Building A New Community..Want your Help

FAMLYREEF · Mar 18, 2013

So I have been searching the fish forum for the last 20 minutes or so looking for anyone that has cycled their tank and is ready to add fish. Needless to say I started this thread for lack there of.

I have a 75 Gallon with 105lbs LR and I am looking to have a paired set of clowns, a goby/shrimp pair, and some school fish or fish that stay in groups, OH and a pink fish for my daughter. Other than that Im open. I dont plan on going with fish that get too large because I dont want to have to worry about removing them later. We (my girlfriend and I) have looked at a few fish and like many but we are also looking for some advice on species that get along ARE reef safe and friendly (so many options). Plus I think it would be fun for everyone to build a community together.

ONE stipulation to this....... I had GSM clowns in the past and REALLY REALLY want to pair some. I was on SWF.com and they have wild and famed GSM's and they stated that the wild ones can be paired and the farmed cant. Any research or proof behind this?

I am in no rush, tank is tested 8.2ph, 0 phos, 0 nitrat, 0 nitrit And I havnt performed a WC in 3 weeks. Really no need to at this point. There are 10 turbos and 15 +/- hermits poking around now. Anything I missed please ask, any advice is welcome, lets make some friends!

Squishie89 · Mar 18, 2013

So is your request some fish suggestions? Does your daughter want the fish to be a single, so she can easily point it out/name it/etc?
Looks like:
2 clown fish
1 goby
1 pistol shrimp
1 pink fish
1 school

See if she likes this guy for her fish- Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Firefish, Helfrichi if that is too purple for her, you could do an anthias- Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Bartlett's Anthias or Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Ventralis Anthias but I suggest doing research into them as they are a bit higher maintenance with feeding and can be aggressive. So I would push her to the Helfrichi Firefish. Chromis would be good for your school, Chromis for Sale: Blue and Green Chromis and other Reef Species or Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Kaudern's Cardinal - Tank-Bred Banggai Cardinals, just not a large group.

FAMLYREEF · Mar 19, 2013

Thanks for the response. The fish you have mentioned are really what we have written on our list. Purple/pink close enough. Multiple or single, she is 2 so im not sure she is naming. Plus naming fish kills them doesnt it?!?! :crossedlips:

And that was another question I came up with was whats to many in a school (or group) of a tank this size? And how many different schools of species can you have in a tank this size? Two, at most. Of maybe 3-5 being a school (small species)???

Squishie89 · Mar 19, 2013

Unfortunately I have no experience with (nor intend to get) schools. Hopefully someone else can chime in. Otherwise I would do some searching about it.
All fish die eventually, at least for me, naming them does not kill them XD

vicviper15 · Mar 20, 2013

For a pink fish you can do a Strawberry Dottyback. Also for "schooling" there really isnt much except certain species of cardinals and chromis.

FAMLYREEF · Mar 20, 2013

Most of the questions im asking are for verification of the sources found. I do plenty of research before asking when possible.

Anyone want to chime in on the pairing of two GSM clowns? No takers??? Im assuming it should be ok, as long as I have the WHOLE community acclimating together and then entering the aquarium together. I was also going to try to get a couple as small as possible in size.

SeahorseKeeper · Mar 20, 2013

As far as the pairing of the maroon clowns, it can be tricky. I would try to get young clowns with one being larger than the other. There will most likely be some quarreling in the beginning. I would have a backup plan just in case. I would go with captive bred over wild caught if possible.

psionicdragon · Mar 21, 2013

Anthias school.

FAMLYREEF · Mar 28, 2013

So far this is what I have picked out for the tank community.

Lyretail Anthias - Female-3
Pistol Shrimp - Randalli-1
Shrimpgoby - Orange Spotted-1
Carpenters Flasher Wrasse-1
Chalk Basslet-2
Gold Stripe Maroon-2 (waiting to hear back about their size)

Anyone have any ideas on how to acclimate all of these fish at one time? I chalked up the idea that if they were all kept in the same water from the vendor that i could put them all together in a dark rubbermaid container and do a drip into that? Advice very appreciated

WVUreefer · Mar 28, 2013

Ã®n a smÃ ller tank itnseems that flashers and anthias do not tend to get allong

FAMLYREEF · Mar 29, 2013

Switched the anthias for green chromis

MandarinGirl · Mar 31, 2013

hey I'm in the same position! My 75 just finished cycling and I'm ready to add fish. I'm kind of planning on the same stocking list only
2 occelaris
1 goby
3 schooling fish
1 dwarf angel
1 wrasse
can be hard to feed and they don't always "school" I agree with your idea about switching to chromis. I might give up the schooling fish myself though.

MandarinGirl · Mar 31, 2013

hey I'm in the same position! My 75 just finished cycling and I'm ready to add fish. I'm kind of planning on the same stocking list only
2 occelaris
1 goby
3 schooling fish
1 dwarf angel
1 wrasse
can be hard to feed and they don't always "school" I agree with your idea about switching to chromis. I might give up the schooling fish myself though.