Choosing a fish or too many?

basile · Mar 10, 2014

Six foot tank, 150 gallon tank with a 75 gallon display refugiumto help filtration and grow my own macroalgae. Reef tank 6'x24"x21"tall octopus skimmer rated for 300 g tank. So i want to add another fish. But do i have too much already;

As you can see i purposely made sure i didn't pack my tank with corals so i keep lots of swimming room for my fish, and i don't intend to have a huge collection of corals either i want minimum headakes with feeding and dosing, i want this hobby to be relaxing for me and the fish lol. Most corals will be softies and LPS. i already have a bit of Ulva growing in the reef thats cool for my tang, thats the fish i was hopping to add as well.

The refugium

I have presently;

1 Yellow Tang
1 Magnificent Foxface
6 chromis
1 blenny
1 manderin
2 picasso clowns

Now i was thinking another tang maybe , a hardy one, no blue or hyppo, lol. Maybe a Kole tang , not too big, any other suggestions.

Bad Company · Mar 10, 2014

Blue Spot Jawfish! Best Personality ever! Builds his own house, always checking everything out, paranoid about what's happening behind him, spits water at fish/crabs/snails that come too near, they are freaking awesome!

vlangel · Mar 10, 2014

O man, I think I need one of those!

saltyhog · Mar 10, 2014

Bad Company said:
Blue Spot Jawfish! Best Personality ever! Builds his own house, always checking everything out, paranoid about what's happening behind him, spits water at fish/crabs/snails that come too near, they are freaking awesome!

Beautiful fish! How long have you had him? I want one but was told they don't survive long in water above 72 degrees?

guidedbyechoes · Mar 10, 2014

no tank is complete without a wrasse!

tanked37 · Mar 10, 2014

Wow, that's quite the refugium. I don't think you have too many fish at all. You honestly can probably add a good amount more. Since you're not super coral crazy and you're definitely not doing SPS corals I would look at butterfly fish. Some of the most beautiful reef fish are butterflies. Just research to ensure the corals you do have won't be food. I have a yellow pyramid butterfly in my SPS dominated tank but they are considered reef safe and I love the fish. Wish I could do more butterflies.

Bad Company · Mar 10, 2014

saltyhog said:
Beautiful fish! How long have you had him? I want one but was told they don't survive long in water above 72 degrees?

I've had my Blue Spot for 6 weeks now. He spent about three weeks building a burrow and hanging out at the door, opening his mouth at everyone. Now he seems a lot more comfortable in the tank, and schools near the Chromis during feeding time! I keep my tank at 75Â° F, and have 4-5 inches of mixed fine sand and crushed coral. Jawfish really need rubble to build with too, so as soon as he uses it up in construction, I smash another small piece of live rock into nickel sized pieces. Then he is happy again with building materials. I would recommend NOT quarantining the jawfish, as it is super stressed out without a hole to live in that it makes. He wore away at his lips because he worked so hard on his new home, bet they are recovering nicely. He was the longest fish in the tank, so no one bothers him. He is afraid of nothing. I didn't have luck with two yellowheaded jawfish, but when I found a blue spot for $70, I couldn't resist. I'm so happy I got him. Cheers!

basile · Mar 11, 2014

tanked37 said:
Wow, that's quite the refugium. I don't think you have too many fish at all. You honestly can probably add a good amount more. Since you're not super coral crazy and you're definitely not doing SPS corals I would look at butterfly fish. Some of the most beautiful reef fish are butterflies. Just research to ensure the corals you do have won't be food. I have a yellow pyramid butterfly in my SPS dominated tank but they are considered reef safe and I love the fish. Wish I could do more butterflies.

Thanks the display refugium contains my seahorses on the right side, and on the left side are my Angler and my dwarf fuzzy lion fish. I'll look into the butterfly fish thanks.

basile · Mar 11, 2014

Bad Company said:
I've had my Blue Spot for 6 weeks now. He spent about three weeks building a burrow and hanging out at the door, opening his mouth at everyone. Now he seems a lot more comfortable in the tank, and schools near the Chromis during feeding time! I keep my tank at 75Â° F, and have 4-5 inches of mixed fine sand and crushed coral. Jawfish really need rubble to build with too, so as soon as he uses it up in construction, I smash another small piece of live rock into nickel sized pieces. Then he is happy again with building materials. I would recommend NOT quarantining the jawfish, as it is super stressed out without a hole to live in that it makes. He wore away at his lips because he worked so hard on his new home, bet they are recovering nicely. He was the longest fish in the tank, so no one bothers him. He is afraid of nothing. I didn't have luck with two yellowheaded jawfish, but when I found a blue spot for $70, I couldn't resist. I'm so happy I got him. Cheers!

Would he be ok in a 2 inch sand bed , not sure thats all i have .

Bad Company · Mar 11, 2014

He might be if you are willing to accomodate him with a more customized home. A piece of relatively flat liverock supported oat the corners with smaller pieces would provide a roof. Then give him a bunch of rubble to build walls up to the edges of the rock ought to work. Mine found the area I set up for him right away. The key is a roof and rubble to build with. Obviously they are individuals, and others may be different. Maybe allow the substrate to be a bit deeper in that area. Good luck!

Gwitness · Mar 11, 2014

That looks awesome...is your refugium right next to your display tank? How do you have it plumbed together?

basile · Mar 11, 2014

Gwitness said:
That looks awesome...is your refugium right next to your display tank? How do you have it plumbed together?

LOL it simpler if i give you my thread so you can look at it here; https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/me...vity-my-150g-starfire-reef-tank-build-up.html

jschultzbass · Mar 11, 2014

That setup is great! I love the fact you have seahorses on one side and angler/lion on the other. I agree though that you have room for a few more fish. I would look at a couple wrasses (fairy and flasher) plus another tang...a hippo tang would be really cool but they are ich magnets...maybe try to get one off DD? Any of the Ctenochaetus tangs would work well.

PatW · Mar 11, 2014

With your tank length, filtration, refugium and fish load, I think you can add some more. A kole tang would work pretty well. It is a small tang. A royal gramma might be nice. You have a number of options. It is always tempting to pack a tank with fish. But a tank that is a bit under stocked gives you far more room for error or mishap. A tank packed with every fish possible is just one small misfortune from disaster.

basile · Mar 11, 2014

PatW said:
With your tank length, filtration, refugium and fish load, I think you can add some more. A kole tang would work pretty well. It is a small tang. A royal gramma might be nice. You have a number of options. It is always tempting to pack a tank with fish. But a tank that is a bit under stocked gives you far more room for error or mishap. A tank packed with every fish possible is just one small misfortune from disaster.

Yes thats why after seeing how they swim and the location of the tank they're using i came to the conclusion that one more should be enough. I want them to have elbow room . So i was thinking about a flashy fish , now made sense. Royal gramma or dottyback, or flashy wrasse or six line , something with a bit of wits that would hold its own towards the chromis and not hide lol. This way the tang wont feel threaten by another tang and i'll add color and some movement mid tank actually everywhere, my last six line when everywhere lol.