Will my system be overcrowded with this stocking list?

[JumboShrimp]

Only small fish are 2 Yellow Damsels and a Cleaner fish. (They are always great at eating the tiny particles of food the big fish chomp at, and spit out repeatedly. )

 

[JumboShrimp]

Here’s the size comparison. (Sorry for the Cyno outbreak, my RODI filters need to be changed.)

 

[Zionas]

Awww cute it almost looks like the Singularis is about to kiss you.

 

[Zionas]

Well, today’s another sad day for me. The Foxface, after some painful deliberation, is gone. With the main reason being that in my part of the world we usually only get them 5” or larger, often 6-7” while my ideal size is 2-4” and no more than 5”.

Most of the ones that are imported into China come from the Spratlys and Paracels, some come from Indonesia but usually they come in too large for my liking with small ones coming in only sporadically and even then the One Spot, my preferred species, does not make a frequent appearance. I’m not willing to compromise on either species or size when it comes to the Rabbitfish, unfortunately. Such a pity. Some online sellers sell the Foxface / OSFF at smaller sizes but as a beginner I’d rather not take chances with fish I can’t see in person.

Sad, though. I think it’s such a cute fish and even now I can still see it swimming in my mind.

To make up for algae eating somewhat, I’ve decided to add 4 Azure Damsels as my last fish. Today I checked my LFS’s inventory and they have them fairly regularly at 2-3cm.

This leaves me with 3 large fish so far: the YT and the 2 Heniochus Bannerfish.

x2 Heniochus Bannerfish

x1 YWG + Pistol Shrimp

x1 Longnose Hawk

x1 Flame Hawkfish

x1 Twinspot Hogfish

x2 Ocellaris Clownfish

x1 Yellow Tang

x4 Azure Damselfish

x6 Pajama Cardinals


Is what I’m left with.

The good news is today I have more or less finalized my CuC.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Good job— you’ve planned your work... now work your plan! Lol.

Personally, I wouldn’t shed a tear over not being able to get the Foxface. It was my lease favorite fish ever, and after about 2 years I sent it back to my LFS. It hid a great majority of the time, and no matter what I did I could never get it to color-up past a dull yellow. Compare it in the photo to the yellow in the Damsel’s tail, or the Bannerfish’s fin... same tank, same food. It’s hit-or-miss with Foxface, many are scared of their own shadow.

 

[Zionas]

Lol. Glad to see your tank is doing well. Looking forward to seeing your 8’ system.

An update. After inspecting photos it seems my LFS has the H. Acuminatus in stock and no H. Diphreutes to be found. Instead of the Bannerfish, as beautiful as they are as much as I’d like a pair, I’ve opted for something smaller and more reef safe instead, a pair or a trio of Yellow Pyramid Butterflies. Would you say they’re equally hardy?

Also, lol, instead of damsels I am seriously looking into 4 Yellow Striped Cardinals instead lol. More peaceful and less likely to compete for food with the butterflies.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I dreamed of having a trio of Pyramid Butterflys, so I had two LFSs on the hunt for about 3 months before I got the call that one store located 2 of them for me. I went and picked them up the same day the LFS got them. Now note, the LFS people drive to the wholesaler — so no further shipping is involved on the final leg of the journey; meaning the fish should be as ‘healthy’ as when in the wholesaler’s tank. Anyway, they looked good, color-wise and swimming-wise at the LFS so I took them home and put them in an observation tank. Within the first 2 days, one was no longer as active as the first. Within another day the one fist was failing, and so I freshwater dipped both, and started using M. Blue to try to help the one. An $80 fish and he didn’t make it through the night. As for the remaining Pyramid (which I still have, but no longer in my main DT), he has funky internal sores, scrapes on the scales that won’t heal, and has stayed in general poor health ever since. (By comparison, I had a beautiful Pearlscale Butterfly once that was bulletproof— even went through copper once or twice without even appetite loss.) So I guess the moral of my story is, at a minimum, let the Pyramids hang out at the LFS for at least a week-10 days and try to bring home healthy ones.

 

[Zionas]

Wow, sorry to hear about your experience. Do you think it was just a bad batch from rough handling and shipping?

What happened to your Pearlscale?

 

[JumboShrimp]

I do in fact tend to think it was a bad batch. Can't quite remember why I don't have the Pearlscale anymore; I did thin out my tank several times with give-aways and LFS trade-ins as I acquired my larger fish.

 

[Zionas]

Yeah. Maybe that was the case.

I definitely hope to find them healthy, I’ll need the healthiest ones I can find.

When do you think you’ll upgrade to the 8-foot? Lol.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I’ve been looking into it for about 9 months now, and I’m talking about every custom manufacturer’s website you can think of; between the tanks, stands, yadda-yadda, which room of the house to go with for a larger tank, I’m frankly feeing paralyzed with indecision.