Kickstarting stalled reef project - what fish would you add?

foodshape

foodshape

Member
I had started putting together 75g a reef tank some time back... with everything set up and running though things kind of got put on hold for nearly a year. Nothing new has been added to the tank in that time. Not much in the way of corals in the tank presently - a torch-frogspawn thingy (looks like some heads of both sold on the same frag, if that's possible), doughnut coral, some zoas and plenty of mushrooms. I'm addressing a lighting issue though and will soon be resuming the coral stocking.

For fish, there are a one-spot foxface (about 4.5"), a flame angel, a royal gramma, and a pair of ocellaris clowns. These fish are all well accustomed to each other wish no issues. For planning/QT purposes, what if anything would you consider keeping your eye out for to add to this fish list? There are some inverts in the tank as well. The tank has a 30g sump underneath with a Vertex Omega 150 skimmer. No macro algaes as yet but there is a large chamber free and waiting for that.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
We have the same fish only diff I have a cb instead of a flame. I also have purple fire fish, golden sleeper headed goby, alage blenny, clown goby, mcoskers wrasse and a mandarin. All reef safe fish
 
foodshape

foodshape

Member
Thanks for the suggestions folks.

I had considered a wrasse of some type. The two fish I did lose in this tank were a red fire fish, and a carpenter's wrasse. I simply lost track of both and never saw them again. (The fire fish was the very first addition; The wrasse seemed to have gotten an eye poked out somehow - that didn't help its chances at feeding time or otherwise...) Jay, I'll look into the other fish you mention as well.

Mauler, kole tangs seem pretty cool, and it would be neat to have a second 'medium-sized' fish in the tank, but I thought they require a lot of swimming room, no? This is only a 4' 75g (seems even less visually due to the large corner overflow) with a fair amount of rockwork. It's entirely possible I may convert my 125g Tropheus tank or my 150g mixed African cichlid tank to SW at some point as the populations in both those tanks are well up there in years, but I don't want to start buying fish that will need something bigger than my current 75g SW on that basis yet.
 
mauler

mauler

Active Member
Kole tangs and the smaller bristletooth tangs have a minimum requirement of 70g so you could get away with it you could also go with cardinal fish
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Hi,

I love the fairy wrasse fish...but they are awful for jumping, even with a net, mine managed to commit sushi when I raised the edge of the net just enough to feed the fish...it jumped to the very back of the 90g, where I couldn't reach it without killing it in the process, the sump was in the way. It's like it planned to die, and had the details all worked out, so I gave up on all the long bodied fish that are known for jumping. firefish, wrasse etc...etc

There are plenty of corals that don't require fancy lights, since you said you had lighting issues, you might look into what would go in the tank with the lighting you already have. Cardinals hide so much it's a waste to add them. If it's a nice established reef, maybe it's time for a nice starfish, or fan worm (feather duster).
 
foodshape

foodshape

Member
I'm not too worried about jumpers. I purposely designed/built an open-top canopy of a trapezoidal shape. A fish would need to leap over a foot upwards to clear the top, and unless it aimed for the 5" opening that runs the length of the centre of the canopy (and missed the lights) it would just deflect off the overhanging inside wall of the canopy and end up back in the water again. I could also easily put a grill over that 5" opening at the top to completely eliminate the risk, for any super-jumpers.

The lighting issue I have is that the fixture I originally purchased, while bright enough for some LPS anyway, is an unreliable, high-maintenance piece of junk that is currently not working, and I don't plan to sink good money after bad on it as I don't trust it anymore... I already have something better (Ecotech) on the way - should be here and in service in about a week.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
I had a Kole tang in my 75g... It was a very healthy fish, had a good personality, and very peaceful. It's just such a drab colored fish compared to the other SW critters. The yellow eye is pretty, but the rest of the body is baby poo brownish. LOL... Then again it might, by sheer comparison, make all the other colors in the tank look awesome.

Foodshape:
I understand about the lighting 100%... That's why I hate Coralife products so much. I had a Metal Halide unit made by them. It was super heavy, didn't work right from day 1. Even after they replaced the ballast 2Xs, it gave me grief. I never was sure if it would work right each day I had it. Some days one side worked and the other didn't, alternating sides...sometime both sides would come on without messing with it (rare good days)...
 
foodshape

foodshape

Member
Flower, I feel your pain then on the bad lights! This was a Deep Blue LED fixture... got it at a boxing day sale - a rare impulse purchase :eek:. And on such a critical piece of equipment! (Doh!) The troubles started after the measly one year warranty expired - expensive lesson learned.

How about blue or green chromis - thoughts on those? (yes, no, ok but don't appeal to you, proper #s?). I read they're reef safe and possible candidates for a tank this size. What I see/read about them also regarding size, colour, sheen, behaviour etc. reminds me of Malawi mbuna cichlids - not a bad thing, but - been there done that.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Chromis are weird little fish lol. Peaceful w other fish. Totally reef safe tho. They can be aggressive w each other tho. Odd numbers they say are best. I have 3 , 2 are usually together while the 3rd hides in the rocks until feeding time
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
I dont have one, but there a very popular fish. Fairly easy to take care. But can be pricey. $40 and up usually
 
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