Reef friendly fish

[GillMeister]

looking for advice. What are some essential reef friendly fish that'll do well in a SPS tank. I want to add fish that have a purpose in the tank and can handle the high flow in a SPS dominant tank.

 

[FangsAndGames]

Well what size is it?

tangs of the Ctenochaetus genus and foxfaces like the yellow spot do well in algae control. You can give algae blennies a shot too they aren’t as attractive looking though, however bicolor blennies my be another solution for a nano tank.
Wrasses like Melanarus, coris, pink streaked, and six lines as well as springers damsels do well at pest control.
in the wild blue and green chromis and lyretail anthias inhabit acropora colonies for protection as well as to protect them.
If you have sand diamond gobies do an excellent job of cleaning it
All of these fish will do well in an sps dominant tank with the exception of dwarf wrasses like pink streaked but only if the flow is crazy high.

 

[GillMeister]

Well what size is it?

tangs of the Ctenochaetus genus and foxfaces like the yellow spot do well in algae control. You can give algae blennies a shot too they aren’t as attractive looking though, however bicolor blennies my be another solution for a nano tank.
Wrasses like Melanarus, coris, pink streaked, and six lines as well as springers damsels do well at pest control.
in the wild blue and green chromis and lyretail anthias inhabit acropora colonies for protection as well as to protect them.
If you have sand diamond gobies do an excellent job of cleaning it
All of these fish will do well in an sps dominant tank with the exception of dwarf wrasses like pink streaked but only if the flow is crazy high.

It's a 240gallon tank. 6 ft long. I try to keep the flow higher in the upper half of the tank but I have a couple clowns that take the bazooka express if they venture in front of the powerheads.

 

[FangsAndGames]

It's a 240gallon tank. 6 ft long. I try to keep the flow higher in the upper half of the tank but I have a couple clowns that take the bazooka express if they venture in front of the powerheads.

LOL

 

[FangsAndGames]

Yea all of those fish will do fine.

 

[PatW]

I would look at Live Aquaria and Bluezooaquatics and see if the fish are listed as “Reef Safe”. I have acropora, montipora, birds nests and pocillapora. I have a yellow tang, a powder brown tang, a kole tang, a blue chromis, an aptasia eating file fish, and a couple of reef safe wrasses. Also have had fire fish and Bengai cardinals. Nothing has bothered the coral. I would ask in the fish forum about when you narrow things down to specifics. I would think most gobies are good. Most tangs are good. Most chromis and damsels are good (of course, damsels can be horribly aggressive). Dart fish and cardinals are good. So you have quite a few options.

 

[FangsAndGames]

I would look at Live Aquaria and Bluezooaquatics and see if the fish are listed as “Reef Safe”. I have acropora, montipora, birds nests and pocillapora. I have a yellow tang, a powder brown tang, a kole tang, a blue chromis, an aptasia eating file fish, and a couple of reef safe wrasses. Also have had fire fish and Bengai cardinals. Nothing has bothered the coral. I would ask in the fish forum about when you narrow things down to specifics. I would think most gobies are good. Most tangs are good. Most chromis and damsels are good (of course, damsels can be horribly aggressive). Dart fish and cardinals are good. So you have quite a few options.

Yep. I was listing utilitarian fish was well as ones that have known mutualistic/symbiotic relationships with sps. I have poor experience from live aquaria, good reviews of blue zoo, and even better from tsm aquatics. At the top of people I’d buy from are marine collectors and among the reef.

 

[GillMeister]

Thanks. I'll add a gobie and a single tang for now. Yellows and Sailfins are hardy and they just work, but i do like the looks of some of the others better. Chromis are a great suggestion. I hadn't considered thst they might benefit the reef. I like bangai and pajama cardinals but not sure they relish high flow. I'll stay away from Angels for a while. They look great but they're pretty useless. How do argentus mono's do in a reef tank?

It's off to the LFS I go!

 

[FangsAndGames]

The Monos should be good

 

[GillMeister]

The Monos should be good

Sweet! Now I have to locate some. They're difficult to find now.

 

[GillMeister]

So far I've added a Powder Brown tang, two Neon Damsels, a Banded Gobie, and two clowns (for the Wife). The Tang is constantly scavenging and the gobie is active at the bottom. Very happy with the Neon Damsels. They're peaceful and look great and they even spend a lot of time pecking at the rocks. As the rock starts to show a little more biodiversity I'll be adding more fish to the crew.