Fish additions to 50 gal clown tank

[Afkomjorgen]

I upgraded to a 48 gallon w/ 14gal sump about 6 months ago.

Everything is going well except that I can’t keep my nutrient load high enough for my sofies and macro algae.
I have leathers,Duncan’s,macros, a scroll coral, and a frogspawn.

Current fish/inverts:
2 ocellaris clowns ( 3 yrs old )
1 cleaner shrimp
a bunch of snails/hermits

My main concern is to add reef-safe and primarily peaceful fish to the tank.

Im planning on adding a combination of these fish below. Any red flags or bad match-ups?

Yellow coris wrasse
Fairy wrasse
Jester goby ( maybe 2 )
Bi color or Tail spot blenny

** added
Flame goby?
Flame back angel? ( never had an angel)

Any other ideas for fish?

thank you!

 

[Evo R]

More fish bio load will definitely help keep your nitrates up.

Is your tanked closed at the top as wrasses are jumpers.

Skip the bi color blenny as I've heard and read many story of them turning out to be coral munchers. Well some of then. Plus the tail spot is prettier. But your tank is too small for more than one blenny. Alternatively look at a Golden midas blenny. A real character !!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Beautiful tank!
I’m a huge firefish and royal gramma fan, so I’d always recommend those.
Court jester gobies look great, try to get captive because they eat better in tanks.
Shrimpgoby and pistol shrimp pairs are lots of fun.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

Beautiful tank!
I’m a huge firefish and royal gramma fan, so I’d always recommend those.
Court jester gobies look great, try to get captive because they eat better in tanks.
Shrimpgoby and pistol shrimp pairs are lots of fun.

Thank you very much!
Ever since I heard that pistol shrimps can punch tank glass and cause leaks I’ve avoided them. Is that really an uncommon occurrence? They do seem really cool.

I hadn’t really considered fire fish, but I do need some small additions. Also, LFS said royal gramma will be too aggressively territorial. ‍I had my eyes on one and have considered the Dottieback instead.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

More fish bio load will definitely help keep your nitrates up.

Is your tanked closed at the top as wrasses are jumpers.

Skip the bi color blenny as I've heard and read many story of them turning out to be coral munchers. Well some of then. Plus the tail spot is prettier. But your tank is too small for more than one blenny. Alternatively look at a Golden midas blenny. A real character !!

We have a glass lid that has just one hole at the front for feeding that is easily covered. Thanks!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Thank you very much!
Ever since I heard that pistol shrimps can punch tank glass and cause leaks I’ve avoided them. Is that really an uncommon occurrence? They do seem really cool.

I hadn’t really considered fire fish, but I do need some small additions. Also, LFS said royal gramma will be too aggressively territorial. ‍I had my eyes on one and have considered the Dottieback instead.

Dotties are on average meaner than grammas. Both that I’ve had were peaceful, they can drive a fish away but generally are all show.
Pistols don’t break glass, the one your thinking of are mantises (and even then breaking aquarium glass is more of a myth). Pistol shrimps will snap their claws and shoot a jet of water, as opposed to the punching from a mantis.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

Dotties are on average meaner than grammas. Both that I’ve had were peaceful, they can drive a fish away but generally are all show.
Pistols don’t break glass, the one your thinking of are mantises (and even then breaking aquarium glass is more of a myth). Pistol shrimps will snap their claws and shoot a jet of water, as opposed to the punching from a mantis.

Oh dang awesome! I’m definitely going to get one then!
Good to know. I guess all I could do is try a gramma. Would that be the fish to add last then?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Oh dang awesome! I’m definitely going to get one then!
Good to know. I guess all I could do is try a gramma. Would that be the fish to add last then?

Assuming nothing is gonna be meaner than it, then that’s probably the best bet.
TBH I’d expect the meanest fish in the tank to wind up being the clowns (though in bigger tanks they aren’t so mean, so you should be good).

 

[Afkomjorgen]

Okay… so this is my new thoughts.

current:
2 clowns
1 cleaner shrimp

new:
1 coral beauty dwarf angel
1 yellow coris wrasse
1 fairy wrasse
1 black line blenny
1 yellow watchman goby
1 pistol shrimp
- more inverts in general but how worried for my inverts should I be with these wrasses?

any tips/concerns?

