Looking for a fish I'll get to see/watch

starypotter · Mar 25, 2019

Hi everyone,

I have a 75 gallon DT, standard 4ft, 80 gallons of water in the system.

The fish I have aren't particularly social. Several of them I only see at feeding time, and some of them just stay behind the rock work at all times because that's their home.
The ones that I do see are very small, and I understand that it's my problem for liking small fish but I'd like to look at my tank and see a bit more than a bunch of fish hiding behind or sitting on rocks. My cardinal is starting get a little braver in that he'll venture around the tank on occasion, but hides when I walk by. My neon goby will start swimming around when he sees me near the tank because he thinks it's food, and the other gobies will venture out a little but only for food. My yellow clown goby will move around perched on the glass in different spots and he's really fun to watch swim.

I love the unique way they each swim, it makes some of them very fun to watch. I also don't want to get a fish that will need an upgrade as it grows. As much as I would like to, I can't make any promises about tank upgrades and know I would grow too attached to have to say goodbye to a fish if they needed to be rehomed.

Current stocking is-
3 clown gobies (yellow, black, green)
1 neon goby
1 bangaii cardinal
2 clownfish
shrimp, urchin, anemone, coral- softies and lps

Edit- I know I just posted about algae problems and whatnot, this is not a fish I'm looking to add tomorrow or even next week. I'm looking to find ideas to research and hopefully introduce this summer.

Frtdrmrose7 · Mar 25, 2019

starypotter said:
Hi everyone,

I have a 75 gallon DT, standard 4ft, 80 gallons of water in the system.

The fish I have aren't particularly social. Several of them I only see at feeding time, and some of them just stay behind the rock work at all times because that's their home.
The ones that I do see are very small, and I understand that it's my problem for liking small fish but I'd like to look at my tank and see a bit more than a bunch of fish hiding behind or sitting on rocks. My cardinal is starting get a little braver in that he'll venture around the tank on occasion, but hides when I walk by. My neon goby will start swimming around when he sees me near the tank because he thinks it's food, and the other gobies will venture out a little but only for food. My yellow clown goby will move around perched on the glass in different spots and he's really fun to watch swim.

I love the unique way they each swim, it makes some of them very fun to watch. I also don't want to get a fish that will need an upgrade as it grows. As much as I would like to, I can't make any promises about tank upgrades and know I would grow too attached to have to say goodbye to a fish if they needed to be rehomed.

Current stocking is-
3 clown gobies (yellow, black, green)
1 neon goby
1 bangaii cardinal
2 clownfish
shrimp, urchin, anemone, coral- softies and lps

Edit- I know I just posted about algae problems and whatnot, this is not a fish I'm looking to add tomorrow or even next week. I'm looking to find ideas to research and hopefully introduce this summer.

Look at all the different wrasses on Live Aquaria. They are active swimmers and most will swim the reef looking for foods.

mattzang · Mar 25, 2019

wrasses!

fang or midas blennies will be in the water column mostly

maybe a group of the smaller anthias

malacoda · Mar 25, 2019

Check out fang blennies as well. They are out-and-about throughout the water column pretty much all day and get along great with pretty much any fish (except other fang blennies).

malacoda · Mar 25, 2019

mattzang said:
wrasses!

fang or midas blennies will be in the water column mostly

maybe a group of the smaller anthias

LOL, great minds think alike ... and at the same time.

MTBake · Mar 25, 2019

Wrasse for sure! Maybe a couple even.

Next suggestion would be a pygmy angel. They can pick on coral though. I have a love/hate relationship with these guys

Blennys are fun to watch as well. Not sure how they'd do with your clown gobies though.

Anthias are beautiful fish. I haven't kept any as my tanks are always too small.

norfolkgarden · Mar 25, 2019

Fish that actually move around the tank! [emoji846]

Yellow coris wrasse. Needs a bowl of sand. 1st, 2nd and 3rd recommendation. [emoji846]

Most any flasher or fairy wrasse. Fairies are a touch hardier.
Don't need sand.

