Which Fish Should I Get?

[steelchromis]

I am in a dispute of which fish I should I get. They both have many positives and negatives to look at.
To Help with the vote here is my tank:
29 Gallon FOWLR System
10 lbs. of Fiji LR
2 Firefish
2 False Percula Clowns
1 Four Stripe Damsel
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 CC Starfish
10 Snails
1 Emerald Crab
8 Blue Leg Crab
By the way, I am going to bring the Damsel back to my LFS in order to balance the bioload for a new fish.

 

[thomas712]

Don't know what your filtration is but I would be temped to say you have enough fish for a 29 gallon right now. So I would say niether one.
Just my opinion.
Now if you must I really like the 6 line wrasse.
Thomas

 

[daniel411]

Oh no Thomas, the yellow watchman is much cooler

 

[lesleybird]

Hi, If you get rid of the damsel and keep the other 4 you are already nearly over stocked. The 4 remaining fish get to about 3 inches each. Thats 12 inches of fish in a 29 gallon tank. That's just a little over 2 gallons per inch of fish when you account for rock and sand displacement. In saltwater terms this is already considered overstocked. I think that the four fish will be fine, but add another fish and you will be asking for trouble in the long run. Saltwater fish tanks can only take less that half the stocking levels as freshwater tanks. So, I say get a bigger tank. Lesley

 

[steelchromis]

Well Thanks for the input. But I have another question. Do Corals and shrimp add to the bioload?

 

[chris23]

I would have to agree with Thomas712 on this one. I would say you have enough fish in the tank. But what ever you decide is up to you. Happy fishing!!!!!

 

[steelchromis]

Well I will agree with everyone and keep the bioload to 4 fish. But do inverts and corals increase the bioload? I only say this b/c I may make my FOWLR into a mini-reef.

 

[scotts]

SC
IMO I think you are full for fish as well. However I do not think that you can go wrong with returning the damsel and one firefish and getting the watchman goby. They have a great personality.
Inverts and corals, at least soft corals, will help with the bio load. That is why people add a clean up crew of hermit crabs. They eat the junk on the bottom of the tank. Also soft corals are filter feeders and eat some of the small particles out of the water.
I don't know about the CC starfish. I think that people have had bad experieces with them on the board. But then again I may be wrong. It has happened before.
Scott

 

[ajroc31]

I have both of them. The goby I had for few months, and I am not sure if I ever seen his whole body yet. All I can see is a little head sticking out from inside lr. I got the sixline 3 days ago and he is quickly becoming my favorite. He is so fun to watch, always doing something. he appears to be very curious and friendly, as I seen him clean my demsel.

 

[thomas712]

Shrimp will not add significanly to the bio load and neither will corals, however adding corals will put a new form of bio load on your tank in the form of calcium and alkalinity. With a fish only or even a FOWLER this is not so important unless you wish to grow coralline algea. It is much more important in a reef tank to maintain the alk and calc as well as magnesium. Keeping those levels where they should be will keep the corals growing, the coralline algae growing and is good for your other cleanup crew inverts as well.
Thomas

 

[steelchromis]

Thanks Thomas and everyone else. But how do I add these additives to my tank once I start a mini-reef?