New 34 Gallon Red Sea Max

[bigdogeder]

Hello,
New to this site and to salt water aquariums. I bought and set up a Red Sea Max 34 gallon. I am planning a mixed tank with some corals some fish and possibly an anemone down the road. the tank has been set up for 3 weeks and i have been regularly testing it and all the levels seem ok. I added 28 pounds of "not cured" ? live rock I ordered from Saltwaterfish.com and then after the second week added 37 pounds from my local fish store that had rock that has good amounts of growth on it. Right now I have 2 yellow tailed damsels and 2 domino damsels in the tank at the advice of the shop. I also added some turbo snails a few red legged hermit crabs and 4 peppermint shrimp. All seem to be doing well. I am not planning on keeping the fish only using them to have some stock in the tank. I just have a few questions.

I plan on trying to keep the following fish
pair of clowns not sure what kind
lawnmower blenny

From there what would be good additions? I would kind of like have something active and maybe another bottom dweller.

Also are there any coral that will host the clowns or is it just anemones? What kind of corals are the easiest for a beginner to have success with?

Would adding a cleaner shrimp Be ok with the peppermints already in there?

I am attaching a photo of the tank. Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Fishking22]

I don't even have a reef tank, still doing research. But I believe polyups are easiest.

 

[the_fish_man]

i have the same tank yes it would be fine to have a cleaner. Softies and leathers are best for beginners. Also clowns will host anything. I have had clowns that hosted a leather coral. And they wont always host something. So put something in there you want them to host and keep you fingers crossed. Also what coarse is your sand? You might want to add some gravel sand if you end up getting a digging fish.
You should make a thread.

 

[Fishking22]

Either stick with just the fish you have now, or get rid of all but CUC just to get pair of clowns.

 

[the_fish_man]

I don't even have a reef tank, still doing research. But I believe polyups are easiest.

You are somewhat right but not all polyps are easy just some. I have some polyps in a tank and if one condition i off they will melt away. So if you start with polyps do common ones first then once tank stables add some rare ones.

 

[the_fish_man]

and you might be able to get by with your fish and clownfish. Make sure to get a pair of clownfish and you did good deciding to add them last. They wont be as aggressive to the other fish now.

 

[bigdogeder]

thank you for the advice. I am not planning on keeping the damsels though. I was told by the LFS that I can use them to start the tank then in a week or two return them and get the fish that I really plan on stocking. other than the clowns and the blenny what else would you recommend?

 

[kurtyboh]

2 clowns and a blenny will pretty much max out a 34 gal. tank