Help selecting small group of fish

Patrick Cox · Apr 20, 2018

I have a 2 year old mixed hard coral reef and my nutrient levels are too low so I am looking into adding a few more fish.

Here are what I believe to be the important details of my tank...

100G
48" L x24" W x20" H
2 MP40s running at about 60% Reef Crest
ATI 8x54 T5 fixture
Good Skimmer in the sump

PH 7.9-8.3
78 degrees
1.025 Salinity

Bare Bottom
~65 lbs of Tampa Bay Live Rock
Mostly SPS with a few LPS and one Clam (see picture)
20-30 small snails for CUC along with 2 small urchins

Current Fish:
-One Spot Fox Face
-Kole Tang
-Clownfish Pair
-Yellow Assessor
-Possum Wrasse

What I am looking for in fish:
-Fairly low maintenance in terms of feeding. (So no Anthias for example)
-Stay away from fish that are likely to nip at my clam
-Fish that will easily integrate with my current fish.

I was thinking about 3-5 Blue Green Chromis but I am worried they won't last. If not, maybe some other small schooling fish? I like the idea of adding several of one more breed, rather than adding several more different fish.

Today I mainly feed Spirulina enriched Brine Shrimp, Nori Sheets and Spectrum Pellets.

Thanks for your suggestions!

eatbreakfast · Apr 20, 2018

What is your current feeding regimine?

Tahoe61 · Apr 20, 2018

Beautiful system.

My vote is for the Chromis even though you should feed them well at least twice a day. You could also try some of the Cardinals types like the Red Stop Light.

https://www.liveaquaria.com/category/26/cardinalfish?c=15+26&r=

Patrick Cox · Apr 20, 2018

eatbreakfast said:
What is your current feeding regimine?

I currently feed 1/2 cube of Spirulina brine shrimp every other day and 1/2 sheet of Nori every other day (alternating.)

Ascended Reef · Apr 20, 2018

some more wrasses. Beautiful and decent bioload so 1 or 2 should be sufficient.

ca1ore · Apr 21, 2018

I would personally steer clear of green chromis. Buddy of mine got a uronema outbreak from them - an absolute nightmare! If you must do them, QT is an absolute must. I'm a big fan of yellow tail damsels, though they might not work with the possum (depends how large it is). Fairy wrasses are always a good choice as long as you have a good cover. Chalk basslets would also be a good choice.

I'd also suggest feeding the tank a bit more.

mort · Apr 21, 2018

I'd also suggest upping the feeding and changing the type of food you feed. Brine doesn't have much nutrition and you'd be better of feeding a better food like Mysis or one of the many pellets or flakes which have better nutrition profiles. I'd also feed daily and small and often works best.

For fish its hard to get shoaling fish, bluestreak cardinals will but my personal choice would be adding 3 similar flasher wrasse. A carpenters, mccoskers and yellowfin all look similar but should get along well and add lots of colour and movement. You do need a lid or screen for them.

crayon · Apr 21, 2018

Cardinals. Nice small fish but decent size to hold their own with the tang and foxface. Will school. Easy to keep. Lots of choice for types of cardinals.
Quarantine all fish. Your system is golden right now, you don’t need an issue with any last minute additions.

Patrick Cox · Apr 21, 2018

mort said:
I'd also suggest upping the feeding and changing the type of food you feed. Brine doesn't have much nutrition and you'd be better of feeding a better food like Mysis or one of the many pellets or flakes which have better nutrition profiles. I'd also feed daily and small and often works best....

Thanks for your reply. I do feed the Brine Shrimp that are mixed with or maybe fed? Spirulina so I thought that had more nutrients in it. I have tried Mysis before but my Kole Tang just spits it out. How would you suggest I deal with that? Feed a mix? My Kole Tang will only eat the Spirulina brine shrimp or the Nori sheets.

Thanks!

Patrick Cox · Apr 21, 2018

crayon said:
Cardinals. Nice small fish but decent size to hold their own with the tang and foxface. Will school. Easy to keep. Lots of choice for types of cardinals.
Quarantine all fish. Your system is golden right now, you don’t need an issue with any last minute additions.

I guess you are right that at this point I should QT. My challenge in the past with QT has been that it seems to stress the fish and it is difficult keeping decent water parameters. Any suggestions on QT? What size tank would be best for QT? I will need to buy another QT tank. And what is the best way to keep good water quality? Thanks.

evolved · Apr 21, 2018

Wrasses are not a good fit unless you are willing to start feeding a lot more AND cover the tank.

