From your knowledge and experience what fish would be compatible with what we have.

[TrishK]

We have an 11 month old 180 gal reef tank with lots of variety of corals. Our water is stable... we have quite a few pineapple sponge. UV, attached refugium. Hope to get a Mandarin in about a year....dosed DT with around 10,000 and growing them in the refug...it is still very new though.

Thinking ahead to new fish to add eventually.....we currently have:

5-6” Yellow Tang

Watchman Goby (these two have been together since the beginning)

Royal Gramma

2 regular Clowns

Lawnmower Blenny

Sea Hare

3 cleaner shrimp

A few hermit crabs (5 or 6 maybe)

Many Nassarius snails

1 brittle star fish

In QT we have 3 little pj cardinals and about a 2” fairy wrasse

Any recommendations? I would like a few Banggai Cardinals but both times I purchased them from saltwaterfish they died in QT...and they’re the ones I’d be buying from because I have a $60 credit. So don’t really want to buy them from there a third time. Thankfully last fish we got from there all survived.

What do you think? I don’t want coral nippers or aggression.

 

[Gablami]

You have so many options it’s hard to know where to begin. The only comment I have is that you have one tang, and room for more, yet you say you don’t want any aggression. Aggression is a relative term. Things can start aggressive and calm down. But zero aggression is also something that can really limit your joy of a reef because you can’t have any other fish. Aggression may be a subtle as flaring fins some mild chasing. And adding any fish to an establish big yellow tang lead to some temporary aggression. Think of aggression as more like establishing a pecking order. It’s natural, and not necessarily a bad thing. Once it’s established, it’s usually calms down a lot but sometimes it can flare up once in awhile when someone one feels confident and wants to test the pecking order a bit.

There are a few fish you might want to avoid, like the classic aggressive tangs, like clown, sohal, acanthurus tangs, or zebrasoma since you’ve already got a yellow. But beyond that, you can add almost anything your heart desires. What fish catch your eye?

 

[TrishK]

I guess I should’ve said that mild aggression is fine...my tang is pretty laid back and a nervous nelly. I’ve never seen him even chase anything other than a sailfin tang we had that died of strange illness many months ago. We ran the tank fallow for 78 days just to be safe after that. I would like another Reef safe wrasse, green blue chromis and some banggai cardinals.

I like the Eightline wrasse, yellowfin flasher wrasse or McCoskers wrasse
I’ll probably get a pair of fire fish gobies. Had one for quite awhile and kept telling hubby he needed to get a cover for the top and he dragged his feet and the poor baby carpet dived last week. We have a temp cover for now and materials coming Tuesday to make it secure. Well before our ruby head wrasse gets outs of QT

 

[lpsouth1978]

Perhaps a Foxface if you want another larger fish. There are also dartfish, chromis, blennies, basslets, and a plethora of wrasses to choose from. I am a huge fan of flasher and fairy wrasses, but I tend to avoid the sixline, eightline, and similar, as the sixline is one of the MEANEST fish in the hobby, IMO!

 

[TrishK]

So since my ruby head is a Cirrhilabrus I should stay clear of all Cirrhilabrus‘ is that the best plan?

 

[TrishK]

Perhaps a Foxface if you want another larger fish. There are also dartfish, chromis, blennies, basslets, and a plethora of wrasses to choose from. I am a huge fan of flasher and fairy wrasses, but I tend to avoid the sixline, eightline, and similar, as the sixline is one of the MEANEST fish in the hobby, IMO!

Would my lawnmower blenny and royal gramma get on well with other Blennies and basslets?

 

[mort]

So since my ruby head is a Cirrhilabrus I should stay clear of all Cirrhilabrus‘ is that the best plan?

That very much depends on which one you want to add. There are a few monsters in that family but there are also lots that would happily live together without problems in a 180g.
If by eight line you mean the fairy wrasse kind then it should be fine mixed with what you have and any of your considered flasher wrasse above but if you mean the pseudocheilinus eight line then they are aggressive monsters as ipsouth mentions above.

Be careful with multiple firefish as unless they are a mated pair they might try and kill each other. You may have enough room for them to coexist even if they don't get on but as they mature you can see problems.

