fish list for 46g

[tripleup05]

Hey yall. Well i'm new to the board, and I hope yall can help. Right now I have four damsels I used to cycle the tank, and its finally complete. I plan on taking them out soon to get some more peaceful fish. So how does this list sound...?

2 percula clowns
1 royal gramma
1 flame angel
1 goby (whats a good one to sift sand and clean algae?)
1 anthias (recomendations?)
1 wrasse (recomendations?)

Thanks!

 

[Logic_Bomb]

sounds good so far. what do you have on your cleanup crew?

 

[tripleup05]

actually i'm still trying to learn about cleanup crews. are they a necesity? i actually just put 5 small red leg hermits in about an hour ago to see if they will take care of some of the brown algae that is growing. the store owner recomended some kind of goby, but i forgot the name already and he didnt have one. but yea, the five crabs are all i have right now.

 

[Len]

:welcome:

I'd avoid anthias if this is your first tank. They're not very hardy and require a lot of feedings to keep them healthy. They also do better in groups. If you really can't help yourself try a Barlett's anthias.

As for wrasses, consider flasher wrasses or a sixline wrasse. These stay small and are reefsafe. However, your tank HAS to be covered since almost all wrasses have jumping tendancies.

You don't want a sand sifting goby IMO. They'll quickly decimate your sandbed organisms, including those that help keep the sandbed healthy. Get some bristletooth style gobies/blennies. These will comb your substrate's surface for algae.

The rest on your list looks good.

 

[Logic_Bomb]

The hermits are kind of standard from what I understand. I also hear that a brittle star or 2 are nice for gentle sand sifting. some turbo snails should also probably be added for cleanup of other waste, but I'd probably wait a few weeks after tank habitation to build up biomass.

 

[tripleup05]

Thanks to both of you for the responce! So do you think this will be my max bioload, or maybe a few more fish? lol and dont worry...i know it will take awhile to build up to that. I'm not just gonna throw em in there at once! Good point about the clean up crew, I guess it would be a bummer to put them in there and not have enough detritus and stuff for them to eat.

 

[Len]

I have issues with hermit crabs. I don't really trust them with snails and other hermits. The classic saying goes: Start with a hundred hermits and you end up with one big one

The good brittle stars can help clean up detritus, but a lot are opportunistic predators and could eat sleeping fish and clams. I tend to avoid them. Sandsifting stars are a big no-no. While they definitely sift the sand, you need to understand why they do it, which is to hunt out everything in the sand to consume. They go through a sandbed really fast and strip it of good life, and often starve afterwards.

Snails and perhaps a sea cumcumber are sufficient IMO.

 

[Len]

I think you've reached your tanks capacity. I'd actually recommend less then more. It's always much healtier and easier (for you and your fish) to keep the stocking levels low.

 

[Logic_Bomb]

The good brittle stars can help clean up detritus, but a lot are opportunistic predators and could eat sleeping fish and clams. I tend to avoid them. Sandsifting stars are a big no-no. While they definitely sift the sand, you need to understand why they do it, which is to hunt out everything in the sand to consume. They go through a sandbed really fast and strip it of good life, and often starve afterwards.

.

Ah. I didn't realize that. The brittle stars I'm refering to are the really small ones (1-2") that you sometimes find attached to your live rock when you get it.

 

[Len]

The tiny ones are usually fine. It's the big ones that can get scary 8)

 

[Tackett]

I wouldnt fool with starfish, unless they are the smaller ones. I dont trust any starfish for that matter. I love sea cucumbers. (but dont fool with sea apples, they can be successfully maintained, but are very difficult) hermits are ok, but what Len said hit the nail on the head about them. In short, know what you are getting before you get it. Do like you have done now with any critter and ask before you get it, it will save you.

 

[Anonymous]

i used to have a 46G.. very cool tank.

i want to ask one simple question that i haven;t seen mentioned... do oyu have any liverock?