER there are other methods of helping to reduce nitrate levels including (live sand beds and algae-refugiums).
I've heard a general rule of thumb before regarding fish load in a tank of 1inch of fish (head to tail) PER 5 gal of tank. (keep in mind, ur fish GROW, so use not purchased size, but adult sizing of fish).
Thus, if you have a 85gal tank that's 17" of fish. This is just a general rule, and again the amount of filtration you use (LR & overstock of bio balls) and if you decide to make it fish only can increase that a tad. Remember also - the more fish - the quicker your nitrates will grow - and the sooner you will have to do regular water changes. You may want to research algae-refugiums if this becomes too much)
Good luck to you.