New Fish, Your Thoughts?

[Waterbury Guy]

I'm finally ready to start adding fish! I Want to introduce the below over the course of a few months. I will not be introducing corals.
(2) Scarlet reef hermits
(1) Fire Shrimp
(1) Sea Cucumber
(1) Zebra Dart Goby
(1) Purple Pseudochromis
(1) Perc Clown
(1) Canary Blenny
(1) Assessor Blasset
(1) Mandarin Green (in 6 months)
(1) Scott's Fairy Wrasse (in 6 months)

Any objections??

[jacksonpt]

This seems very familiar to me... I think I just replied to this post ;)

[SabreFan]

I don't see any major problems, just a few things to consider:

1) You may want to look at adding to your cleaning crew. A few more snails and hermits, or maybe a sandstar or two.

2) IMO, mandarins are very difficult to keep. I have had three in the past, and all have wasted away or disappeared. You may want to look at a sand sifting goby (tiger, golden sleeper, orange spot, etc.) as an option. They are relatively easy to keep, and have the added benefit of keeping the sand clean.

3) You may want to add the purple pseudochromis (fredmani??) last. These guys can be a little aggresive to new tank mates. They also MAY pick on shrimp.

4) I have no experience with the assessor, so I can't help you there.

5) Fairy Wrasses are awesome!! They are beautiful, entertaining, and usually well-behaved.

Hope this helps a little.
Best of luck to you!! :thumbsup:

[Waterbury Guy]

You did Jackson, and thanks! Just trying to cover all the bases (that I know of) and get as much info as possible:D

[Macimage]

Waterbury Guy,

I agree with SabreFan, you will probably want more snails and hermits.
I do not think a mandarin will do well in a six month old tank. It just isn't that mature and they are difficult.

I would substitute a Fridmani for the purple Pseudochromis. They look very similar. The Pseudochromis are pretty nasty (I had to return one to the LFS as it was haressing my other fish). Also, many of them will kill shrimp.

I would also research the sea cucumber as I believe they may eat the beneficial living organisms in your live sand and also I would worry about it dying and nuking the tank.

Good luck, Joyce

P.S. You did not post whether you have live sand or not. If you do, then you would also want to avoid the sand star and sand sifting gobies.

[Waterbury Guy]

Joyce,
I do have live sand. I bought 150 Lbs from Home Depot and then seeded it with a live sand activator from Indo Pacific Sea Farms. This was 4 weeks ago. I knew I wanted to avoid the Sand Sifting Star, but I thought the Sea Cuccumber was beneficail to the DSB. If not, do I need anything to help the DSB out, I was under the impression that it was beneficial to disturb the top layer of sand. Everyone's general consensous seemd to be to leave out the Pseudochromis, and more cleaners, and wait a LONG time for the Mandarin.

[Macimage]

Waterbury Guy,

I am pretty sure that the sea cucumber sifts the sand and eats the critters as it sifts through it (you might ask Dr. Ron in his forum). However, I am sure that if they die they can nuke your entire tank and that is enough for me to keep them out of my tank.

Yes, it is beneficial to stir the top layer of your DSB. The snails and hermits will do that and you can add either a fighting or queen conch that will also eat the detritus off the top layer. I believe the fighting conch stays smaller than the queen and might be a better choice.

Joyce