Looking for ideas on a new fish

Bryon · Dec 2, 2015

I have a 180g reef tank with frogspawn, hammers, mushrooms, and acans. I have the following fish:
Rhomboid
Lineatus
Exquisite wrasse
Carpenter wrasse
McCosker wrasse
Yellowfin wrasse
2 clowns
Green Chromis
Sailfin
Yellow blotch Rabbitfish

I'm looking to add another fish. Preferably something bigger and with a different body style then a wrasse. Active swimmer, reef safe, and purty. Any ideas or recommendations? Tanks

Bryon · Dec 2, 2015

Any ideas?

pgravis · Dec 2, 2015

Borbonius anthias! Mine is pretty active

Bryon · Dec 2, 2015

pgravis said:
Borbonius anthias! Mine is pretty active

I was considering one, but I was hoping to get something a little bigger. Most of the borbonius I see for sale are usually on the small side.

pgravis · Dec 2, 2015

Yeah. My lfs has a mature one. They get to be a decent size. But it's not going to quickly add a bigger fish feel to the tank. They are great fish though

kschweer · Dec 2, 2015

Purple tang could be an option.

Bryon · Dec 2, 2015

kschweer said:
Purple tang could be an option.

It won't fight with my sailfin? He's been in there 2-3 years.

NYAquatic · Dec 2, 2015

3" borbonius would be perfect
Small purple tang would work too.
Or what about an angel (regal, bellus, wattanabe, masked swallow, etc)
or, a school of anthias (dispar, bartlett, etc)

Lots of choices

Bryon · Dec 2, 2015

NYAquatic said:
3" borbonius would be perfect
Small purple tang would work too.
Or what about an angel (regal, bellus, wattanabe, masked swallow, etc)
or, a school of anthias (dispar, bartlett, etc)

Lots of choices

I was thinking about the regal you had, but I wasn't sure about him eating or eating my corals. They are beautiful though.

cee · Dec 2, 2015

Bellus angel (female of course) or pyramid butterflyfish is what I'd do if I had a tank your size.

kschweer · Dec 2, 2015

Bryon said:
It won't fight with my sailfin? He's been in there 2-3 years.

Like NY aquatic said a smaller one should be fine. I do also like the idea of a regal but I would be nervous about corals too, but a lot of people do have them in there reefs.

eatbreakfast · Dec 3, 2015

A regal will definitely decimate your acans.

Genicanthus angels are nice, I like watanabi.

Pyramid butterflies will give you that lg fish feel, and are social, so a trio would work.

Bryon · Dec 3, 2015

I do like the look of the saddleback butterfly. Does anybody have experience with them?

eatbreakfast · Dec 3, 2015

Coral eater, but hardy.

shoelaceike · Dec 3, 2015

Naso or hippo

Bryon · Dec 3, 2015

eatbreakfast said:
Coral eater, but hardy.

That's too bad. They're pretty much what I'm looking for. Decent size and colorful. It seems like they're all coral eaters.

Bryon · Dec 3, 2015

shoelaceike said:
Naso or hippo

I do like the tangs also. Naso, white tail bristle tooth, purple, etc. I thought multiple tangs in a 180 would lead to trouble.

eatbreakfast · Dec 3, 2015

A few in, added together often diffuses aggression.

shoelaceike · Dec 3, 2015

Bryon said:
I do like the tangs also. Naso, white tail bristle tooth, purple, etc. I thought multiple tangs in a 180 would lead to trouble.

I don't think you'll have trouble. I have many in my 180.

shoelaceike · Dec 3, 2015

Purple, yellow, powder brown, naso, orange shoulder may even add an achilles if he gets better.

Funny thing is I recently gave away my sailfin as he was too aggressive. He was ok with fish that were already established but gave hell to new additions......you can certainly try, each fish has his own personality. Best bet is the naso. Very chilled and totally different body shape.