Stocking scheme for 36 gallon bowfront

[Austriaguy]

I just got a 36 gallon bowfront tank. I know I want a clown fish. Thinking about a Midas Benny( any opinions on this?). I want to add a bubble anenome after the tank is mature and I'm experienced enough. I want to add some shrimp, snails and a tuxedo urchin.... I'm still not sure about all this so anything you guys have to say is appreciated. Star fish??

[bonniewoodruff]

I love the sand sifters! I am mid cycle on a new tank so I can have one(otherwise it ends up a snack for the snowflake). I plan on clowns and a dragonet. Good Luck!

[obscurereef]

I just bought a large midas blenny and even though the min. tank size is 30 gallons I don't think a fish that grows 5" should be in such a small IMO. They are even known to be more aggressive in smaller tanks, so consider that. It's prob. rated for such a small tank size because they hide, but they swim a lot and only go into a rock crevice for a couple seconds then back out.

Some fish ideas would be purple firefish (great vibrant colors), hectors goby (buddies w/ firefish and cleans sand) and/or yasha goby, some type of flasher wrasse like red tail flasher wrasse. You have to get cleaner shrimp! Put your hand in the tank and it will try to clean your hand. Fire shrimp look great, but they hide b/c they like low lighting. Mine only comes out at night and feeding time, but both are excellent CUC members(eating leftover food). I have a common serpent star (less aggressive than brittle stars) and he always hides too, but it's really cool to watch him eat. Serpent or brittle stars are great if a fish disappears (hides and dies) and you can't get to it. They'll most likely be the first ones to make a meal of the dead fish before it decays and eventually turns into more nitrates. Nassarius snails are also great for the same job and pop up out of the sand at the slightest smell of dead seafood. Never had experience with urchins, but I read they eat algae including coralline algae which many people like the appearance of.

[Austriaguy]

Thank you for all of the great ideas. I really like the looks of the flasher wrasse, but they are expensive and I'm not quite confidant of my fish keeping abilities yet. Do they require any really high maintenance food or anything? Also, I was wondering on the rule of inches per gallons of water I can only have seven inches of fish. Do invertebrates play a big number into this equation too? Thank you.

[obscurereef]

Liveaquaria has them at about $40-45, but my LFS usually sells these at about $30 so it's similar pricing to other fish, but it would be a large investment for a first fish so something cheaper would be better . Same feeding requirements as most fish eating flakes, pellets, frozen food. I read that it's 2-5 inches per gallon of fish. Thats a large stretch and just for a general idea. It really depends on how much waste the fish produces and how much you'll have to feed it, but the gallon per inch rule is an okay way of knowing how much fish you want. Inverts as in shrimp don't really count that much since they don't swim and are peaceful, not fighting for territory. Crabs, snails, feather dusters, clams, etc. can be numerous and won't count for the inches per gallon of water rule.