So far so good. What fish to get next?

[Mrbill]

Hi all.

My tank's running well thanks to all your help. This past Friday I added two true Percula clowns and they seem to be doing just fine. I would love some opinions on this list of possible future additions to the tank. I am well aware that I cannot put ALL this stuff in the tank, this is just a list of possibilities. What do you guys think?

Here's the specs on the tank as it is now.

46 gallon bowfront
4" sandbed
40 lbs live rock
CSL PC 2x96 lighting w/moonlight
Fluval 404 canister filter
2 Maxi Jet 900 powerjets
Backpack 2R Skimmer
3 Turbo snails
5 Nassarius snails
2 Percula Clownfish

Future Possibilities?

1 royal gramma
1 jawfish
2 cardinalfish
1 or 2 bannerfish
3 blue or blue-green chromies
1 domino damsel
1 or 2 firefish
Neon gobies
1 banded coral shrimp or common cleaner shrimp
More snails
Brittle star(s)
Ricordia?
Feather Duster?
Any other very easy to keep coral/plants etc that will work with my lighting?[/b]

 

[reefrunner69]

1 or 2 bannerfish

I don't think your tank is big enough.

All the others look fine, of course you would not want to put them all in.

Any other very easy to keep coral/plants etc that will work with my lighting?

Colt coral, most leathers, some LPS in the upper half of the aquarium (ie; frogspawn, hammer, bubble, etc...)

 

[Mrbill]

Thanks Kevin, your the man! Couple more questions.

Is 1 inch per 5 gallon the rule of thumb? That would be 9" of fish, correct? The clowns are about an inch a piece now, but I assume they'll grow, so I can maybe fit three or four more 1-2" fish? Does that sound about right?
Shrimp don't count right?

Also, if anyone has any other suggestions of fish or cool creatures they like that might work, let me know!

Thanks.

 

[fishfreek]

Mushrooms to add to the list

Assume 3" for percs at adult size. Since we dont want to put our 'inch of fish' in the tank when the fish are small we will run into problems as they age. The inch of fish rule of thumb is there for a few reasons. One is the filtration of the average tank. The second is the oxygen capacity of salt water. And the third is the fact that even the most docile saltwater fish need more 'personal space' than their FW brethern.

I think a pair of cardnel fish and a small school of chromis would be nice. Or maybe a pair of gobies and a few fire fish.

A pair of cleaner shrimp or a pair of fire shrimp. The shrimp are really a null effect to bioload. The feather duster is non photosynthetic so light does nto mater for them.

 

[Mrbill]

Thanks for the tips guys.

fishfreek, when you say small school of chromies how many do you mean? 3? 5?
Same with the firefish, how many is a few?

I won't be getting anything for a while, just planning ahead.

Thanks again!

 

[yaksplat]

fyi, I had bad luck with firefish. I had a pair. Firefish #1 was trying to kill #2. I added #3. At that point #1 killed #2 and I have a feeling #1 scared #3 out of the back of the tank since there is nothing else hostile in the tank. Since then I have had no problems with the FF. He likes to hide, but he does show himself every once in a while. So now I just have 1 very expensive firefish.

Jim