75G Reef, Add More Fish or No?

[DeepBrew]

My 75 gallon reef has been up for close to 2 years now. The last of my current fish was a melanurus wrasse added just over a year ago. Here's a current FTS:



The original stocking list was:
Valentini Puffer
Tomini Tang
Starry Blenny
Talbot's Damsel
Melanurus Wrasse

Everything went fine until January when the Tomini tang started beating up on the starry blenny. The tang was re-homed a few months ago as discussed here and I've been considering adding something to replace it.

I'd like to hear the suggestions of the awesome folks here at R2R.

I guess the first thing to ask is:

"Should I even consider adding another fish or two given that everyone is happy now and the tank is doing very well?"

If I do decide to add a fish I want something peaceful that won't bother the corals. I stopped by two LFS today and saw a couple things that caught my eye. One was a long nose hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus) and the other was a copperband butterfly (Chelmon rostratus). Both are really cool.

The hawkfish would fit in the tank just fine and I really like them. But, if I add only one fish I might like something that stays in the water column more. The copperband butterfly would do that but I'm concerned that a 75 gallon tank is too small. I've thought about them before but backed off because a lot of what I've seen says they need a tank significantly bigger than a 75. I prefer not to push the envelope when it comes to fish size or load in my tanks. Both LFS told me a copperband would do fine in a 75 when I questioned it.

So, what's the opinion of R2R? Is a CB butterfly OK in a 75 gallon tank?

If not, point me to something that would work well!

Thanks,

DeepBrew

 

[Coronus]

You can def add more fish. A CB is a difficult fish to keep. Very possible but needs to be trained to eat frozen most of the time. Should be fine in a 75.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Agreed, a copperband should be fine in a 75g, if you can get one that is eating. Your current stocklist will be fine with a copperband.

Your bioload seems like it should be able to support both the hawk and the copperband.

 

[DeepBrew]

Thanks for the feedback!

I know CBBs can be difficult to get to eat. I'm in no hurry. I can wait for a while until I see a nice healthy and eating fish.

 

[leahfiish]

Agreed that either (or both) would be fine, although copperbands might pick at some corals and hawks might be hard on inverts like shrimp.

 

[DeepBrew]

Agreed that either (or both) would be fine, although copperbands might pick at some corals and hawks might be hard on inverts like shrimp.

Thanks, I think the puffer sneaks a snail occasionally so I'm used to that. I've noticed that a number of the coral vendors keep CBBs in their tanks so I'm probably willing to risk it.