My first reef tank.

[Ericwm]

So I'm thinking about my 4th fish. I don't want to over stock but some more movement would be nice. My current inhabitants are

1 midas blenny
1 occ clown
1 coral beauty
2 skunk cleaners
1 fire shrimp
Plus hermits a couple snails and my coral of course.

Any ideas for an active fish that will be compatible with these 3 fish and suited for a 29 gallon?

 

[navaljonf]

So I'm thinking about my 4th fish. I don't want to over stock but some more movement would be nice. My current inhabitants are

1 midas blenny
1 occ clown
1 coral beauty
2 skunk cleaners
1 fire shrimp
Plus hermits a couple snails and my coral of course.

Any ideas for an active fish that will be compatible with these 3 fish and suited for a 29 gallon?

My opinion is that you are maxed out for a 29 gal....mainly due to the Coral Beauty. I have a 29 gal with Maroon clown (3-4"), watchman goby (3-4") and yellow tail damsel (1.5") and have found this to be the most I can do. My maroon clown is pretty aggressive though, so that is part of the problem with having a 4th fish in my tank. However, I think a sixline wrasse is a great, colorful fish and is a lot of fun to watch swim in and out of the rocks.

 

[Ericwm]

Yeah I am planning an upgrade this summer and then I'll have plenty of room for more fish. The only reason I think one more might be ok is that my fish are still not full grown, my clown is under an inch and a half. By the time they grow to full size they will be in a larger tank that can handle a bigger bio load. I had a six line as my first fish, I think I lost him in my learning process. Cool fish but I feel he and the coral beauty might not get along since they have similar behavior in the same area of the tank.

Any other ideas? I am not against the recommendation of no more. I don't want to lose any of the fish I have currently. They are great.

 

[Ericwm]

I have been looking into comparability of a royal gramma basslet and think it might be good. Has anyone had any issues with these and any fish I have currently? They look cool and would be along the lines of what I'm looking for. Also they are inexpensive and my LFS always has them, I'm thinking about adding one in 2 weeks unless anyone thinks it won't play nicely, or if my parameters aren't good due to stocking.

 

[Whiplash187]

I have been looking into comparability of a royal gramma basslet and think it might be good. Has anyone had any issues with these and any fish I have currently? They look cool and would be along the lines of what I'm looking for. Also they are inexpensive and my LFS always has them, I'm thinking about adding one in 2 weeks unless anyone thinks it won't play nicely, or if my parameters aren't good due to stocking.

I have a royal gramma and an eibli angelfish. When i start putting my gramma he got harass a lot but can protect himself by opening its mouth really wide i guess almost the same size as my angel is good and after a couple of weeks he barely gets harass then my eibli turns evil when he mature and starts nipping my corals so i return him. Rather sacrifice one fish than ruin my whole tank. Just waiting for my bartletts anthias to swap for my angelfish hope they'll be compatible if not im going to special order a school of agile chromis just hard to get it here

 

[daney90]

I have been looking into comparability of a royal gramma basslet and think it might be good. Has anyone had any issues with these and any fish I have currently? They look cool and would be along the lines of what I'm looking for. Also they are inexpensive and my LFS always has them, I'm thinking about adding one in 2 weeks unless anyone thinks it won't play nicely, or if my parameters aren't good due to stocking.

You can add 1 more fish i guess but that's a lil stretch to your bioload considering you have only a 29gal. I know it sucks to have a small tank but oh well.. lol!!! Royal gramma is a nice one to have I personally think theyre cool. Have you also consider a dottyback or maybe a firefish of some Type theyre small too.

 

[Whiplash187]

You can add 1 more fish i guess but that's a lil stretch to your bioload considering you have only a 29gal. I know it sucks to have a small tank but oh well.. lol!!! Royal gramma is a nice one to have I personally think theyre cool. Have you also consider a dottyback or maybe a firefish of some Type theyre small too.

Shes right but hope you get your new tank before they grow big. Yeah firefish is fun to watch too and aren't u suppose to be sleeping already daney ahaha cant get enough here

 

[Beengirl]

Royal grammas are so pretty. Just so you know, though, mine comes out in the morning and then just periodically during the day. He stays in the rocks a lot, not a really active swimmer. Of course, each individual fish is different, though. I have chalk bass in my 30g, he's out all the time, and the angel doesn't pick on him.
I think that as long as you're really good about doing PWC and keeping water params in check, you could do 4-5 fish, but the rest would need to be small fish. Nothing as big as the angel. Firefish are great. Clown gobies are cute too.

 

[jsmith]

I too like royal gammas buy I went with the bi color basslets . They are the same color just don't have the large dorsal fin like the royals. I bought two one slightly larger and add them at the same time.. they are paired up now.. I find them not to be as aggressive as the royal gammas but I could be the exception.

 

[Ericwm]

I too like royal gammas buy I went with the bi color basslets . They are the same color just don't have the large dorsal fin like the royals. I bought two one slightly larger and add them at the same time.. they are paired up now.. I find them not to be as aggressive as the royal gammas but I could be the exception.

I believe the royal gramma is a basslet, I could be wrong.
I looked at the dotty back that looks similar but I decided against them because liveaquaria says they eat ornamental shrimp and I love my shrimp.

 

[Beengirl]

I believe the royal gramma is a basslet, I could be wrong.
I looked at the dotty back that looks similar but I decided against them because liveaquaria says they eat ornamental shrimp and I love my shrimp.

Yes, RG is a basslet. I have the RG in my reef, the chalk in the FOWLR. It's my understanding that you should only do 1 basslet per tank. Sorry I didn't clarify that before. It did kinda sound like I had 2 in the same tank. :/

 

[Ericwm]

I got a little bored today and played around with my rock scape. I think it looks pretty good, it opened up some swimming space and added some more caves. I am thinking that might make a new fish more of a possibility.

 

[Dimdim]

Where is your refugium?

 

[Ericwm]

Where is your refugium?

The intake is the pump located above the mag float on the left side a me the return is the small amount of PVC that you can see above the middle power head. The heater that you can see part of is actually in my refugium and you man kinda see my light in the picture. I still need to add more rock to it so for now the rock and chato are hidden behind my rock in the display tank.

 

[Dimdim]

Ahh so its a hob refugium?

 

[Ericwm]

Yeah, I built it about a month ago. It's just temporary until my upgrade but it is working great. My water has been testing pretty good since I got t going, I'm thinking about a 4th fish. Still waiting on suggestions, I don't want to upset any of my current inhabitants because I like them all too much.

 

[Dimdim]

What did u make it out of?

 

[Ericwm]

I made it out of acrylic, I bought a sheet from Home Depot for about $30 and some ambroid pro weld from a hobby shop for like $5. I also got some PVC fittings to make my return and put the whole thing on a stand made out of 2x4. The pump and light were about $35 from my LFS. It was pretty easy and has been hundreds of times better than my hob filter. I have better water no micro bubbles and no salt creep.

 

[Ericwm]

So I have noticed some random sponges popping up as well as some more pineapple sponges. Is this a sign of excess nutrients? I am thinking I may do an extra water change this weekend. I usually do 10% every other week, I did one last week and I'm thinking maybe a 15% this weekend. That is unless the sponges aren't from high nutrients.

 

[Dimdim]

Id step up to more then 10 percent.. Every other week, 10 percent of 30 gallons that means your changing only 6 gallons of water every month. Thats how much my tank evapourates in about 2 weeks. Stick with ur routine but do it every week. 30 gallons still isnt very forgiving you know.