Let's discuss fish for the 240g tank.

[EvilMel]

Hello everyone. I have been seriously debating about adding some more fish to the 240. I just can't decide which ones to add.

Here's the ones I am considering:
blue spot jawfish
pearly jawfish
school of 5 bartlett's anthias
school of 5 lyretail anthias
powder brown tang

I could add some combination of these, but I don't want to overload my tank and really I want to seriously underload my tank.

I'm getting a good skimmer in the near future, in case any of you were wondering.

Anyone have any thoughts?

My biggest issues right now are:
1) I don't want to introduce any diseases that could harm Priscilla (but she's very healthy and happy so I think she could survive many of them)
2) aggression by her towards any new fish (I'm going to move some more rock into the sump to create more swimming room when I get whatever fish I get).

So let me know what you think...I have always valued the advice of the members of this club.

[cee]

Lifespan in the wild for jawfish is ~1 year from what I've heard. Big jumpers, too.

[EvilMel]

Well I'm getting a canopy and it's going to be enclosed, so the jumping thing isn't a big issue. I guess if they only live about a year then a pearly jawfish sounds alot better than the blue spot. $100 for a year life span is a bit much!

[Neowind]

I think the Anthias would be a really nice addition. Some type of schooling fish should keep Priscilla from being to aggressive I would think.

[EvilMel]

The thing is that Priscilla is totally non-aggressive. I am only worried about her being aggressive towards another tang but she's so docile that I don't think it would be a problem, especially if I rearrange rocks that day (and remove some).

I do agree that anthias would be nice, but my issue is that you really should quarentine anthias for a while before introducing them to the tank. It would lessen the liklihood of disease and you could monitor their eating prior to addition to the main tank. I don't have a tank set up for that. Nor do I have another tank big enough for that. So I would basically have to just throw them in.

[hawkeye31657]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Protein-Skimmer-...QQcmdZViewItem
you might like this i did

[EvilMel]

I've actually kinda decided on one of the ASM skimmer (which you know because we talked about it like 2 hours ago!). Plus Larry, I want to put it under the stand which really means it needs to be around 32" or less.

[bkv1997]

Mel:

I know I mentioned this at your meeting, but I'm really enjoying my black cap basslet... If your looking for a bright purple fish that isn't agressive.

At the time you asked if I had any smaller fish and I didn't think about it, but i have dragon face pipefish which i would say are very delicate and it hasn't bothered them at all.

I also enjoyed my Candy Yellow hogfish till he did a carpet dive..

Just a couple to look up that I have kept that never caused problems.
Brandon

[EvilMel]

Those basslets aren't aggressive towards really small gobies?

[imsqueak]

I think something schooling like anthias or even chromis would be a good idea. Schooling fish will add much more interest to your tank IMO. If you would like to borrow a 20 QT I have one avail.

[ct_vol]

Mel, when you rearrange the rock, you might want to keep a bit more in the upper tank, so the new tang has places to hide till Priscilla calms a bit... If you leave it too open for space, its more room for her to terrorize her in as well... I know my Christmas wrasse was scarcely seen for a few days and really appreciated the rock cover when I threw my Sixline wrasse in there with her... They get along dandy now... But the rock provided a good buffer for the time being... Hmmm, perhaps you might consider some sort of wrasse... Also, a cleaner shrimp would be nice for Priscilla as well as your Powder brown... Oh, and I LOVE my ASM G4 plus skimmer... My hair algae is disappearing since I added it...

[bkv1997]

Originally posted by EvilMel
Those basslets aren't aggressive towards really small gobies?

The smallest fish I have besides it currently is a six line and the pipefish. I ditched the citron and 2 clown gobies in favor of polyp extension.

Brandon

[Angela Short]

I am planning someanthias.Had some barlets in the 80 when I first started and they are real pretty. I also like blue reef chromises and greens for the price

[Pandarian]

1 billion lime strip gobies.

[EvilMel]

Donny knows me too well. I already bought three of those two days ago. I know I am up to at least 5 now because I saw 2 in the tank prior to the new additions.

Randy...got one of those too (cleaner shrimp I mean). I'm getting the G4X, I think. I gotta talk to Matt about it since he seems to know a lot about them.

