Need help picking out a cool fish!!!!!

[thereefer9]

hi
ok so monday my family is having some important executives over for dinner. Id like to put some fish in the tank because right now all thats living in there is a lawn mower blenny and 80 pounds of live rock. Yeah i know not very impresive.

SO looking for a flashey fish with lots of personality and thats got a lot of color. The tank is a 70 gallon soon to be reef. I really want to get something nice and impressive to put in the tank so I want all u guys suggestions.

Thanks

 

[seamandrew]

How long has the tank been running? Is it matured?
Clowfish of different varieties are always fun to watch. Triggerfish are awesome and so unique looking, but considering you want to make this into a reef tank, they're out. I would recommend an angelfish, but they should go in last.
So what you need is a quirky fish with lots of personality. Some type of colorful Wrasse perhaps, a tang (powder blue, hippo, naso, or purple), perhaps a Harlequin Tusk.
Try a powder blue tang (if the tank is well matured). They're rather striking and have personality. I would also go for a hawkfish, they are pretty funny looking always perching on some crevice.

 

[thereefer9]

Oh yea the tanks matured its been running for 2 years I had an outbreak of ich that devastated the tank about 7 months ago thats why i dont have any fish but ive got that squared away now. I always thought tangs needed about 100 gallons and 6 ft of swimming room my tanks only 3 ft long. I also plan on keeping the fish for the long haul. I would get a hawkfish but i dont want it to eat the clean up crew plan on getting.

 

[seamandrew]

How about a Scott's Fairy Wrasse then? I would steer away from all Tangs till you know the ich is gone. Tangs do not have the mucosal lining that most fish have to protect them from ich. That's why they're more prone to it. Hawkfish can pose a problem you're right.
Seems like you should do a mix and match of smaller species. I would go with a royal gramma, a non-aggressive wrasse (sixline?) of some sort, 2 clown-fish, and possibly either a couple of anthias or a dwarf angel like an Eibli, Flame, or Coral Beauty. They should complement the lawn mower goby. Ooh and a purple firefish. All non-aggressive fish that will thrive in a 70 gallon with so much live rock.

 

[natemd]

I second the coral beauty angelfish. Its colors can be amazing in the right light. Very social fish too

 

[hefner413]

I would hold off on the coral beauty. They are quite impressive, but if they are the first fish - can become quite territorial and a bully to subsequent tankmates. I would start off with something less apt to pick on others. Of the above suggestions, I would pick the clown, purple firefish or cobberband. I would also get some cool inverts - a cleaner shrimp or such. Just don't get anything that will be a threat to your soon to be reef.
But one last word of advise... you've already done the ich dance once. I would set up a QT tank and use it on any new fish first. In the meantime, the inverts could be a discussion topic for your execs that are coming over...

 

[surfinusa]

If I were you I would add something like a large school of chromis and a foxface both are some cool fish.

 

[colorado2step]

flame angle, of fire fish goby

 

[donald]

Fire fish = cool and tame reef safe
false perc clowns = personality and tame reef safe
flasher wrasse (mccoskers or carpenters) = beautiful and tame reef safe
any dwarf angel = cool but more aggressive use caution with reef
Chromis = schooling and tame reef safe
foxface = bright and tame most are reef safe just watch them
cleaner shrimp = personality tame reef safe lots of color
bullet banded globy = great cleaner tame personality reef safe
scarlet reef hermit = color cleaning reef safe
mandrin goby = cool color reef safe must have established tank to surive.
all of these fish can be added together and will do fine and add lots of movement at all levels of your tank

 

[hefner413]

great info donald - but just wondering - would you advise adding many fish together and the same time? I usually try to just at 1-2 at a time to help reduce stress and in turn infection, etc.

 

[dragonzim]

Originally Posted by Hefner413
great info donald - but just wondering - would you advise adding many fish together and the same time? I usually try to just at 1-2 at a time to help reduce stress and in turn infection, etc.
You should definitely NOT add that many fish at one time. Way too much bioload to put in all at once.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by DragonZim
You should definitely NOT add that many fish at one time. Way too much bioload to put in all at once.