With the proposed wrasse and firefish you should have plenty of colour, interest and movement so I'd go with that as a base plan and see what areas you are missing activity in once you have them. Non of those will really limit anything you want to add after as they are all generally peaceful.

 

[OrionN]

It is best to have several fairy wrasse instead of just one. Follow @evolved chart here to guide as to what Fairy Wrasse to add
evolved's chart/thread regarding Cirrhilabrus Wrasses
You probably don't want an Eightline Wrasse, Pseudocheilinus octotaenia. They are aggressive and not a beautiful wrasse. Rather you may want to get a Eightline Flasher wrasse, which is a completely different species of wrasse altogether.
Ruby Head Fairy can get fairly large, and somewhat aggressive, but should not be too much of a problem, as long as you acclimate the new wrasse well and avoid Fairy wrasse in the same clade. Please refer to evolved's chart.
If you choose to add wrasses, make sure you have a tight fitting net top. Wrasse often dart up and jump out if you dont have a top. Glass top can and will result in injury. They often have spinal injury striking the hard cover and meet their demise.

Do you have a good number of rocks and form a good reef structure? Picture would be great.

My recommendation from personal experiences:
I would add another tang or two, smaller species.
Harem of Dwarf angels
One larger angel, I like Regal Angels
A few more Wrasses.

Here is a Red Sea Eightline Flasher Angel that you may want

Many reefers/tang experts does not recommended tangs from the same genus, but I never have problem with a Purple and Yellow tangs together. I line Powder Blue tang, but they may get too big for your tank. A Bristle tooth tang should be fine like a Tomoni or Kole tang would be great in your tank.

I love Flame angels. A harem of three would be perfect in your tank:

Regal Angel

Then Wrasses and Wrasses
Flasher and Fairy wrasse do not need a sand bed but some other family of wrasses may need sand bed so research your choice before you get them.
Leopard Wrasses, I have Black and Meleagris

There are a numbers of beautiful wrasses that I, and many other people posted beautiful pictures of. See this thread:
Wrasse lovers

Good luck and good hunting.

 

[TrishK]

It is best to have several fairy wrasse instead of just one. Follow @evolved chart here to guide as to what Fairy Wrasse to add
evolved's chart/thread regarding Cirrhilabrus Wrasses
You probably don't want an Eightline Wrasse, Pseudocheilinus octotaenia. They are aggressive and not a beautiful wrasse. Rather you may want to get a Eightline Flasher wrasse, which is a completely different species of wrasse altogether.
Ruby Head Fairy can get fairly large, and somewhat aggressive, but should not be too much of a problem, as long as you acclimate the new wrasse well and avoid Fairy wrasse in the same clade. Please refer to evolved's chart.
If you choose to add wrasses, make sure you have a tight fitting net top. Wrasse often dart up and jump out if you dont have a top. Glass top can and will result in injury. They often have spinal injury striking the hard cover and meet their demise.

Do you have a good number of rocks and form a good reef structure? Picture would be great.

My recommendation from personal experiences:
I would add another tang or two, smaller species.
Harem of Dwarf angels
One larger angel, I like Regal Angels
A few more Wrasses.

Here is a Red Sea Eightline Flasher Angel that you may want

Many reefers/tang experts does not recommended tangs from the same genus, but I never have problem with a Purple and Yellow tangs together. I line Powder Blue tang, but they may get too big for your tank. A Bristle tooth tang should be fine like a Tomoni or Kole tang would be great in your tank.

I love Flame angels. A harem of three would be perfect in your tank:

Regal Angel

Then Wrasses and Wrasses
Flasher and Fairy wrasse do not need a sand bed but some other family of wrasses may need sand bed so research your choice before you get them.
Leopard Wrasses, I have Black and Meleagris

There are a numbers of beautiful wrasses that I, and many other people posted beautiful pictures of. See this thread:
Wrasse lovers

Good luck and good hunting.

