My first saltwater tank, stocking help please?

[Saltbox]

Hi, new member, first post, but have been reading R2R for years. I finally took the plunge and started my 1st marine tank. It is a Nuvo 40, I will be running a Kessil a360x, 2x maxspect xf330's, ghost mid size skimmer, carbon, floss, and gfo in rack. Approx. 20lbs. life rock, 2" Bimini pink sand. I will also be dosing regularly with phyto and pods until mature and likely will continue to do so regularly after, but not as frequently. I will also have a variety of display macros in the tank.

My question has to do with fish stocking. As far as corals I won't be doing anything too extravagant, zoas, mushrooms, and maybe further down the road some individual mixed reef pieces but it won't be a very coral heavy display.

I have 2 mimic filefish on hold for me at my local LFS they are beautiful and healthy and eating mysis like little pigs. I was going to center the tank around them and include 6x barnacle blennies, a spotted Mandarin, and a swissguard basslet. BUT I read that they will eat all inverts and destroy corals. I wouldn't mind too much if it were for my home tank but this tank is in the waiting room of my business, so as interesting as I might find this setup I'm wondering if it's too obscure for my clients to actually enjoy?

If so then I should do a pair of clowns but I'm concerned they would be too boisterous/aggressive if I were to include a single filefish with them?

Does anyone think that would be the case? If it were your tank and you weren't using it as a display in your home would you do a clownfish pair, inverts, a single goby, filefish, etc. (standard nano stocking)? Or stick with the 2x mimic filefish, 6x barnacle blennies, spotted mandarin, swissguard, no inverts ? Or some other combination?

I'm pretty conflicted right now my tank is cycled but I don't know what to stock so can't pull the trigger on the first inhabitant.

Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! Nice looking tank. Like the rock scape. I will have a clownfish pair, goby, firefish and also include the cleanup crew. You will need that to keep your tank clean. I have a 40g breeder and I have two clowns, two gobies, a coral beauty, two blue damsels and a yellow tang. Also have two cleaner shrimps, a emerald crab, a urchin and a lot of pods for over a year.

 

[LesPoissons]

So as it is a tank at your business I highly reccomend active fish that are recognizable to the masses. People love to engage over tanks but dont like to feel stupid. Clowns are generally recognized as salt water *although you will still get asked all the time, and obviously super recognized by kids- which will engage them when parents pay. (If it's a kind of business like that.) Not only that, when people ask which business yours is, you can often be identified and reccomended by your fish tank. (I'm not kidding). So +1 to a clown pair, goby, and cuc. A nem in the future would be great too. Just a suggestion- dont get the crazy clowns that dont look like clowns. Keep them orange and white at least.

 

[Saltbox]

Thanks. It's a tattoo studio so no kids. You're right about the recognizability of the fish, although if I have to compromise to make it more interesting for my clients, I'm at least going to get some Mocha Storm clowns lol. This is my first saltwater tank but I've read hundreds of hours of saltwater info so I have to at least keep something I find interesting. Not that standard clowns aren't cool but I find the designer ones to be really fascinating (I'm not a purist lol).

 

[LesPoissons]

I feel like some rare, bad a** clowns would be perfect for a tattoo studio. Pediatrician's office- you need Nemo and Dory lol.

 

[Westoncase]

Some black storms or phantom clowns would be nice but I’m bias to them. A Midas blenny has a ton of personality and would be an eye catcher

 

[Fiesty]

Maybe a cleaner wrasse? They r super active and bright colored. Or even a dwarf lionfish if u dont have small inverts or fish to worry about getting eaten.