Any small angels - flame, coral beauty, potters. Not dwarf pygmy, worse than a damsel.
None are 100% reef safe guaranteed. Trachy, acan, scolly, anything fleshy, LPS is usually way more vulnerable.

If you have enough pods or room to grow them then a small mandarin constantly moves around. Not a midwater swimmer, but at least active.

A yellow tang, start with a tiny one. 75 is a stretch for a yellow. Bare minimum.

The yellow tang, flames, some other angels can (will) be a pain to future new additions. So try to plan accordingly. [emoji846]

Gareth elliott · Mar 25, 2019

Royal gramma

And +1 wrasses

starypotter · Mar 25, 2019

Thanks for the ideas everyone, keep 'em coming!!
I had a midas blennie and when he was in QT it was great to watch him and I got quite attached however one day when going in to the tank he injured himself and became sand band, eventually he got too sick and weak, nothing helped and he had to be put down so I'm not sure I'm ready for one of those.
Wrasses do look fun, I haven't researched much I've just heard about aggression here and there so more research is needed!

MTBake · Mar 25, 2019

norfolkgarden said:
Fish that actually move around the tank! [emoji846]

Yellow coris wrasse. Needs a bowl of sand. 1st, 2nd and 3rd recommendation. [emoji846]

Most any flasher or fairy wrasse. Fairies are a touch hardier.
Don't need sand.

Any small angels - flame, coral beauty, potters. Not dwarf pygmy, worse than a damsel.
None are 100% reef safe guaranteed. Trachy, acan, scolly, anything fleshy, LPS is usually way more vulnerable.

If you have enough pods or room to grow them then a small mandarin constantly moves around. Not a midwater swimmer, but at least active.

A yellow tang, start with a tiny one. 75 is a stretch for a yellow. Bare minimum.

The yellow tang, flames, some other angels can (will) be a pain to future new additions. So try to plan accordingly. [emoji846]

The small angels you listed are exactly what I was thinking. Potter's are beautiful fish. I had one 10 years ago or so. Never nipped a coral.

Jesterrace · Mar 26, 2019

starypotter said:
Thanks for the ideas everyone, keep 'em coming!!
I had a midas blennie and when he was in QT it was great to watch him and I got quite attached however one day when going in to the tank he injured himself and became sand band, eventually he got too sick and weak, nothing helped and he had to be put down so I'm not sure I'm ready for one of those.
Wrasses do look fun, I haven't researched much I've just heard about aggression here and there so more research is needed!

The thing to understand about Wrasses is that they are a MASSIVE family and there are the extremes with the species. You can have super aggressive big and mean Thassaloma Wrasses that get between a foot or two in length and you can have the tiny and somewhat timid Possum/Pygmy Wrasses that might not even reach 3 inches in length. When people recommend Wrasses it's generally the Peaceful variety Flasher, Fairy or Halichoeres Wrasses that they are speaking of. All of which would be a great fit for your tank (just be aware that Halichoeres Wrasses sleep in the sand and can pick off inverts, but they wil leave corals alone). Wrasses are probably my favorite all around fish and are the only fish in my tank where I have more than one (Halichoeres Melanurus and Blue Star Leopard Wrasse). Here is an example of a Male Melanurus Wrasse:

Reefium · Mar 26, 2019

starypotter said:
Hi everyone,

I have a 75 gallon DT, standard 4ft, 80 gallons of water in the system.

The fish I have aren't particularly social. Several of them I only see at feeding time, and some of them just stay behind the rock work at all times because that's their home.
The ones that I do see are very small, and I understand that it's my problem for liking small fish but I'd like to look at my tank and see a bit more than a bunch of fish hiding behind or sitting on rocks. My cardinal is starting get a little braver in that he'll venture around the tank on occasion, but hides when I walk by. My neon goby will start swimming around when he sees me near the tank because he thinks it's food, and the other gobies will venture out a little but only for food. My yellow clown goby will move around perched on the glass in different spots and he's really fun to watch swim.

