Most beneficial fish for a reef tank

[PeterEde]

I see that you both say One Spot Foxface, this is one of the very few fish that I can't keep alive no matter what I do. That and a Blonde Naso. Maybe it was the lack of algae in the 300. I was thinking Bristle tooth tang, but I think a 48" 80 gallon is pushing it size wise. What do you think Bucs20fan?

I put nori in at least once a week.
Otherwise mine is nibbling all day on rocks and I hope the caulerpa which has reduced a lot since putting it in

 

[PeterEde]

IME I think you cant go wrong with a sixline wrasse either. They look amazing swimming in and out of rocks and corals looking for little snacks. As far as minimum size goes, usually one spots come in about 2 inches long, which is a good size. The bristletooths come in as small as an inch, just make sure they dont have sunken bellies and good muscle mass on their faces. You shouldnt be able to see facial bones in a tang if they are healthy. One spots, bristletooths and sixline are all easy on the wallet, with the exception of some species of bristletooths.

the FF I put in a few weeks back was 2nd smallest fish in my tank just larger than my male Clown. It was not much more than an 1" long but has now almost doubled in size.

 

[adittam]

@Tamberav and I both have what I think is the same exact tank size you're getting. Main difference is, neither of our tanks are SPS dominant. Both of our build threads have some videos in which you can see how the fist behave and interact in that size and dimension tank, though...

Link to @Tamberav's build thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/80-gallon-shallow-kuiters-leopard-wrasse.647464/

Link to mine: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/80-gallon-shallow-lagoon-mixed-reef-upgrade-time.875562/

 

[adittam]

@Tamberav and I both have what I think is the same exact tank size you're getting. Main difference is, neither of our tanks are SPS dominant. Both of our build threads have some videos in which you can see how the fist behave and interact in that size and dimension tank, though...

Link to @Tamberav's build thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/80-gallon-shallow-kuiters-leopard-wrasse.647464/

Link to mine: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/80-gallon-shallow-lagoon-mixed-reef-upgrade-time.875562/

Also, my votes from my tank go to Melanarus wrasse and yellow tang. Bristletooth tang was just as useful, but I had to rehome him because he had a meltdown when I added my baby captive bred yellow tang.

For what it’s worth, I have 3 springeri damsels also, and while they *are* peaceful, I’ve never seen them do anything useful, despite their rumored utility…

 

[Ali-F]

For 80g tank, I would suggest to add yellow eye cole tang or a magnificent foxface. I wouldn't worry about the aptisia as smaller tank is easy to target them manually. So the cubberband butterfly fish is out. melanurus wrasse is better than the 6line imo. Rest of fish is up to you.

 

[Royce White]

I'm surprised no one that I have seen has mentioned a file fish to keep aptasia out of the aquarium and they have a very good demeanor my favorite fish along with my 6 line.

 

[FishPureLuck]

I'm surprised no one that I have seen has mentioned a file fish to keep aptasia out of the aquarium and they have a very good demeanor my favorite fish along with my 6 l

I'm surprised no one that I have seen has mentioned a file fish to keep aptasia out of the aquarium and they have a very good demeanor my favorite fish along with my 6 line.

I've had aptasia eating filefish, they loved to eat my zoanthids.