 

[Sharkbait19]

I don’t know much about wrasses, so I can’t comment well there.
I know Angels are hit or miss with corals, lots of swimming room should help.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

I’m thinking these wrasses.
I’m concerned about the yellow coris eating my shrimp.
Mcoskers flasher wrasse

And maybe the red velvet fairy

 

[i cant think]

I’m thinking these wrasses.
I’m concerned about the yellow coris eating my shrimp.
Mcoskers flasher wrasse

And maybe the red velvet fairy

Avoid flashers, they dash into things in smaller tanks (4’ minimum for those guys IMO). If your tank is 3’ then you can have most of the smaller fairy wrasses - Yellow “Coris” wrasses (NOT a true coris, this fish belongs to the genus Halichoeres and true coris’ belong to the genus Coris) are reef safe and algae safe so there shouldn’t be an issue there. Fairy wrasses are also reef safe however I’d avoid any that get bigger than 4”. The wrasses I recommend are:
- Any lubbocki complex
- Lunate fairy wrasse
- Most leopard wrasses (My personal favourite is the black leopard)
- Hooded fairy wrasse
- Red velvet (Maybe)
These wrasses need 3’ long tanks though.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

Avoid flashers, they dash into things in smaller tanks (4’ minimum for those guys IMO). If your tank is 3’ then you can have most of the smaller fairy wrasses - Yellow “Coris” wrasses (NOT a true coris, this fish belongs to the genus Halichoeres and true coris’ belong to the genus Coris) are reef safe and algae safe so there shouldn’t be an issue there. Fairy wrasses are also reef safe however I’d avoid any that get bigger than 4”. The wrasses I recommend are:
- Any lubbocki complex
- Lunate fairy wrasse
- Most leopard wrasses (My personal favourite is the black leopard)
- Hooded fairy wrasse
- Red velvet (Maybe)
These wrasses need 3’ long tanks though.

Will the yellow coris potentially go after my shrimp ( cleaner and pistol ) though? I plan to feed him well of course .
My tank is 36” !
Red velvet, why maybe? Size of tank?
I had not considered leopard wrasse. They eat cyclopods and such, right?
Also if all of the potentially well-suited fish for my tank are from the fairy group, should I only get one ( provided that I don’t get a leopard or coris) ?

 

[i cant think]

Will the yellow coris potentially go after my shrimp ( cleaner and pistol ) though? I plan to feed him well of course .
My tank is 36” !
Red velvet, why maybe? Size of tank?
I had not considered leopard wrasse. They eat cyclopods and such, right?

It’s more aggression over tank size with wrasses. Don’t get me wrong tank size matters but if you get an aggressive one it may not go down too well. The small Halichoeres (Iridis, chrysus ect…) don’t go for CUC. Maybe the odd snail but that’s only if another fish pecks at it normally.

 

[Rtaylor]

Yellow coris wrasse will leave snails/crabs alone. It also isn’t likely to mess with those shrimp.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

It’s more aggression over tank size with wrasses. Don’t get me wrong tank size matters but if you get an aggressive one it may not go down too well. The small Halichoeres (Iridis, chrysus ect…) don’t go for CUC. Maybe the odd snail but that’s only if another fish pecks at it normally.

Would it be ok to add the wrasses and the dwarf angel at the same time?

how much of the leopard wrasses’ diet is dependent on copepods and small crustaceans ( also what does this mean)?

 

[i cant think]

Would it be ok to add the wrasses and the dwarf angel at the same time?

how much of the leopard wrasses’ diet is dependent on copepods and small crustaceans ( also what does this mean)?

Small crustaceans basically mean anything like live brine shrimp, Copepods and Amphipods. I find when they aren’t eating frozen then the rest of the day they’re scavenging the rocks for pods. There are some things to look out for when picking a leopard wrasse such as:
- Internal parasites
- Feeding?
- How long it’s been in the shop (Idealy 1-2 weeks is wanted)

The wrasses and Angel can go in at the same time yes.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

Small crustaceans basically mean anything like live brine shrimp, Copepods and Amphipods. I find when they aren’t eating frozen then the rest of the day they’re scavenging the rocks for pods. There are some things to look out for when picking a leopard wrasse such as:
- Internal parasites
- Feeding?
- How long it’s been in the shop (Idealy 1-2 weeks is wanted)

The wrasses and Angel can go in at the same time yes.

I have an arrangement with my lfs to order my fish and qt for 2 weeks for me. I’ll have them feed in front of me before I take them home. Female leopard wrasses are beautiful! Do they tend to become males/ are they harder to care for?
Thank you so much for all your wisdom. These are my first marine fish besides the clowns although it’s a 3 year established tank.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

New plan. As in love with wrasses as I am, I started to realize how overly complex I was getting with fish stocking choices and getting ahead of myself. I really wanted the exotic and the beautiful, but I’m worried I’m not ready to care for them.

we’ve reconsidered and decided we want to try to have 100% captive bred beginner type fish.

with that in mind our new stocking choice is :
1 cb dwarf coral beauty angel
1 cb yellow watchman
1 cb orchid dottyback
1 cb canary blenny
1 tiger pistol shrimp

I think with the space this should be ok with the clowns. I’ll spend the extra money on developing my refugium skills

 

[i cant think]

I have an arrangement with my lfs to order my fish and qt for 2 weeks for me. I’ll have them feed in front of me before I take them home. Female leopard wrasses are beautiful! Do they tend to become males/ are they harder to care for?
Thank you so much for all your wisdom. These are my first marine fish besides the clowns although it’s a 3 year established tank.

The only thing that makes these hard is internal parasites, stress and feeding (Basically the same as the harder Halichoeres wrasses such as iridis).