Brandon...hah hah that's really funny about the clowns. I totally know what you mean. My greens haven't been a problem but that yellow one! I decided to keep him though. I can't let any of the critters go.

Angela...yeah Bartlett's are the anthias I am leaning towards.

[Pandarian]

Originally posted by EvilMel
Donny knows me too well. I already bought three of those two days ago. I know I am up to at least 5 now because I saw 2 in the tank prior to the new additions.

I'm flattered. If you are feeling risky, how about a school of Heniochus diphreutes or Centropyges? Then offset them with a school of smaller sized fish like threadfin cardinals. They will probably school a a little more then the anthias/chromis. The layered schools of larger fish (Priscilla/PBT), medium (Heniochus), and smaller (cardinals) would look pretty sweet. I'm not saying ditch the anthias, I'm just suggesting in addition to.

[Pandarian]

double post

[EvilMel]

Good lord Donnie. You will destroy my bioload if I let you! hah hah.

Brent doesn't think I should get any more big (bigger than a goby) fish. He says that I constantly complained about Priscilla kiling my bioload in the smaller tank, so then when I get a big one I am going to immediately stock it with more fish?? He's got a point, but once I get a skimmer I might just go ahead and get some fish...probably not before that though.

And for those of you who are wondering...yes I have sold out and am buying fish from fishstores/online rather than from hobbiests (sp?).

[LeftCoast]

I like these a lot; Apogon leptacanthus. Plus, you can buy them in lots of 3,6 or 12 if you want to from the Marine Center. I don't have personal experience with them, but they school and are peaceful. They look cool, too.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Mel,
Not a member of your club but we have talked before about Naso's. I have added a blue hippo tang as well as some swallow tail angels to the tank and none of my tangs seemed to even notice. Since you only have Priscilla for tangs, I'm not sure what would happen, espically with adding another tang.

An alternative to the fish you have listed may be a pair of one of the swallow tail angel species. They have some nice colors and are reef safe. Or what about some of the colorful wrasses?

If not, then I'd go with a odd number of the anthias. The sunburst ones are also colorful and seem to school. They are just a hard fish to get acclimated. Once you do though and they are eating, they are a nice small fish. I started with 5 in the big tank and lost all but one. he's doing good now though and isn't even afraid of my Big monsters.

Another choice may be a hareem of royal grammas. Go for 5 if your going to go that route.

[cee]

If you decide to order online, LMK.

Dave

[Kennetht]

Mel....I agree with the Anthias or Chromis for a schooling fish. I would have to say no on any jawfish, as they cover corals, and make a mess when they make burrows.

I saw you talking skimmers....I ordered an ASM G3 with gate valve mod, recirc mod, and drain fitting mod. I LOVE IT! I ordered from ASMskimmer.com and received it in about a week. I highly recommend them and the gate valve mod.

[Runner]

How about a school of naso tangs and a large rock crab?

[Fishboy42]

Sorry Mel, I've been out of town. I'll give you a call...

Once you get a cover, you will definitely need a little friend for your clown!

Great to see that you have a tang on the list (told ya she'd cave Donny!) I think that with the increased tank size and a great skimmer, you will be able to stock a little more heavily.

On your "issues" list, I would add "does not compete with mandarin pair for food." I think pseudochromids or basslets would be great additions, but the pod population might take a hit, even in such a large tank.

I would have (and did) suggest cardinals too, but I think they would eventually eat the smaller gobies. Saltwater guppies are used as food for the broodstock fish on at least one farm (in HI), so I think cardinals are probably not safe with very small (guppy-size) fish.

Angels would be a great idea! I think there are many that are considered "reef safe" like the swallowtails and some of the dwarfs, although it can sometimes be a fish-by-fish personality thing too. I have a tank-raised maculosis in my 58 mixed reef that doesn't pick on anything...yet, although he gets fed 2x/day and he's doubled in 4 months--he'll be moving out soon.

How about some of the reefsafe wrasses? Some of the flasher wrasses are really pretty, and I think they'd be fine with all of your requirements. I had some in the house pre-fire and really enjoyed them. I'd think that they are hardier than anthias, but I've never kept anthias before...

-Matt

[ct_vol]

Here you go Mel...

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=875170

I have the gate valve mod, and recommend it as well...