I need some feedback on this combination of fish

[Snoopdog]

69 Gallon tank, current residents are a small yellow tang, small false perc and an azure damsel. We want to add a royal gramma, tailspot blenny and two or three purple firefish. Does anyone see any conflict here or some particular order they should be introduced? I am thinking of not adding them all at once, it seems to me they may fair better splitting up adding them.

 

[jtf74]

69 Gallon tank, current residents are a small yellow tang, small false perc and an azure damsel. We want to add a royal gramma, tailspot blenny and two or three purple firefish. Does anyone see any conflict here or some particular order they should be introduced? I am thinking of not adding them all at once, it seems to me they may fair better splitting up adding them.

69 will be too small for a full grown yellow. Other choices seem ok except from what I've read that multiple firefish can be problematic.

 

[Snoopdog]

69 will be too small for a full grown yellow. Other choices seem ok except from what I've read that multiple firefish can be problematic.

I think I have a very long time before he is big, he is tiny compared to what I have seen in other tanks. I did not buy him, I never would have bought a tang for a 69.

 

[jtf74]

I think I have a very long time before he is big, he is tiny compared to what I have seen in other tanks. I did not buy him, I never would have bought a tang for a 69.

Yeah I get it. Had my yellow in a 55 for the first 3 years and it was plenty big enough with the few fish I had.

 

[Snoopdog]

Yeah I get it. Had my yellow in a 55 for the first 3 years and it was plenty big enough with the few fish I had.

We just talked it out and will use caution on the firefish. We are still reading and finding conflicting reports on them picking on each other. Out of an abundance of caution we are going to skip them for now.

 

[jtf74]

We just talked it out and will use caution on the firefish. We are still reading and finding conflicting reports on them picking on each other. Out of an abundance of caution we are going to skip them for now.

I read a lot about this myself cause I wanted multiples. In the end I went with one after reading where many started with multiples and ended up with one or two if they were lucky to get a pair.

 

[blue.flyzz]

Once upon a time I got a tailspot blenny.....it liked my scolys, at first it would just sit on them, then it started eating them, caught it with the evidence, no bueno.....I caught the little runt with water bottle trap and the scolys lived happily ever after.....the end.

 

[Snoopdog]

Once upon a time I got a tailspot blenny.....it liked my scolys, at first it would just sit on them, then it started eating them, caught it with the evidence, no bueno.....I caught the little runt with water bottle trap and the scolys lived happily ever after.....the end.

I will do some more research on them then.

 

[Snoopdog]

We did go get a smaller false perc yesterday, just one fish this week. We may wait two weeks before picking up anything else, taking it slow. I am only worried about one thing, the smaller perc is really small. I know they are not great swimmers, is there any large risk of them getting sucked up in a tunze powerhead?

 

[blue.flyzz]

We did go get a smaller false perc yesterday, just one fish this week. We may wait two weeks before picking up anything else, taking it slow. I am only worried about one thing, the smaller perc is really small. I know they are not great swimmers, is there any large risk of them getting sucked up in a tunze powerhead?

Nice and slow is the way to do it especially if your tank is new...you should look into using a QT, lots of good threads here on setting them up, quick and inexpensive....you’ll be happy you did. As far as your power head, clowns may not look like good swimmers but they are, unless the fish is not healthy or chased into it you’ll be ok

 

[Reefkeeper14]

69 Gallon tank, current residents are a small yellow tang, small false perc and an azure damsel. We want to add a royal gramma, tailspot blenny and two or three purple firefish. Does anyone see any conflict here or some particular order they should be introduced? I am thinking of not adding them all at once, it seems to me they may fair better splitting up adding them.

I think sometimes on liveaquaria it is possible to buy a group of "bonded" firefish in the diver's den, but otherwise I have heard that firefish will not get along.

 

[Zionas]

x2 Ocellaris Clownfish

x1 Azure Damselfish

x1 shrimp and goby pair

x1 Tailspot Blenny

x1 Royal Gramma

x1 Purple Firefish (they fight with each other unless a mated pair, also fight with other Firefish)

And maybe add a Pygmy angel, PJ or Bangaii Cardinal to Top it off.

You’re welcome.

Yellow needs at least a 125 gal long (6’ tank) to be comfortable IMO.

As for stocking order, Firefish first, Blenny second, Royal Gramma Third IMO but Blenny and Firefish can be added at the same time IMO.

 

[Snoopdog]

Nice and slow is the way to do it especially if your tank is new...you should look into using a QT, lots of good threads here on setting them up, quick and inexpensive....you’ll be happy you did. As far as your power head, clowns may not look like good swimmers but they are, unless the fish is not healthy or chased into it you’ll be ok

QT tank is limited by space in the house. I have never liked a crowded house, I need room to move around. Once a kid moves out, that provides opportunities like that. But with the clown, we took our time acclimating him and I put him in a little timeout room at the top of the tank, a chamber. The other clown and him hit it off quickly. They swam next to each other for an hour one inside the acclimation chamber, the other outside. Once i let the small one out, they have stayed close to each other. The chamber also allowed me to see the new one actually eating and his demeanor well before I let him go.

 

[Snoopdog]

x2 Ocellaris Clownfish

x1 Azure Damselfish

x1 shrimp and goby pair

x1 Tailspot Blenny

x1 Royal Gramma

x1 Purple Firefish (they fight with each other unless a mated pair, also fight with other Firefish)

And maybe add a Pygmy angel, PJ or Bangaii Cardinal to Top it off.

You’re welcome.

Yellow needs at least a 125 gal long (6’ tank) to be comfortable IMO.

As for stocking order, Firefish first, Blenny second, Royal Gramma Third IMO but Blenny and Firefish can be added at the same time IMO.

I am glad you answered, I have a question though. Your answer intrigues me that you mentioned shrimp and goby. I really loved the idea and we originally intended to do exactly that. I held off though because of memories of my first pair constantly burying corals at the base of the rock and generally causing tank havoc. Thoughts and was that normal, or is my memory skewed?

 

[Zionas]

What kind of Pistol Shrimp did you have? I can’t say for sure but some people have said that their Tiger Pistol shrimp kept digging these tunnel networks. Not sure about the Red Banded but they’re an inch smaller.

If you feel it’s too much of a concern for you then you could add a small fairy or Flasher Wrasse in place of the shrimp and goby pair.

 

[bam123]

69 Gallon tank, current residents are a small yellow tang, small false perc and an azure damsel. We want to add a royal gramma, tailspot blenny and two or three purple firefish. Does anyone see any conflict here or some particular order they should be introduced? I am thinking of not adding them all at once, it seems to me they may fair better splitting up adding them.

Royal grammas can be pretty mean. Get a purple fridamani or a purple or bicolor dottyback. You can only get one but they are great fish. I like firefish, but they don't live that long.

 

[Snoopdog]

What kind of Pistol Shrimp did you have? I can’t say for sure but some people have said that their Tiger Pistol shrimp kept digging these tunnel networks. Not sure about the Red Banded but they’re an inch smaller.

If you feel it’s too much of a concern for you then you could add a small fairy or Flasher Wrasse in place of the shrimp and goby pair.

I am almost certain it was a tiger pistol and watchman pair.

 

[Zionas]

Do most die from jumping or old age?

 

[Zionas]

That has happened before according to some other users. Personally I think this combo is too cute and too cool to pass up but if you’re not comfortable with it a Fairy or Flasher Wrasse would work well too.

 

[Snoopdog]

Do most die from jumping or old age?

I am not sure which post you are quoting