Thanks so much. I did mean the eight line flasher wrasse. Several you mentioned I have been eyeing. Thanks for the suggestions!! Here is a picture. It is 6’ x 2 x 2 built into our bar in our basement. Above it are 3 doors so you access the fish and there is access to the tank through the storage room with a walk behind where all the equipment is. We have a 1/4” square material (similar to screen) wrapped around and zipped tied tightly around 1/2”-3//4” plastic pipe to fit each 3 sections of the top so it’s a tight fit and fits right over the top of the overflows even. Hubby was using egg crate before and I told him I thought our 4” diamond goby could get through the holes and he swore he couldn’t...well he did won’t be getting another one of those, he was making a mess but my heart breaks thinking of him dying on the floor.

I turned the light in on in the space behind the aquarium to take the pic. All the fish and coral are still sleeping.

 

[TrishK]

That very much depends on which one you want to add. There are a few monsters in that family but there are also lots that would happily live together without problems in a 180g.
If by eight line you mean the fairy wrasse kind then it should be fine mixed with what you have and any of your considered flasher wrasse above but if you mean the pseudocheilinus eight line then they are aggressive monsters as ipsouth mentions above.

Be careful with multiple firefish as unless they are a mated pair they might try and kill each other. You may have enough room for them to coexist even if they don't get on but as they mature you can see problems.

With the proposed wrasse and firefish you should have plenty of colour, interest and movement so I'd go with that as a base plan and see what areas you are missing activity in once you have them. Non of those will really limit anything you want to add after as they are all generally peaceful.

Thank you...I thought so about the Fire goby. We had one but hubby was slow about putting a proper cover on the tank and he jumped ship even though we have had him about 8 weeks and he had never tried to jump before. I had read on another site about a pair but I think you're right and I'd stick with just one. The one we had was sleeping with our watchman goby the first night we added him to the tank out of QT lol

 

[evolved]

It is best to have several fairy wrasse instead of just one. Follow @evolved chart here to guide as to what Fairy Wrasse to add
evolved's chart/thread regarding Cirrhilabrus Wrasses
You probably don't want an Eightline Wrasse, Pseudocheilinus octotaenia. They are aggressive and not a beautiful wrasse. Rather you may want to get a Eightline Flasher wrasse, which is a completely different species of wrasse altogether.
Ruby Head Fairy can get fairly large, and somewhat aggressive, but should not be too much of a problem, as long as you acclimate the new wrasse well and avoid Fairy wrasse in the same clade. Please refer to evolved's chart.
If you choose to add wrasses, make sure you have a tight fitting net top. Wrasse often dart up and jump out if you dont have a top. Glass top can and will result in injury. They often have spinal injury striking the hard cover and meet their demise.

Thanks for the mention!
But before considering the Cirrhilabrus chart, I'd suggest you read this one:

All About Reef Safe Wrasses in Aquaria

Introduction My name is Hunter and I am a wrasse addict. Admitting such is the first step to buying another wrasse, I think. Wrasses are not only my passion, but my niche in this hobby since 2010. My tank is full of them, and unfortunately...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[vetteguy53081]

Additional tang such as gem, purple or achilles. Wrasse- one that will protect from flatworms and excessive bristleworms. Dwarf angel- Potters or rusty.

 

[TrishK]

Thanks for the mention!
But before considering the Cirrhilabrus chart, I'd suggest you read this one:

All About Reef Safe Wrasses in Aquaria

Introduction My name is Hunter and I am a wrasse addict. Admitting such is the first step to buying another wrasse, I think. Wrasses are not only my passion, but my niche in this hobby since 2010. My tank is full of them, and unfortunately...

www.reef2reef.com

Yes I read that last night as well as the link attached to that thread as well. I'm not looking at getting another Cirrhilabrus wrasse.

 

[GSnake]

firefish gobies

 

[TrishK]

firefish gobies

Yes, had one and loved him but hubby didn't get the cover on soon enough (even though he had weeks to do so) and he jumped after a few weeks in the DT (4 weeks he was in the QT covered hood). We will get another one.

 

[TrishK]

It is best to have several fairy wrasse instead of just one. Follow @evolved chart here to guide as to what Fairy Wrasse to add
evolved's chart/thread regarding Cirrhilabrus Wrasses
You probably don't want an Eightline Wrasse, Pseudocheilinus octotaenia. They are aggressive and not a beautiful wrasse. Rather you may want to get a Eightline Flasher wrasse, which is a completely different species of wrasse altogether.
Ruby Head Fairy can get fairly large, and somewhat aggressive, but should not be too much of a problem, as long as you acclimate the new wrasse well and avoid Fairy wrasse in the same clade. Please refer to evolved's chart.
If you choose to add wrasses, make sure you have a tight fitting net top. Wrasse often dart up and jump out if you dont have a top. Glass top can and will result in injury. They often have spinal injury striking the hard cover and meet their demise.

