Need budget friendly additions!

[Indytraveler83]

Hey all, long time no see!

Long story short, life got in the way, and the reef has been on autopilot for the last few months, and my reef budget has taken a nosedive.

System is a 54 corner with a skimmer and 2 powerheads. Parameters have stayed ultra stable, and honestly the only thing I check anymore is Calcium as everything else maintains well on its own. I can’t get nitrate to bump up to any level that registers as it’s likely being consumed too fast. There’s about 65ish lbs of live rock in the system as well.

I’ve got mixed inverts (crabs, shrimp etc), mixed coral (softies, lps and sps) and one very large mini maxi anemone.

Fish are: 2 black mollies, 2 flasher wrasse, 2 clowns, 2 blue chromis and 1 watchman goby.

I know on paper it seems pretty full, but right now it’s very very easy to look at the tank and see almost nothing. Most of my coral is growing from frags, and the wrasse are the only fish large and bold enough to really give the impression of life in the tank.

The wrasse are fairly friendly unless a fish looks like them, as they bullied a royal gramma to death earlier this year. Everyone else is calm (including the clowns).

I was thinking of adding one or more anemone to the tank, to bring some more pops of color and motion. I’m hoping to add some fish, but need something relatively inexpensive, and something that isn’t shaped like a wrasse. I’m sure given the bottomed out nitrate that I can handle more bioload, but don’t want to flood the tank. Any suggestions to bring a fairly motionless tank to life?

 

[ndrwater]

Hawkfish are always cool. A Flame or Falco hawk would work out well. They stay small and have tons of personality

 

[Indytraveler83]

Hawkfish are always cool. A Flame or Falco hawk would work out well. They stay small and have tons of personality

My only worry with the hawk fish is I see they can try to eat some of the inverts?

 

[ndrwater]

My only worry with the hawk fish is I see they can try to eat some of the inverts?

It is possible, but both Falco and Flame Hawks stay under 3". Depending on which type of invert you are talking about, the chances are lessened by the size of those two particular species

 

[Bbfishb81]

What about a few cardinals, or a mandarin?

 

[Jon Fishman]

Sharpnose or Valentini Puffer. Good color, odd shape, slow swimmers but always visible, and they are like SUVs and will certainly get your nitrates up!

 

[Bbfishb81]

Puffers are known to eat corals. Depending on what type of coral you have, I'd be careful with those ones.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Puffers are known to eat corals. Depending on what type of coral you have, I'd be careful with those ones.

I hear that also...... I never had an issue. I got rid of mine because it came with a used setup, and just wasn’t part of the plan.... I had him in a mixed reef for 4-5 months. Kids love puff-daddy

 

[Bbfishb81]

I've experienced it, with 2 different valentini puffers. Guess you were luckier then me. I'd love a puffer but love my corals more.

 

[Indytraveler83]

I don’t think I wanna risk it with a puffer, and mandarins are likely too high maintenance for my taste.

Cardinals were on my mind... but I’m not certain on that.

 

[Jesterrace]

It's another risk but a Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel or Cherubfish could work. I would recommend a Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse but with your Flasher's and their issues I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[mattzang]

aggressive flashers what on earth? what kind are they

 

[MERKEY]

Mandarin goby would be sweet if your pod population is solid or if you can find one that has been raised on frozen food.

 

[Indytraveler83]

aggressive flashers what on earth? what kind are they

A dot n dash and a carpenters. They never really did any physical damage to the royal gramma, but harassed it until it wouldn’t come out of hiding. It’s weird. They constantly chase each other around flashing, but it seems like more of a game between them that neither seems to mind.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Mandarin goby would be sweet if your pod population is solid or if you can find one that has been raised on frozen food.

It would be cool, but my pod population isn’t very good, if intact at all. With my budget and time being fairly limited, I don’t fairly think I can met the needs of a mandarin.

I guess I should also point out that I tend to run blue lights very heavily in this tank, so a fish that would stick out in the blue would be a major plus.

 

[Miami Reef]

Why don’t you get fire fish?

I love clown gobies! They have SO much personality and like to perch on rocks/corals.

If you have an automatic feeder that feeds the tank multiple times a day, you can get a single Anthias. These fish are super active!

Midas blennys! They don’t have a swim bladder, so they constantly move. They also swim like an eel!

Edit: get a pistol shrimp to pair with your watchman goby. There’s nothing more in this hobby that I love more than a symbiotic relationship!

Also, Rock flower anemones are super colorful anemones come in an array of colors. They can form a symbiotic relationship with the sexy shrimp.

 

[mattzang]

A dot n dash and a carpenters. They never really did any physical damage to the royal gramma, but harassed it until it wouldn’t come out of hiding. It’s weird. They constantly chase each other around flashing, but it seems like more of a game between them that neither seems to mind.

a royal gramma is what i'd recommend lol. surprising they'd bully that to death.

if basslets are out of the question an orchid dottyback would be cool. it won't take no flasher wrasse sass

bangaii cardinal is kinda cool. not overly active tho

and every tank needs a blenny!

 

[Indytraveler83]

Why don’t you get fire fish?

I love clown gobies! They have SO much personality and like to perch on rocks/corals.

If you have an automatic feeder that feeds the tank multiple times a day, you can get a single Anthias. These fish are super active!

Midas blennys! They don’t have a swim bladder, so they constantly move. They also swim like an eel!

Edit: get a pistol shrimp to pair with your watchman goby. There’s nothing more in this hobby that I love more than a symbiotic relationship!

Also, Rock flower anemones are super colorful anemones come in an array of colors. They can form a symbiotic relationship with the sexy shrimp.

Totally forgot about the Midas blenny! Now that would be a great addition! The clown blenny may be cool too. I love firefish, Im nervous on how the wrasse would treat them, but they do live in a different part of the tank.

also appreciate the anemone and shrimp recommendations. Those rock flowers would be very cool.

 

[ReefBeta]

You can put a yellow tang, or some smaller ones, or dwarf angels whichever you like the best. You will probably be fine to add two of them, either a tang and a dwarf angel, or two dwarf angel if you can add them the same time. I'm probably get bashed by tang police for mentioning this, but that's what I had kept before in my 42 gallons, until I took it down for moving. Two dwarf angel and a yellow tang, with a bunch of other fish like mandarin and cardinal.

 

[Indytraveler83]

You can put a yellow tang, or some smaller ones, or dwarf angels whichever you like the best. You will probably be fine to add two of them, either a tang and a dwarf angel, or two dwarf angel if you can add them the same time. I'm probably get bashed by tang police for mentioning this, but that's what I had kept before in my 42 gallons, until I took it down for moving. Two dwarf angel and a yellow tang, with a bunch of other fish like mandarin and cardinal.

The dwarf angel is worth considering. Most tangs just don’t do it for me though, size arguments aside, especially yellows.