Adding more fish to established tank

[steallife904]

Been in hobby for year and over the past year i really focused more on coral. I have a 150 gallon tank but only have 6 or 7 fish. Decided i want more but unsure what would be good to add. I wanted some schooling fish and was about to get 5 chromes but have heard they don't last long or do well in tanks which is why they are cheap. About 3 years ago i tried anthias but they ended up getting a hole in there side and dies (5 of them) was told it was possibly a parasite or infection anthias can get and if its in tank it will probably happen again if i ever put any in??? not sure about this but never tried again. Can anyone advise on the chromes or the anthias?

I have 2 clowns, 1 starry blend, 1 banggai cardinal, 1 larger melanurus wrasse, red hawk fish, 1 royal gramma (just put in)

Because of my melanurus wrasse its hard to put other wrasse in, he has been aggressive to any other i have tried to add

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

i would highly recommend the chromis..
anthias you have to feed much more than your current fishload requires. anthias are always hungry
mine get fed 4 times a day and honestly makes the tank require lots more filtration than if it just had chromis

 

[i cant think]

Been in hobby for year and over the past year i really focused more on coral. I have a 150 gallon tank but only have 6 or 7 fish. Decided i want more but unsure what would be good to add. I wanted some schooling fish and was about to get 5 chromes but have heard they don't last long or do well in tanks which is why they are cheap. About 3 years ago i tried anthias but they ended up getting a hole in there side and dies (5 of them) was told it was possibly a parasite or infection anthias can get and if its in tank it will probably happen again if i ever put any in??? not sure about this but never tried again. Can anyone advise on the chromes or the anthias?

I have 2 clowns, 1 starry blend, 1 banggai cardinal, 1 larger melanurus wrasse, red hawk fish, 1 royal gramma (just put in)

Because of my melanurus wrasse its hard to put other wrasse in, he has been aggressive to any other i have tried to add

I would trade in your Melanurus and go for another Halichoeres then get a nice gang of wrasse as they add colour and activity into any tank

 

[mtraylor]

My first suggestion, is no matter what you do. Qt your new fish before entry. No matter what you end up getn.

Personally I would stay clear of blue/green chromis. You can buy them in group, but a dominant fish without proper tank layout will eventually k I ll all the other chromis and you will be left with one dominant aggressive fish that picks on other fish. Been there done that. Had one that made several prize fish jump to death.

Anyway. Anthias get a bad rap of having to be fed all the time because that is what is written on description when purchased. Like ....likes to be fed 4 to 5 times a day.

Well let me tell you a secret. All of my fish would like to be fed 4 to 5 times a day. They are always begging for food. Lol.

I have a school of anthias and love them. The tank gets fed twice a day. That's all the fish. No issues.

Now that being said. Getn the small school of anthias I have has been tough. Several boughts with uronema. These were purchased qt fish too! Very difficult disease to deal with. My recommendation is, if you want anthias. If you Buy them qt already or not. They still need to be qt for a couple months for uronema. That way you can treat immediately to mitigate the spread of disease and decimation of their population. I found methalone blue was the key to success for me.

Good luck

Put them in qt tank

 

[vlangel]

When I add fish to my tank with established fish, I think about what fish I want to add and add them altogether to reduce/spread out bullying.
In your tank I think a bristletooth tang would be nice and they perform a valuable service of picking nuisance algae and detritus too. Also a dwarf angelfish might be nice as well although a lot of them will pick at some coral. I have had good luck with coral beauties behaving themselves. A yellow watchman goby might be an attractive fish that hangs out on the sandbed, ( if you have sand). Some of the fanged blennies or firefish goby are good for swimming in the water column. Midas blennies are fun as they swim and perch.

 

[steallife904]

I would trade in your Melanurus and go for another Halichoeres then get a nice gang of wrasse as they add colour and activity into any tank

i could try trap but he would be a nightmare to try and catch! lol

 

[steallife904]

When I add fish to my tank with established fish, I think about what fish I want to add and add them altogether to reduce/spread out bullying.
In your tank I think a bristletooth tang would be nice and they perform a valuable service of picking nuisance algae and detritus too. Also a dwarf angelfish might be nice as well although a lot of them will pick at some coral. I have had good luck with coral beauties behaving themselves. A yellow watchman goby might be an attractive fish that hangs out on the sandbed, ( if you have sand). Some of the fanged blennies or firefish goby are good for swimming in the water column. Midas blennies are fun as they swim and perch.

was thinking of doing this! will be expensive though but i could give it a shot, just drop 5 or 6 fish in together

 

[vlangel]

was thinking of doing this! will be expensive though but i could give it a shot, just drop 5 or 6 fish in together

I know what you mean about expense. My tank is not as large as yours (only 56 gallons ) so I never add more than 3 fish at one time. You could add them 3 at a time which is enough to still spread out bullying. Then repeat when your budget has recovered. If the 3 fish quarantine and or acclimate together in a sump (which is how I do it) then they may find safety in each other even if they are different species.

I also add multiple fish at one time because it reduces the amount of times that possible disease is introduced to the tank. And it reduces how often I go through the quarantine/acclimation process which is stressful on me as well as the fish, LOL.

Right now I have 10 fish and that is a nice number for my display. I have 5 larger fish and 5 smaller fish and each has a name. I plan to just enjoy them as they are.