Fish suggestions and fish addition order

[Cthulukelele]

Hi so I am new to the hobby and hoping to either start a 120 or 180 gallon tank. My wishlist is:
Bonded pair ocellaris clowns
Bonded pair bangai cardinals
Melanarus Wrasse
Yellow watchman goby
Lawnmower blenny
Maybe a small school of chromis
Purple firefish

I was wondering what other peaceful/less aggressive semi aggressive fish to add that might have interesting personalities or interactions. What order should I introduce these fish as well?

Thanks and looking forward to talking to you all more in the future

 

[DeniseAndy]

If you have a bonded pair of acellaris clowns close to mating, add last. Once they lay eggs, they get territorial and will take over. Yes even a 120 or 180. Mine took over a 210g. The rest sounds fine.

Other peaceful:
Assessors
Resplendent anthias
get a shrimp for the watchman - helps them settle and be much happier

Will this be a fish only or a full reef or fish live rock tank? Can effect getting the shrimp.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks so much for the info!

I was hoping to eventually go full reef, but that will be down the line

 

[Neo Jeo]

QT the fish if you can. Im loosing fish right now to ich....

 

[Super Fly]

Welcome. Few items to note about those fish;
Cardinals - they r picky eaters and hard to transition them to pellets/flakes. Unless u plan to daily feed meaty forzen foods, I'd stay away from Cardinals.
Lawnmower Blenny - should wait till tank is mature w plenty of algae or else it'll starve
Chromis - I love them when they shoal but they very often they kill each other and u'll end up with just 1.
Look into a one-spot foxface, it's a nice large pretty and friendly fish that'll keep ur tank clean.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks for the suggestion!

In my reading I had thought aquacultured cardinals did pretty well as far as eating. Is this inaccurate?

 

[Super Fly]

Thanks for the suggestion!

In my reading I had thought aquacultured cardinals did pretty well as far as eating. Is this inaccurate?

they might, if they were fed mix of meaty and dry food at the aquaculture farm. otherwise, u'll end up having to train them which can be a hassle and each fish being an individual some may not be interested in dry food.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I have not had bangaii, but had no problems with pairs of dot-dash or blue eyed (except for the whole pecking down to two thing). I agree the chromis will end up with one eventually.
Yes, that, on the lawnmower blenny. They need plenty to graze on, so algae is necessary. They are pigs though. And they can survive a clownfish territorially.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks! Is a 120 enough space for all of that and maybe a couple other oddball fish in the future?

 

[DeniseAndy]

I would maybe hold off on the foxface because they can get too big for a 120g. JMO I am rather conservative on fish size and tank. Yes, you could add some oddballs later like small filefish, jawfish, etc. Depends on environment to what fish. Have fun!

 

[mta_morrow]

Firstly, WELCOME TO R2R!

We are glad you are here and you have come to the right place.

Your stocking list seems just fine to me. I to have predominantly smaller
Fish in a 108 gallon.

I agree with adding the clowns near the end IF you purchase a true bonded pair that is mating.

Personally, I have purchased 2 very small ones and put them in first and let them figure out which will be the female. They also won’t be territorial for quite a while.

Other smaller, community fish that work well are a trio of zebra darts or scissor tails. A group of 3 or more azure damsels will work out well and adds lots of movement and color. I would avoid a group of chromis and go with only 1.

Royal grammas and purple firefish are always in my tank as well.

I also have a single pink spot goby, a pair of wheelers gobies w a pistol shrimp, and a pair of hi fin red band gobies w a pistol shrimp

 

[Cthulukelele]

Gobies are actually my favorite from what I've seen in my friend's tank and at my LFS, but I had heard they get pretty territorial with more than one. I would love to have a few with pistol shrimp. How have you had success with more than one in a tank? (that would be my ideal setup)

 

[mta_morrow]

Gobies are actually my favorite from what I've seen in my friend's tank and at my LFS, but I had heard they get pretty territorial with more than one. I would love to have a few with pistol shrimp. How have you had success with more than one in a tank? (that would be my ideal setup)

Gobies are some of my favorites as well.

Rule #1, don’t believe what you “hear”.

There are a lot of experienced folks here that you need to tap in to

There are MANY gobies that are compatible. I currently have 5

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks for that super helpful info! Is there somewhere I can go to suss out goby compatibility?

 

[mta_morrow]

Thanks for that super helpful info! Is there somewhere I can go to suss out goby compatibility?

Yes. In the fish forum there is a sticky to ask questions about fish compatibility.

Post any fish compatibility question there and you will get the proper answers. [emoji39]

Let me know if you can t find it.

 

[Jesterrace]

My Pajama Cardinalfish is an ORA Captive Bred and it eats Reef Frenzy and other frozen meaty foods just fine. Never had Banggai Cardinals, but they do seem to be more delicate. As for the Foxface, if you stick to a One Spot you should be fine. I would wait to add it until you have some established algae growing in your tank though. I would skip the Chromis as well, since they tend to pick each other off and many of them are shipping with disease these days. It's a bit of a stretch in terms of demeanor but since you are doing FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock), I would look into something like a Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel, Singapore Angel or possibly a small butterflyfish. I have a Coral Beauty and a One Spot Foxface in my 90 gallon:

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks! I was actually hoping to have a few zoas and maybe some less finicky LPS corals

 

[Cthulukelele]

My Pajama Cardinalfish is an ORA Captive Bred and it eats Reef Frenzy and other frozen meaty foods just fine. Never had Banggai Cardinals, but they do seem to be more delicate. As for the Foxface, if you stick to a One Spot you should be fine. I would wait to add it until you have some established algae growing in your tank though. I would skip the Chromis as well, since they tend to pick each other off and many of them are shipping with disease these days. It's a bit of a stretch in terms of demeanor but since you are doing FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock), I would look into something like a Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel, Singapore Angel or possibly a small butterflyfish. I have a Coral Beauty and a One Spot Foxface in my 90 gallon:

Also I LOVEEE your tank! How much rock is that?

 

[theKoolAidMan]

I'm not going to make fish suggestions, as that would be me building what I like, and not you building what you like. I'd recommend browsing a site like Live Aquaria and going to all of the LFS in your area just to browse and see that tickles your fancy. Then come home and research.

As for strategy when adding fish. I would personally add the hardiest peaceful fish you're considering first. I would continue adding more peaceful fish before getting to semi-aggressive or aggressive fish. Any aggressive fish I would add last and add together if possible. This isn't fool proof and there are plenty of people who have added SOBs like Tang early and didn't have a problem later.