What fish should be next?

[marty]

Okay, my fiance` and I have an 80gal FO (no live rock) tank with a Fluval 404, Prizm skimmer and 1 powerhead. Current occupants are: 1 striped damsel, 1 sgt major damsel, 2 domino damsels, 2 hermit crabs, and 1 snail. The damsels will be staying, so please do not recommend returning them to the lfs. She does not want to return them, and neither do I. I do realize I may need to re-arrange things in the tank before putting anything new in.
Our initial thoughts for new fish are:
1) clowns - We have had these in the past and have enjoyed them
2) cardinal fish - She loves how they just "sit" there so still.
3) tangs - I love the color of tangs.
What do you think? Any suggestions or comments?
Thanks and Happy New Year!!

 

[fshhub]

i'd say the clowns, they will be able to take care of themselves
the tangs would be better oof with lr and good algae growth, for grazing and playing in the rockwork
HTH

 

[guppie]

I would add the cardinal first, and maybe a couple, they look good in a school, with the damsel in the tank rearange the tank and do it with the lights off. I have found that adding a new fish with some aggressive fish in the tank it has been best to do it a night with the light have been off for awhile, this way the fish are less aggressive and more likly not to bother the other new fish. Good Luck

 

[thor]

yes a mini school of cardinals and a marroon clown would be very nice

 

[marty]

Thanks for the replies. Just some more thoughts running thru my head: Let's say we get 4 cardinal fish (assuming this is a mini school of them), do all 4 need to be of the same type? On SWF.com pages, there are Pyjama and Buddha Cardinalfish. Can we get 2 of each and will they get along? I know she (fiance~) will want variety.
Ok, let's say we get 4 cardinal fish - 2 of each assuming LFS has them. The other suggestion with the mini school was to get a maroon clown. Again, she would probably want 2 of the maroon clowns. Is this bad to pair them off like this?
Assuming the above is round 1 of adding fish, what else can I add (say 4-6 weeks later)? Can we get more clowns (say some of the orange or yellow types)? What other type of fish should we be looking at?
Thanks!

 

[marty]

Also, what about anglefish? Would they be a good fit with my damsels? Thanks!

 

[nasukan]

Mixing clown species is never advised. They can become very terrotorial. Maroon clowns are the most agressive clown, and will not tolerate any other clownfish. If you do get two maroons get them young so only one will change to a female. They will form a pecking order, with the female being dominant. Never had any cardinals. So I dont know about them.

 

[fshhub]

angels, go with dwarfs for your size of tank
i'd go with the clowns, or dwarf angels
not sure about mixing species of cards, but i think you can; but they probably won't school this way, if you do get cards, buy them at the same time, not one than another this is very dangerous, you will wind up with one again(99.998% probability)
HTH

 

[marty]

Nasukan, that's interesting. Prior to a major wipe out, by our own fault, we had 6-8 clowns, 2 of each type (i.e. 2 maroon, 2 orange, 2 yellowish, and I think 2 others not sure what color). They seemed to get along just fine with each other and the other damsels we had. Even the tang we had had no problems with the clowns (although the damsels didn't like it).
Anyone else have any comments about clowns? I know my fiance` will be wanting to add several clowns probably. I just want to be able to tell her more than I know right now from my limited experience. Thanks.

 

[nasukan]

I,ve always heard and read that clowns should be kept seperartely unless they are a mated pair. The maroons are very agressive and usually will not tolerate other clowns. I had a tomato and two percs at the same time and the tomato kept the percs holed up in one corner. The tomato was given away and now the percs swim all over the tank. I would advise against it, but if you would like other opinions make a post entitled Can I mix clowns? I could be wrong(and it would not be the first time). A dwarf angel would go great in your tank though. They also should only be kept one per tank.