What pretty fish should I add?

[loans_n_fishes]

Ok, I would like to add one more fish to my 75 gallon. Right now, it has a coral beauty, lawnmower blenny, 2 occ. clowns, mandarin, 2 cleaner shrimp, plus various snails and crabs. I have crushed coral mainly and LOTS of live rock. Softies and LPS coral no SPS planned. Possibly a clam later on.

I prefer a med/large (not too big for my tank of course) fish that is a showstopper (or close) and won't be aggressive to my other mild mannered fish. Also, let's keep this under $40 and fairly easy to keep if possible.

[watson0720]

i got a clown tang from 5.0 mustang and his color and personality are awesome.

[SoLiD]

A 3"+ show stopper fish for under $40 is gonna be hard to do. I was thinking along the lines of a Fairy or Flasher wrasse. They have some good ones for at or under $40.

[erikharrison]

Get a dwarf lionfish, there are tons of types to choose from, and they're nice too look at! Oh yeah, Tab says "It was nice to meet you!"

[josephatmbimortgage]

x-mas wrasse is an awesome addition

[loans_n_fishes]

Here are the choices I am looking at right now. Any thoughts? (I may stick a goby in the seahorse tank.)

Kole Tang
Various Fairy Wrasses
Whitecheek Tang
Engineer Goby
Zebra Catalina Goby
Catalina Goby
Wheeler's Watchman Goby
Red Head Goby
Hector's Goby
Blue Jaw Tilefish
Blue Gudgeon Dartfish (Lyretail)

[Thunderkat]

Just drop your tank temperature down to 68 degrees and your a shoe in for the Catalina Goby! (They like cold water unlike most of the stuff in our tanks.)

[loans_n_fishes]

My seahorse tank will be kept around 75 (cross your fingers). You think that is too high?

I'll probably put them on the bottom of the list for now.

[loans_n_fishes]

So, do you guys think I have room for one of the tangs (Kole or Whitecheek) AND a fairy wrasse or goby (maybe engineer) in my 75?

[SoLiD]

IMO I'd choose a Fairy Wrasse for seahorse tank as they are pretty calm & slow moving. You don't want to stess the Harssies out. -SoLiD

[Ross]

second the fairy wrasse

[Jeff]

i just added 2 sailfin mollies to my seahorse tank to see if they will eat any of the algea.

[jrhein]

My mom has a Catalina goby in her seahorse tank that runs at 74 degrees. He has been in there for 5 months or so and eats like pig and seems to be doing well.

[loans_n_fishes]

That's good to know about the Catalina goby. I'll keep him in mind.

The main fish I want to get right now is for my 75gal reef. I really want one of the tangs (Kole or Whitecheek--leaning toward the Whitecheek), but do I also have room for a goby or fairy wrasse in there?

[aprilmayjune]

I had a couple catalina gobies in my 37 which ran around 75. They were eating but I could tell they weren't doing as well as they should so I set up a small tank for them with a lower temp. They lived for a few months but finally disappeared. I had a male and female too but they still were always picking on each other.

[loans_n_fishes]

Yeah, they are still at the bottom of my list, but they sure are purty. :P

[Headless_donkey]

Catalina gobies like it COLD. I don't think your seahorses will mind, but maintaining that temp during the summer will be hard. I have to say engineer gobies are awesome, seahorse safe, and more hardy. Our engineer tend to hide except at feeding time. BTW thank you for hosting the meeting.

[loans_n_fishes]

I very much enjoyed hosting! :) Yeah, I was thinking about how cold the water was when we went snorkeling around Catalina Island. There is no way I can get my tank anywhere near that without a chiller.

When I win the lottery, I will set up my cold water species tank. ;)

I was looking at a Naso Tang. The description said min. 90 gallon tank. Isn't a 90 gallon 36" long? My tank is 48"...I think it is actually closer to 80 than 75. Is this still too small?

[alton]

My Naso out grew my 135g I had about ten years ago. Great algae eaters. Mine with streamers was around 10 inches.

[JimD]

Length x width x height ÷ 231 will give the total gallons of your tank, just in case you were wondering.

[loans_n_fishes]

48 x 18.5 x 21.5 / 231 = 82.64... gallons

Where does the 231 come from?

Hmmm...I wonder if I get a small naso tang... THEN when it gets big, I will have an excuse for a bigger tank. :ph34r :skeezy

I can see it now.... "Honey, my favorite fish is miserable. We are going to have to get him a 200 gallon tank. It's just not humane to keep him this way. Besides, the toadstool alone takes up 1/2 the tank." :P (Actually, I don't think we are that far away from the toadstool one... :o )

Nah, I'll get something that fits the tank. When we move, I'll have an excuse to upgrade. (He would actually like a tank room divider. Did I marry well or what? :wub )

[JimD]

Its probably closer to a 75 since you measured from the outside of the glass. A more accurate way would be to measure from the inside to compensate for the glass thickness. .

[tomanero]

Why wait?
Get the BIG Naso tang now, drop him in and tomorrow morning it's time for the 200 gal.
("Honey, he looked so much smaller in the store") :angel
My wife and I have an agreement.
Whatever I tell her I spent on fish she doubles it and adds $25. v.v

Thanks again for your hospitality.

[tomanero]

Check out Hawkfish.
People that see my tank find him pretty interesting.

[loans_n_fishes]

I love the Flame Hawk, but I also love my cleaner shrimp.... I've heard stories...

As far as the measurements go, I also didn't allow for my deep sand bed...

[JimD]

Deep sand bed doesnt matter, youre calculating the total volume of the tank itself.

[loans_n_fishes]

I was thinking along the lines of swimming room.

OOOOHHH....a SWIMMING ROOM!! Now there's a reef project! :o

[watson0720]

my uncle has a flame hawk in his 150 with 3 coral banded shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, 5 peppermints, and 2 harliquin(however you spell it) and he has never had a problem out of him.

[loans_n_fishes]

Ok all, I just scored a purple tilefish for $29 at Aquadome! :D

So, do I still have room for a tang later, or am I maxed out?

[blueboy]

i would lean towards the kole, it will stay smaller, and is an excellent algae grazer.