Thank you
It would be a recipe for possible disaster, unless you have been "ghost" feeding that tank every day as if you had that many fish in there.
Contrary to popular belief the biological filter is not a stagnant thing...it grows and shrinks based on the available food (ammonia). If there is no load on the tank, it will die back, and you can crash your tank by suddenly adding a bunch of fish.
Now you may not care...but it is a good way to just reintroduce ick right back into the tank. If you don't fully QT all of those fish, all you are doing is reintroducing the parasite, IMO.
In the LFS when I worked there I would meet people who didn't care - just wanted a bunch of fish for the "big game" and who cares what happened. They were shown the door (I'm glad to say). So even if you were waving money in my face, I would tell you this.

Your LFS may have no issues selling you this many at once, but I would be REAL careful adding a bunch of fish at once. At least start feeding that tank like you have that many fish and see if anything happens, but in general, it is not a good plan to suddenly increase the bioload dramatically, even on a mature tank.

 

[lesleybird]

Originally Posted by seamandrew
How long has the tank been running? Is it matured?
Clowfish of different varieties are always fun to watch. Triggerfish are awesome and so unique looking, but considering you want to make this into a reef tank, they're out. I would recommend an angelfish, but they should go in last.
So what you need is a quirky fish with lots of personality. Some type of colorful Wrasse perhaps, a tang (powder blue, hippo, naso, or purple), perhaps a Harlequin Tusk.
Try a powder blue tang (if the tank is well matured). They're rather striking and have personality. I would also go for a hawkfish, they are pretty funny looking always perching on some crevice.
The tank is not big enough for any tang, Naso? are you totally uninformed? My 190 gallon is not big enough for a Naso tang. Harlequin Tusk? It will eat all your crabs and snails. Be careful who you listen to on this board and in the fish store as a lot do not know what they are talking about and will steer you wrong. Best to buy a couple of good books and read up for yourself, or find someone that has been in this hobby for a long time and runs a large successful tank. Lesley

 

[hefner413]

Originally Posted by ophiura
Now you may not care...but it is a good way to just reintroduce ick right back into the tank. If you don't fully QT all of those fish, all you are doing is reintroducing the parasite, IMO.
Yeah, exactly - I would start setting up a QT, with plans to add a couple new fish once it has cycled. And in the meantime just get a cool invert or two. Not worth all the hassle dealing with ich again, as you said you had in the past.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by Lesleybird
The tank is not big enough for any tang, Naso? are you totally uninformed? My 190 gallon is not big enough for a Naso tang. Harlequin Tusk? It will eat all your crabs and snails. Be careful who you listen to on this board and in the fish store as a lot do not know what they are talking about and will steer you wrong. Best to buy a couple of good books and read up for yourself, or find someone that has been in this hobby for a long time and runs a large successful tank. Lesley

Lesley - your passion is appreciated and respected, but there is a lot of room for personal opinion in this hobby. While I agree the tank is not large enough for a naso, it does not mean that I can call someone who does totally uninformed. I would appreciate it if you don't let your passion result in demeaning the input of others. The strength of that argument should come from sharing the facts about the needs of the animal. It is a fish that grows very large and will make even a 180 look pretty small in time. Thanks

 

[forddna]

Foxface? Or some pistol shrimp??

 

[stdreb27]

So do you have coral in there now? Or is it just Live rock. I'd be pretty impressed with a reef tank, especially if it is mature.
You could make up a story like the lawn mower get 2 feet long, and utters profundities about the stock market that would impress the suits.

 

[stdreb27]

An eel is aways an awesome fish, but but I don't know how reef safe they are. If nothing else, they may topple your rock work

 

[monkdaily]

magnificent foxface (Siganus magnifica). they are awesome, and always swimming around, iam saving up for one right now, might b a hard find in one day tho.

 

[hefner413]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
An eel is aways an awesome fish, but but I don't know how reef safe they are. If nothing else, they may topple your rock work
I've always thought an eel would be cool to get, but as far as I can tell, there isn't any eel that will stay small and remain non-aggressive. Snowflake eels are quite popular, but I've been told that they will eventually get big enough to eat tankmates if they are smaller specimens.