Suggestions? :)

[Eienna]

I don't have my setup yet...I'm doing a ton of research first, among other things.

AAANYWAY....I'm looking for suggestions on my future stocking. The space for the aquarium is 4ft long, so I'm going to use my 4ft 50g unless I find a great deal on one that's deeper/wider. I'm not doing corals immediately - at first it'll be a FOWLR setup - but will probably add some in the future, and should have inverts regardless, so reef-safe is best. I do have a ton of time on my hands right now but that may change when I start college, so fish that require 4x daily feedings may be out. I prefer relatively peaceful fish, or at least ones that will get along with the other planned stock with a minimum of issues, as aggression stresses me out. I imagine I'll have a deep sand bed. My hubby wants a nemo so I'll probably be getting a pair of ocellaris clowns. I think that's all the specifications, so hit me with some ideas if you've got any? I wanted a flame wrasse and anthias but they appear to require a bigger setup so they're out.

 

[Eienna]

Oh, and I'm going to stick with tank-bred fish as much as possible.

 

[Eienna]

Looks like I'm adding a trio of McCosker's Flasher Wrasse to the list, unless you guys think I should stick to a pair or single in this case?

 

[revsgirl]

Good luck!! Lookin' forward to seeing what you come up with!

 

[Eienna]

Thanks n___________n

 

[ShannPeach]

If you want to do tank bred when possible you should look at a dottyback, some of the ORA tank bred blennies, yellow or blue assessors (they have cool upside down swimming behavior under ledges which is interesting), possibly an ORA dragonette if you end up with more "peaceful" fish, tank bred cardinalfish (pajama and Banggai will be the easiest to find most likely), or some of the smaller gobies. You can even get peppermint shrimp tank bred. There are also lots of hobbyist-scale breeders out there doing random fish, so check for that locally, you never know what someone may be breeding (or at least trying to breed) in their basement

I personally am partial to blennies because they are entertaining to watch. Dottybacks are beautiful, but some can be pretty feisty. Best bet would probably be P. fridmani (Orchid dottyback) and that is commonly available tank-bred. The dragonette *may* be more high maintenance in terms of feeding. Although the ORA ones take prepared foods, they are slow feeders and you may need to feed more and more often to make sure its getting enough food. I have two dragonettes and a pipefish together with several other fish in a tank about the size you are looking at with no problems, but I also feed often and culture pods that I add periodically, along with feeding newly hatched baby brine shrimp, frozen cyclops, and ova. Not sure if you would want to deal with that while in school if the dragonette ends up needing supplemental food.

About your wrasses and anthias...I don't really know much about either. All I know is I have two coris wrasses and I like them and they are fine together in a 50 gallon (I took precautions in terms of pairing them...if you aren't equipped to do that, you may want to just consider one wrasse or purchase a known pair or trio). Wrasses are also good to have if you eventually plan to keep coral since they often eat pest amphipods and worms that can damage coral. Anthias in general (from what I remember other people saying lol) require frequent feedings. Perhaps someone else could chime in more about that.

 

[Elysium]

Looks like I'm adding a trio of McCosker's Flasher Wrasse to the list, unless you guys think I should stick to a pair or single in this case?

If possible, it would be better to get a quartet of McCosker's (1 male, three females) to spread out the aggression. Definitely rule out the pair as the male will focus all its attention on the single female. A trio would work, but that's still a fair amount of aggression to be spread on the two females. Four would definitely help on prolonging the lifespan and general happiness of your fish.

Hope you can find, some unsexed juveniles and females. I tried for months and was unsuccessful. I'm still not happy with LiveAquaria after their mixup when I purchased two juveniles and received two large males instead. I was given a credit because they said their stock was sold out, only to then post a trio of unsexed ones on Divers Den one day later.

 

[Eienna]

OK, thanks, guys! I'm really crazy about the green mandarin dragonets so maybe I could find one of those from ORA. They'd be well worth the extra work. I'll try to get a sump I can also use as a refugium for copepods, as well. I know anthias are difficult...I suspect I won't be getting them at all. Thankfully, the McCosker's has the colors I wanted the anthias for, so that appears to be a nonissue.

So current idea...
ORA Green Mandarin Dragonet
Tankbred Ocellaris Clownfish Pair
A group of four McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
and some type of Tank-Bred Cardinal (Probably the Pajama - they're pretty cute.)
Copepods and various inverts

Corals in the future (though by then I may be able to upgrade my tank size!)

You guys think there's room to add anything else to the list? I don't want to overstock and cramp them (I know that would also make proper maintenance more difficult.)