Do you have a good number of rocks and form a good reef structure? Picture would be great.

My recommendation from personal experiences:
I would add another tang or two, smaller species.
Harem of Dwarf angels
One larger angel, I like Regal Angels
A few more Wrasses.

Here is a Red Sea Eightline Flasher Angel that you may want

Many reefers/tang experts does not recommended tangs from the same genus, but I never have problem with a Purple and Yellow tangs together. I line Powder Blue tang, but they may get too big for your tank. A Bristle tooth tang should be fine like a Tomoni or Kole tang would be great in your tank.

I love Flame angels. A harem of three would be perfect in your tank:

Regal Angel

Then Wrasses and Wrasses
Flasher and Fairy wrasse do not need a sand bed but some other family of wrasses may need sand bed so research your choice before you get them.
Leopard Wrasses, I have Black and Meleagris

There are a numbers of beautiful wrasses that I, and many other people posted beautiful pictures of. See this thread:
Wrasse lovers

Good luck and good hunting.

Okay I had a few questions for you.
As far as the tangs....since I already have a Zebra....none of those, also told to stay away from Acanthurus tangs...so would it be okay to get a Kole Tang and a Blue Tang? And if so do I QT them together (it's a 30gal) or 1 at a time? If I can only have 1 which do you recommend?

I do like the Flame Angelfish but what I read is they nip on corals...do yours do that? I have a lot of coral. Is this avoided by frequent feeds? If so how much? Do you usually do a harem when it comes to the dwarf angelfish?

The Regal Angel is gorgeous...would it do okay in a tank with a yellow tang and blue tang and possibly the angelfish and wrasses?

Wrasses...my rubyhead is a male...does that mean I have to get females in the other species? Or only if I were to get other fairies? I know there are some that change sex usually to a male and some that don't change sex at all. What is your recommendation as far as that goes since I already have a male who will likely be dominant? I like the McCosker's Flasher. I've read NO Pseudocheilinus and no Macro's and of course no Cirrhilabrus. Any suggestions that would go nicely with a McCoskers Flasher and my Rubyhead? And if so what sex should I be getting these in? Sorry for all the questions....

Also what do you think of the blue green chromis? Are they pains since they are damels?

 

[GSnake]

Oh yes I have a green chromos, it's really nice, my clowns bully him sometimes, but he's almost like a goby in terms of aggressiveness, but more active like a damsel

 

[evolved]

Wrasses...my rubyhead is a male...does that mean I have to get females in the other species? Or only if I were to get other fairies?

No, that doesn't mean that at all. Sex doesn't matter much, it's just that all females are likely to end up male.

I know there are some that change sex usually to a male and some that don't change sex at all.

Well, all wrasses are protogynous hermaphrodites. They do all have the potential to transition to male as they mature. Whether they do or not, depends on their genus but mainly, the hierarchy of those in your tank.

I already have a male who will likely be dominant?

That's not necessarily correct.

I like the McCosker's Flasher.

Paracheilinus are a safe and easy bet.

I've read NO Pseudocheilinus

Correct; avoid those.

no Macro's

Not the best genus to start with, but not a hard one once you have experience.

and of course no Cirrhilabrus

That's also not true, and the whole point of the chart mentioned earlier.

 

[Birddog61]

You may wish to note regal angles primary diet in the wild is sponge

 

[OrionN]

You may wish to note regal angles primary diet in the wild is sponge

Regal angels are delicate fish for sure, especially when first introduce to captivity. If you want to keep regal angels, they need to be by themselves with dither fish to help them eat. Once they are eating well and gain weight, then they should be introduce to DT. It is best for them to go in the tank first before a lot of the more aggressive tangs and angels. I would not get medium to large Regal angel. Small ones are best to get use to captivity. They eat absolutely everything once acclimated, with flakes and pellets being their favorite food.