I love the unique way they each swim, it makes some of them very fun to watch. I also don't want to get a fish that will need an upgrade as it grows. As much as I would like to, I can't make any promises about tank upgrades and know I would grow too attached to have to say goodbye to a fish if they needed to be rehomed.

Current stocking is-
3 clown gobies (yellow, black, green)
1 neon goby
1 bangaii cardinal
2 clownfish
shrimp, urchin, anemone, coral- softies and lps

Edit- I know I just posted about algae problems and whatnot, this is not a fish I'm looking to add tomorrow or even next week. I'm looking to find ideas to research and hopefully introduce this summer.

Chromis are pretty active, especially if you put one bit larger than 2 others. They'll chase each other and swim around a lot.

norfolkgarden · Mar 26, 2019

Jesterrace said:
The thing to understand about Wrasses is that they are a MASSIVE family and there are the extremes with the species. You can have super aggressive big and mean Thassaloma Wrasses that get between a foot or two in length and you can have the tiny and somewhat timid Possum/Pygmy Wrasses that might not even reach 3 inches in length. When people recommend Wrasses it's generally the Peaceful variety Flasher, Fairy or Halichoeres Wrasses that they are speaking of. All of which would be a great fit for your tank (just be aware that Halichoeres Wrasses sleep in the sand and can pick off inverts, but they wil leave corals alone). Wrasses are probably my favorite all around fish and are the only fish in my tank where I have more than one (Halichoeres Melanurus and Blue Star Leopard Wrasse). Here is an example of a Male Melanurus Wrasse:

Love the music! ;-)

Reefium · Mar 26, 2019

starypotter said:
Hi everyone,

I have a 75 gallon DT, standard 4ft, 80 gallons of water in the system.

The fish I have aren't particularly social. Several of them I only see at feeding time, and some of them just stay behind the rock work at all times because that's their home.
The ones that I do see are very small, and I understand that it's my problem for liking small fish but I'd like to look at my tank and see a bit more than a bunch of fish hiding behind or sitting on rocks. My cardinal is starting get a little braver in that he'll venture around the tank on occasion, but hides when I walk by. My neon goby will start swimming around when he sees me near the tank because he thinks it's food, and the other gobies will venture out a little but only for food. My yellow clown goby will move around perched on the glass in different spots and he's really fun to watch swim.

I love the unique way they each swim, it makes some of them very fun to watch. I also don't want to get a fish that will need an upgrade as it grows. As much as I would like to, I can't make any promises about tank upgrades and know I would grow too attached to have to say goodbye to a fish if they needed to be rehomed.

Current stocking is-
3 clown gobies (yellow, black, green)
1 neon goby
1 bangaii cardinal
2 clownfish
shrimp, urchin, anemone, coral- softies and lps

Edit- I know I just posted about algae problems and whatnot, this is not a fish I'm looking to add tomorrow or even next week. I'm looking to find ideas to research and hopefully introduce this summer.

Powder blue, brown tang. Hippo tang.

Jesterrace · Mar 26, 2019

norfolkgarden said:
Love the music! ;-)

Thanks.

AoD · Mar 26, 2019

Midas Blenny! Mine is a blast to watch and will take food out of my fingers. Always swimming around like an eel. Super fun to watch.

bhuyett · Mar 26, 2019

Reefium said:
Chromis are pretty active, especially if you put one bit larger than 2 others. They'll chase each other and swim around a lot.

That they will, until the large one chases the others and kills them.

At least the OP could watch them for a couple days.

ReefJCB · Mar 26, 2019

Midas blenny and Melanarus wrasse are my two favorite fish in my tank. I love my coral beauty but she is pretty shy. Just added a McCoskers wrasse last week and he’s been very active also.

75 is a bit small for most tangs but you should be able to get away with a yellow. Iconic fish that is always our swimming in the current. Great flash of bright yellow to catch the eye.