Tanakas, Barnacles and Helfrichi, Oh My!

[Mushroom Boy]

I have a BC 29 mixed reef. My current fish are a hi fin banded goby with a pistol shrimp, a female green spot mandarin and a helfrichi firefish. I really love the way they all get along. It's very peaceful. I'm thinking of adding one, maybe two more small peaceful species and am gravitating to a barnacle blenny and a tanaka possum wrasse. Any opinions on how those two might or might not get along with my other inhabitants? Any other species I should consider?

 

[malacoda]

Tanaka possum ought to get along with them just fine. Will cruise around pecking at pods though, so may compete with the mandarin for pods if you don't already do something on regular basis to ensure your mandarin has enough of them.

Don't know about the barnacle blenny since i don't know much about them.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Awesome, thanks! Fortunately, my mandarin eats frozen and flake, so I'm not worried about her running out of food. Will the Tanaka readily take prepared foods?

 

[zonatus]

How long have you had the mandarin? I've been wanting to get one for my 29 but I'm extremely hesitant to try it

 

[Mushroom Boy]

I've had her a few months. I made sure she was eating frozen food before I bought her. IME, the green spots are far more likely to take prepared foods than the red or green 'regular' mandarins. For smaller tanks like ours, I think it's imperative to make sure you see them eat something that's been offered before you buy one. I may at some point try and find a male for her as well.

 

[zonatus]

I would absolutely love to have a breeding pair of mandarins. That would be a dream come true for me but I don't think that's possible in my tank.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

I agree, that woud be amazing!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Barnacle blennies are very cool. I had 5 in a tank and they were most amusing... but all you see is their faces until feeding time or during a game of musical holes.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

They sound great. Were they pretty peaceful with your other fish?

So far, it sounds like I've got two winners on the list.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

They totally kept to themselves.

 

[zonatus]

I might consider a yasha goby, or really any of the Stonogobiops gobies, but the yasha is the prettiest IMO. Pairing it up with a pistol shrimp would be very cool

 

[Mushroom Boy]

I really love my goby/shrimp pair. They've actually set up shop right against the front glass, so it's like watching a fish/shrimp version of ant farm

 

[zonatus]

Oh whoops I didn't read that you already had a pair that's embarrassing [emoji854] but I'm glad you like them. You sound like you have a really lovely tank!

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Here's a link to a thread I started about their cave. They're still in the same spot, but the cave now goes all the way to the bottom of the sandbed and has a hairpin turn in the middle...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/window-into-the-world-of-the-pistol-shrimp.264370/

 

[lion king]

The tanaka's will easily take prepared foods, but they are a non stop pod muncher.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

The barnacles are crazy for the pods too. They wiped out my tank in a week.