Reccomedations

[bubba60tackle]

I have a 38 gallon tank 5 months old now. I have CUC, 2 emerald crabs, conch, fire shrimp, pair of clowns, diamond gobey, a bubble tip nem, mushrooms and few other soft corals a buddy gave me.

Looking for one more fish. The clowns have been a bit of a disappointment, they seem fine and have read a few threads on the subject, But they always seem to be near the top of or in the back corners of the tank, don’t really make great for a display.

Fire shrimp hides a lot.

The diamond gobey is pretty cool, he seems to be the most active.

I had a Canary Blenny for a while but an emerald crab got a hold of him and he never recovered. He definitely had a great personality but he wouldnt eat pellets or flakes.

Really want something that will be a great show piece, be interesting for the kids to watch, is reef safe, and is NOT a picky eater.

I have come across these 3, would like to get opinions on these and recommendations on anything else that might work for me.

Long nose hawk fish
Valentini Puffer
Midas Blenny

 

[ScubaFish802]

The blenny as long as the crab situation is resolved

 

[bubba60tackle]

Pic

 

[xxkenny90xx]

You need a dragonette, it's as simple as that! You tank may or may not be ready for one right now but if not you can get there shortly. I guess you could call them picky eaters, but in reality you won't have to feed it at all

 

[bubba60tackle]

I have the two emerlad crabs, they haven’t messed with the gobey, clowns, or shrimp, I figured with the larger size of the Midas it wouldn’t be a problem, no?

Just looked up dragonets, pretty cool, have to add them to the list.

 

[Pistondog]

I have a blue spotted puffer, he decimates emerald crabs and any corals other than soft.
6 line or other wrasse?
Starry blenny.
I like the workers (except for the puffer).

 

[Moxtrain]

You need a dragonette, it's as simple as that! You tank may or may not be ready for one right now but if not you can get there shortly. I guess you could call them picky eaters, but in reality you won't have to feed it at all

I usually don't cringe at your advice but you lost me on this one. A 5 month old 38 gallon tank won't support a dragonette without weekly additions of copepods. This also throws out the whole "you won't have to feed it all."

 

[ScubaFish802]

I usually don't cringe at your advice but you lost me on this one. A 5 month old 38 gallon tank won't support a dragonette without weekly additions of copepods. This also throws out the whole "you won't have to feed it all."

Unless you are prepared to spend $$ or raise your own food. But both of which are not “drop in tank and go” fish

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I usually don't cringe at your advice but you lost me on this one. A 5 month old 38 gallon tank won't support a dragonette without weekly additions of copepods. This also throws out the whole "you won't have to feed it all."

LOL fair enough. Like I said the OPs tank may not be quite ready yet but could be soon with a little work. Especially if they started with live rock. Dragonettes do need a thriving pod population but that can actually be established alot faster than most people think...

 

[bubba60tackle]

Bump to the top, saw a long nose hawk fish at the LFS today and almost picked him up, but concerned he is a picky eater and may threaten corals. I’m thinking Midas blenny is the way to go, should I be concerned about the emerald crabs? Do I need to get rid of them?

 

[PicassoClown04]

My cherub angel takes flakes and pellets, he definitely prefers frozen though. He’s a real cutie and very active! A geometric hawk is smaller and less of a threat to your inverts I’ve got one with emerald crabs and a fire shrimp and they’re all doing great it’s been a little over 6 months now

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Bump to the top, saw a long nose hawk fish at the LFS today and almost picked him up, but concerned he is a picky eater and may threaten corals. I’m thinking Midas blenny is the way to go, should I be concerned about the emerald crabs? Do I need to get rid of them?

Midas blenny is very nice!

Emerald crabs are a risk. I won't put one in my reef. If you like crabs porcelain crabs are the way to go (although technically that aren't true crabs)

 

[bubba60tackle]

We do like the crabs, we have little kids and they are pretty interesting to watch, but they already picked away a scrambled egg zoa. I wouldn’t be opposed to getting rid of them if the blenny + emerald crab equation is bad. Not sure if I had bad luck or if that is true.

 

[OrionN]

I would bet a pair of Randal Shrimp Goby with a pair of pistol shrimp.

 

[bubba60tackle]

I was able to remove one emerald crab, haven’t been able to catch the other. I am thinking I got the problem one. Leaning towards a Midas blenny at this point.

 

[bubba60tackle]

Well, 10/18 I got a starfish, 11/20 I put a Midas blenny in. 12/9 my diamond Gobey I have had since 7/29 went missing and today 12/17 the Midas Blenny is gone.

Midas Blenny had a sunken in stomach yesterday which I don’t get because he has been eating flakes well. I guess he was weak and succumbed to the either the starfish or the last emails crab I haven’t been able to catch.

I think my next move is to remove the starfish and other emerald crab. Pretty frustrated that I lost $100 worth of fish in the last week or so.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Well, 10/18 I got a starfish, 11/20 I put a Midas blenny in. 12/9 my diamond Gobey I have had since 7/29 went missing and today 12/17 the Midas Blenny is gone.

Midas Blenny had a sunken in stomach yesterday which I don’t get because he has been eating flakes well. I guess he was weak and succumbed to the either the starfish or the last emails crab I haven’t been able to catch.

I think my next move is to remove the starfish and other emerald crab. Pretty frustrated that I lost $100 worth of fish in the last week or so.

Any other symptoms other than the sunken belly? Cloudy eyes? Spots? Erratic behavior? Are you only feeding it flakes?

 

[bubba60tackle]

No other symptoms, was acting normal and active yesterday. I was dropping some pellets in for the clowns but he never showed interest in those so I made sure he got some flakes everyday.