Hello! First of all has your tank cycled yet? I know you said it has been three months but this will affect which fish to put in. Anyways, my experience with pajama cardinals has been miserable. I started off with 3 as you are supposed to because they are a schooling fish. Well, of course they didn't school and 2 of them teamed up and massacred the other one. Later on the other one just died of natural causes. Finally I had just one left of these puny little guys and traded him in because I didn't want to waste space in my tank. I say this because they are a nocturnal fish so if you have the experience I had they will just hide behind a rock all day and you will never see them. However, these guys will be a good starter fish as they are pretty hardy.!
Now to get started! I would first of all say a big NO to the cucumber. As cool as these guys may be they can be devastating to everything else in your tank . When one of these guys die they will release a toxin into your water that will immediately, if not short after, kill all of your livestock. I would also advise you to pass on the turbo snails and instead get cerith- for the sand, and nerite- for everything else. The reason I say this is that when a turbo snail dies, it can drastically screw up your water chemistry. You would be fine with the feather duster. If properly acclimated, these guys can be very hardy. Just keep in mind that these guys are filter feeders, so be prepared to target feed it, and also don't put it in an area of high flow. They like medium to low flow. You would be fine with the peppermint shrimp. As am addition to your cleanup crew I would recommend emerald crabs. These guys do a great job mowing your algae lawns! For the tang I would personally recommend a yellow or blue tang. For your size tank I think a yellow tang would thrive over a blue tang. In my tank I had one and it was beating up my pair of blue throat triggerfish. I think my experience is pretty uncommon, however to be safe I would go with the to yellow tang because they do not get quite as large. I would hold on the angel until later because angels are intolerant of okay water quality like someone would have in the beginning. They need excellent water quality to thrive. a yellow or blue tang. For your size tank I think a yellow tang would thrive over a blue tang. In my tank I had one and it was beating up my pair of blue throat triggerfish. I think my experience is pretty uncommon, however to be safe I would go with the to yellow tang because they do not get quite as large. I would hold on the angel until later because angels are intolerant of okay water quality like someone would have in the beginning. They need excellent water quality to thrive. The candy stripe cardinal in my opinion goes the same way as the pajama cardinal. If you want an active tank, these guys wouldn't be a candidate. Below I am going to give you a list of fish I think would fit your tank best! If you want to add a butterfly they also like pretty decent water so I would wait to add them. Also wait to add the clowns because they are damasks and are very territorial so you need something to be there first!
Goby-- any type to clean the sand bed
Wrasse-- good addition to any tank just be sure it's "reef compatible" or else you will no longer have your inverts and make sure you have a tight fitting lid or canopy because these guys are jumpers
Butterfly-- depends on what type just read their specifications for each type some MAY eat your inverts!!
Rabbitfish-- very cool fish, don't get too large but be careful they have venomous spines
Hawkish-- these guys may be boring but are good beginner fish
Triggerfish--(my personal favorite fish of all time) beware that you will not be able to have your shrimp any active moving invert BUT if you get a blue chin triggerfish you should be okay with snails and hermits jut not the shrimp, but if you go with the more aggressive triggerfish such as clown or humuhumu you will need to reconsider your tank stock and stay away from very small fish and get the aggressive triggerfish as juveniles because they will grow FAST
Puffer-- also will need to reconsider stock and absolutely no inverts I would recommend the porcupine puffer
I think that about covers it! If you have any more questions please feel free to ask! I will answer! Another great site to get info about fish and inverts is www.***********.com! Hope this helped,!!
