fish compatibility

[nemo-rox]

What kind of colourful fish would you recommend mixing with a 6 line wrasse? I am getting mix advise from my LFS...one tells me a clown would be OK the other not, one tells me a royal gamma and the other not, so any advise would be great.

I have a 25gal FOWLR setup which includes 25 pds of LR, aragonite sand, 10 blue leg hermit, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 large mexican turbo snail (I believe), 1 small snail, 1 sea urchin and 1 feather duster.

[JM]

I don't think you will have a problem with either. A clown might do a little better, but personally i think either is ok.

[nemo-rox]

Thanks! My kids will be delighted if I can put a Clown in there! Do you recommend 1 or 2 Clown? Is there a preference?

[melosu58]

If you do get two make sure it is a mated pair. I have two different clowns and they fight like cats and dogs. I have a 125 also.

[roka64]

Wrasses can be a pain to more intimidated fish, like royal grammas. I would definitely go with a clown, over the RG.

[lando]

I do not see a problem with either clowns or a royal gramma (I love them both). As mentioned, try to get a mated pair of clowns for best success. Wrasses can be a bit tempermental, but sixlines are fairly tolerant. Other good options are a purple firefish, some dwarf angels. I would look into getting some more LR, maybe another 15lbs.

[Ziggy953]

Lando makes a good point...a little more LR and a mated pair of clowns and you will have a nice little tank going! The purple firefish is a jumper as can be the wrasse...some egg crate over the tank will keep them in and allow the light get into the tank.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by lando

... Other good options are a purple firefish, some dwarf angels.

Dwarf angels?

I think folks are misreading nemo-rox's setup. If I'm not misreading something - which could possibly be the case since I don't seem to be firing on all cylinders today with the time change and all - he's got a 25 gallon tank. Twenty-five.

Sooo... I was thinking with that size tank that TWO clowns and a wrasse might even be pushing it without a serious bump up on the amount of live rock and the addition of a skimmer?

[Ziggy953]

I did notice the 25gallons....I think other thought he said 125. You could get away with the wrasse and clown in the tank...

[nemo-rox]

Thanks for all the replies and here goes my many questions....(I have only started this hobby in December - so my appologize for all the ?).

LR - I will look into getting more in the tank, but this would obviously mean moving things around...Can I move the rocks around, with exception of course to the rock the feather duster is attached to. I have included a picture of my tank.

Skimmer - my tank currently has a SeaClone 100 protein skimmer + my little aquaclear 200 is this sufficient?

Fish - I thought that Clowns needed to be in pairs. So if I can only put one that will be OK. How many fish would you recommend in a 25 gallons? the LFS around home says 4.

Anyone in this forum from the Gatineau, Quebec region that can recommend a good LFS?[/img]

[melosu58]

Yeah Kurt thanks for catching that. I dont know how I missed that. 25 gallon it is.

[MT79]

Originally Posted by nemo-rox

Skimmer - my tank currently has a SeaClone 100 protein skimmer + my little aquaclear 200 is this sufficient?

Is it FOWLR or reef? A reef tank, with soft and LPS coral, should have a minimum of 10x per hour turnover. 15-20x per hour would be better. If you have a decent amount of water movement in the tank, and have no PH problems your probably alright. There are much better skimmers than the seaclone. IME the annoyance at the amount of micro-bubbles they produce is not worth the little it removes from the tank. JMO

I thought that Clowns needed to be in pairs

No, they will do just fine on their own in an aquarium.

How many fish would you recommend in a 25 gallons

Depends on the size of the fish, and your setup. The general rule of thumb for SW is 1" of adult fish per 5 gal aquarium water. A clown and the wrasse would put you at the limit, or close to it. HTH

[nemo-rox]

Skimmer - Must admit that equipment is limited around my place...SeaClone was the only one offered to me and the only brand on the shelf. I seem to have a good water movement and at time the sand even moves...so I am assuming this is enough water movement.

LR - If I add another 15 pds will I be OK if I eventually go with corals? My current setup is FOWLR with 25pds of LR.

I am looking into changing my light setup to allow me to add some corals. I am currently looking for good prices as my LFS is offering me the lights at $400 cdn. Quite expensive in my area! Is it that much in the States?

[roka64]

I rarely buy dry goods from my LFS. I like drsfosterandsmith.com. I generally wait till I have a nice list and just order it all at once.

Originally Posted by nemo-rox

LR - If I add another 15 pds will I be OK if I eventually go with corals? My current setup is FOWLR with 25pds of LR.

Sure thing!

[nemo-rox]

Thanks I will look into drs foster and smith.

LR - Can I move it around to fit in the additional 15pds?

Do you know of any anemone or coral that do not require the special lighting? my current aquarium only has one fluorescent.

[roka64]

You can move your LR aournd. I think a lot of us move stuff around or totally re-aquascape at least once.
For an anenmoe, you should have a mature tank of about 6-12months. I'm not sure on the corals (I'll let the expert reefers answer this).
What is the wattage of your light?

[nemo-rox]

I believe it is 20W.

[newfound77951]

I think the clown vs gramma debate has been settled anyway but just thought I'd add my 2 cents about adding a gramma to a tank with an established 6 line wrasse.....don't! I just did that and the gramma did not fare well at all. I think the gramma (or any other quiet fish) would need to be in there first before the 6 line or at the very least all the LR should be rearranged to break up the wrasse's territory. My wrasse took a big bite out of the gramma within 2 minutes of the gramma being in the tank. The gramma made it but is still hiding after almost a week and only occasionally peeks out from under his rock to look for food (he is eating which is great).

[MT79]

The gramma made it but is still hiding after almost a week and

You need to remove him. The harassment most likely will not stop, and this will not end well for the gramma.

[nemo-rox]

Reading every tread, does this mean I would be better removing the sixline and adding a clown and gramma? Starting to worry that the wrasse may be too territorial.. Certainly don't want to pay $30cdn for a clown to have the poor thing killed...