Stocking a new tank

[JamieB]

Hi Everyone

Could anyone comment on whether this group of fish should live happily together?

copperband butterfly

blennie - yellow

flame angel

orchid dottyback

mandarin

court jester goby

banded pipefish

Thanks

 

[anemoneanatomy]

My first thought was "how are you going to ensure a consistent food supply for your picky eaters?" Your copperband butterfly will need quite a large supply of established liverock to scavenge food from, and both the pipefish and the mandarin will be eating solely copepods. I hope this tank has one heck of a refugium. Assuming you could get it fully stocked, I'd be concerned about the CBB being out-competed for food during meal time.

In terms of aggression, I think you'd be fine as long as the orchid dottyback was second-to-last (or you chose a smaller specimen to add earlier) and the flame angel was the absolute last. I'd also have some concerns about the canary blenny, since their bite can mess up your other fish.

 

[LIreefguy]

I would agree with the above post
As far as aggression you should be ok

but the copperband , pipefish and mandarin will need special care in feeding to get them all to live long term

if this is your been keeping saltwater fish for a long time I say go for it. If not I would avoid 3 specialized eaters in a new tank

 

[Jedi1199]

Agree with above...

How large is your tank? How long has it been running? Do you have a large refugium? There is a lot of information that you have not provided that will greatly improve the quality of advice we can give.

Also, do you intend to have corals? The butterfly will nip at them. ESPECIALLY if he can't get food.

 

[ZoWhat]

You looking for straight up answers? Right?

Not downing your choices...but providing the likelihood of what you're facing

copperband butterfly: prob will die 30-45 days in bc this is a fish that is super sensitive to illness. needs a mature tank of over a year that's disease free

blennie - yellow: the dotty will fight the blennie for territory. It won't end well

flame angel: another sensitive fish that's an extremely picky eater. You'll be limited on corals as it will pick the polyps off most corals

orchid dottyback: mean & anger fish that will chase the blennie, goby and future wrasses out the top of the tank. Chasing them out and onto the floor outside the tank

mandarin: unless your tank is at least a year old with an established colony of of thousands of copepods, this fish will starve

court jester goby: will prob get harassed by the dottyback

banded pipefish: expert level fish very difficult to get off live food. Expect to be buying live food every 2 weeks from a LFS

 

[JamieB]

Ha, 2 clown fish it is then!
This is so hard!

ok thanks for all the input everyone.

The tank is 300L newly cycled.
I intend to add simple fish first eg a blennie and only add the picky eaters once tank is established and I have a refugium working well.