Adding second of same species - Blue Gudgeon

[erm0715]

Thinking about adding a second Blue Gudgeon. LFS only had one and thought he was a pretty stunning blue and good community fish. I did some further reading after brining him home and see they like being in pairs. Is there an issue adding a second at a later date? I recall some fish do fine in pairs but only if added at the same time. Adding stocking below in the event adding a second is a bad idea from a stocking standpoint beyond any potential aggression of adding a second of the same species at a later time.

I'm stocking a 120g and have probably gone overboad on community fish. I'm trying to wait on the more expensive purchases until I feel the system is aged and stable enough to justify. Future stocking plans before the community splurge were 1 tang (white tail bristletooth, 2-3 wrasse (leopard, melenarus, maybe iridis), maybe 1 foxface though I may have blown by my capacity for those now. I'm aiming for a mixed reef at some point but not rushing corals and tried to pick coral friendly options.

Currently:
5 chromis
4 ocellaris (1 plain, 1 misbar, 2 snowflake; I have come to understand this was likely a poor decision, though they play well for now)
2 banggai cardinals
2 firefish
1 long nose hawk
1 diamond watchman
1 blue gudgeon
1 valentini puffer (also potentially regrettable but I do like him)
astreas
bluelegs
2 tiger conchs

 

[HankstankXXXL750]

Does your diamond watchman give them any grief? I don’t think they are a problem adding to an existing. Mine hide all the time, and I found out that was kind of their thing.

 

[erm0715]

Does your diamond watchman give them any grief? I don’t think they are a problem adding to an existing. Mine hide all the time, and I found out that was kind of their thing.

So to be fair, I added him Friday and today was the first time I saw him come out at feeding time. Still skiddish and darts back under the rocks if anyone gets close.

I'm not 100% this is still the case but that same location is where the diamond watchman did reside or still resides as well as the two firefish if spooked.

Update: I can confirm they share the same entrance under the rock work. Got spooked and swam right by the diamond watchman down under.

 

[HankstankXXXL750]

I only ask as I have had some issues with a starry blenny and possibly with the sand sifter I have with them.

 

[erm0715]

I only ask as I have had some issues with a starry blenny and possibly with the sand sifter I have with them.

Yeah I could see that with a lawnmower or starry. I do have a lawnmower in a smaller tank but he's been a model citizen (as far as I know of).

 

[Tired]

You should probably take out your two least favorite clownfish now. They're going to start fighting badly when the dominant female matures, and it's better to remove them before they get beat up.

A fish that's been in your tank for, what, three days? likely isn't established enough to get territorial. You could go get and add another, since you've apparently already decided not to quarantine.

 

[erm0715]

You should probably take out your two least favorite clownfish now. They're going to start fighting badly when the dominant female matures, and it's better to remove them before they get beat up.

A fish that's been in your tank for, what, three days? likely isn't established enough to get territorial. You could go get and add another, since you've apparently already decided not to quarantine.

Thanks, I figured that’s the case on the clowns. I ask on the blue gudgeon based on I’m not certain when I’d get the second one so it’ll be more then the three days.

Quarantining will happen if/when I get into things I worry more for financially but for the time being it doesn’t outweigh the difficulty in doing so. I say that not having tons of money but from having a three year old and limited space he can’t get to. I have an ato reservoir for the smaller tank I had to put in a clothes hamper and bungee shut and still find toys floating in there occasionally when I refill with rodi.

not two weeks ago I found his sock in a display tank…

 

[HankstankXXXL750]

Yeah I could see that with a lawnmower or starry. I do have a lawnmower in a smaller tank but he's been a model citizen (as far as I know of).

My lawnmower have been model citizens never had a problem, but my starry acts like ghengis khan lol.

 

[Tired]

The thing is, you either have to commit to quarantining or not quarantining. 17 fish that have been through the supply chain are pretty much guaranteed to have brought something in. Observational quarantine is still a good idea in future to catch the really nasty fast-killing pathogens, but you're likely to have ich or something else already knocking around in there. It's potentially workable if you're careful, but you run the risk of a normally tolerable stressor weakening fish enough to let a disease take hold, or something latching into a new (and inevitably stressed) fish and spreading from there. Best make sure you're stocked up on nutritious foods to keep everything's immune system in top shape.
(Which should, of course, be done in any case.)

 

[erm0715]

The thing is, you either have to commit to quarantining or not quarantining. 17 fish that have been through the supply chain are pretty much guaranteed to have brought something in. Observational quarantine is still a good idea in future to catch the really nasty fast-killing pathogens, but you're likely to have ich or something else already knocking around in there. It's potentially workable if you're careful, but you run the risk of a normally tolerable stressor weakening fish enough to let a disease take hold, or something latching into a new (and inevitably stressed) fish and spreading from there. Best make sure you're stocked up on nutritious foods to keep everything's immune system in top shape.
(Which should, of course, be done in any case.)

I certainly agree and going forward quarantining will be the practice once I determine a safe method (kid proof) to do it. I got out of this hobby years ago but keeping it simple, life changes last year led me to needing a hobby and to be fair I likely didn't have the patience needed at the time. I started with a Prostar 60 and rushed it, though it wasn't a matter of fish disease but running GFO and a skimmer too soon during the ugly phase to eventually zero out and let Dino's take hold. The Prostar is doing fine these days. I'm trying to take a slower approach with this system (haven't even bought coral lighting) but sometimes my rationale isn't foolproof justifying skipping quarantine vs cost of stocking what I have now. I do visually inspect, ask to see them eat, monitor them etc. at the LFS but you're absolutely right that there are things not obvious in such a short observation period. I feed Spirunlina Mysyis frozen cubes, and TDO chromaboost daily, live brine when I visit the LFS and frozen (thawed) raw shrimp to the puffer every other day.