Patrick Cox · Apr 21, 2018

evolved said:
Wrasses are not a good fit unless you are willing to start feeding a lot more AND cover the tank.

So are wrasse as high maintenance as Anthias? Is feeding daily enough? Obviously more fish will mean more food. Thanks.

Patrick Cox · Apr 21, 2018

Well, unfortunately I came home yesterday and found my 5 year old Yellow Assessor lying dead on the floor. This fish has never jumped before. I guess another fish spooked him. I had a top on my previous tank so I guess I should make one for this tank.

In terms of new fish, I am now thinking about...

1 - Flame Hawkfish
2-3 - Either Chalk Bass or Some sort of Wrasse

How does this sound?

Thanks.

ca1ore · Apr 21, 2018

Patrick Cox said:
So are wrasse as high maintenance as Anthias? Is feeding daily enough? Obviously more fish will mean more food. Thanks.

Most wrasses are not as high maintenance as anthias. Feeding more often was the whole point of your thread, no?

evolved · Apr 22, 2018

Patrick Cox said:
So are wrasse as high maintenance as Anthias? Is feeding daily enough? Obviously more fish will mean more food. Thanks.

Not quite as high, and once a day can be enough, but more is typically better.

mort · Apr 22, 2018

Patrick Cox said:
Thanks for your reply. I do feed the Brine Shrimp that are mixed with or maybe fed? Spirulina so I thought that had more nutrients in it. I have tried Mysis before but my Kole Tang just spits it out. How would you suggest I deal with that? Feed a mix? My Kole Tang will only eat the Spirulina brine shrimp or the Nori sheets.

Thanks!

Some fish can look like they are spitting food out but the are actually chewing, so I would make sure that that isn't the case. I was described brine shrimp as essentially a brine shrimp shaped bag of water when I first started due to its poor nutritional content. Its a bit like rabbit meat for us, it is so lean with no real fat content that we get no real benefit from it and it can eventually make us ill if it was all we ate. You can improve brine with added ingredients but it's still best as a once a week food that helps keep the fish regular if you know what I mean.
A better diet is one that contains a mix of foods. Like we need a balanced diet so do the fish and this is where prepared dry foods are good or mixing up a selection of frozen foods. If all you have been feeding with brine it might take a little while for the fish to eagerly accept it but it will be much better in the long run for them. I'd also suggest feeding twice a day minimum if possible.

Patrick Cox · Apr 22, 2018

ca1ore said:
Most wrasses are not as high maintenance as anthias. Feeding more often was the whole point of your thread, no?

On feeding frequency, yes, I can certainly feed daily. But I work a lot so I can't really feed more than once per day other then weekends. I guess I could setup a feeder but I am not crazy about that idea. But I will look into it based on what everyone is saying. I do have an Apex.

Thanks.

Patrick Cox · Apr 22, 2018

mort said:
Some fish can look like they are spitting food out but the are actually chewing, so I would make sure that that isn't the case. I was described brine shrimp as essentially a brine shrimp shaped bag of water when I first started due to its poor nutritional content. Its a bit like rabbit meat for us, it is so lean with no real fat content that we get no real benefit from it and it can eventually make us ill if it was all we ate. You can improve brine with added ingredients but it's still best as a once a week food that helps keep the fish regular if you know what I mean.
A better diet is one that contains a mix of foods. Like we need a balanced diet so do the fish and this is where prepared dry foods are good or mixing up a selection of frozen foods. If all you have been feeding with brine it might take a little while for the fish to eagerly accept it but it will be much better in the long run for them. I'd also suggest feeding twice a day minimum if possible.

I am pretty certain the tang is just spitting out the mysis. I should say that I also include a few spectrum pellets in with the brine shrimp and the fox face and clown will eat those, but not the kole tang. And then again, I also feed Nori. I'll look into some other food that the tang might eat and I do have some mysis for the other fish so I can start adding that.

Thanks.

ca1ore · Apr 22, 2018

Patrick Cox said:
On feeding frequency, yes, I can certainly feed daily. But I work a lot so I can't really feed more than once per day other then weekends. I guess I could setup a feeder but I am not crazy about that idea. But I will look into it based on what everyone is saying. I do have an Apex.

Thanks.

Oh I see. I agree on the less than appealing notion of an auto feeder. I have kept wrasses on a single feeding, or usually two feedings closely spaced in the evening.