Stocking Ideas?

R

Ryka

AC Members
Mar 29, 2009
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Because I like to post two threads at a time (my thoughts/questions come to me in clumps), here is another ? to ponder.

I am looking to add a group of smaller fish that could add some color and utilize all the rock crevices by darting in and out of them. As always, looking for something hardy and easily kept. Always a catch, I have a 2" coral Hogfish that may or may not play an aggressive factor. So far the hogfish and tomato clown have a love/hate relationship but they work very well together. The hogfish finds food and presents it to the clown. Fascinating. The clown does get a little pestered at times but they get along....I digress. Any ideas or good experiences.

55gal, live sand bed, ~60lbs LR, Remora HOB Skimmer
Tomato Clown, Coral Hogfish, Nessarius/Cerith Snails, Feather Duster x 2

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I would have guessed the Tomato clown being the more agressive one out of the 2. Some of them are known to be almost as bad as a maroon clown.

Other hardy "schooling" type of fish, I would probably take a stab at a few Blue/Green chromis for your tank. Firefish are a good one, but will be bullied in your tank, and I bet Cardinal fish will as well, but they don't really swim around either.

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I was thinking along the same lines. My LFS doesn't carry many chromis for some reason. They have just about everything else. I'll have to look into it. Thanks.

I'm going to bogart my own thread. Ace, I wanted to get your opinion on adding either a Yellow or Scopas Tang to my tank. Do you think either would do well? one better than the other? as I have been considering this for a while.
 
I am the wrong person to ask that question. My personal belief is tangs do not belong in 4' or smaller tanks. Just my opinion though.

That said, if one insisted on doing so, I would say the sailfin tang or kole tang are the two hardiest tangs I have seen, especially in tanks I would consider less than ideal for that species of fish.
 
Fair enough. I was under the impression that a 55gal could hold one tang that is not an active "swimmer" like a yellow or scopas as compared to orange shoulder or pacific. I guess I was more concerned about being able to support them nutritionally more so than size of tank. I was not taking that into much consideration. I will now. I guess the floor is still open to any others who wish to comment.
 
From my experience, yellow tangs are extremely active swimmers and like to take off in bursts of speed across the length of a tank quite often. When they do that in a 4' tank they have to turn or hit the end of the tank. In a 6' tank they just barely slow down in time. In an 8' tank they can do this without problems or worrys of stressing other tangs out and tangs seem to really behave much more natural and peaceful in 8' tanks. Just something I observed while working at a LFS that had tangs in all 3 sizes. 4' tanks definately seemed to stress out yellow tangs and make them more aggressive and hyper.

I don't have any experience with a Scopas though, so can't comment on their behavour. Sailfin tangs seem to be the least aggressive tang I have seen and the least likely one to stress out in a smaller tank. Maybe because they have large fins they are not fast/active swimmers in nature like yellow tangs so they don't mind not having the swimming room.
 
I personally like firefish. They can be kept in groups, but I'm not sure if your fish are too aggressive for them as they are pretty wimpy at times.
 
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