40g Breeder Stock List- Suggestions Welcome

Hey Everyone,

I am finishing up my stock list for my 40g breeder and would love some input because I am torn between a couple of options. The tank is a mixed reef 40g breeder, with a 20g long sump, Euroreef es5-3 skimmer (rated at 90g), fuge, and phosban reactor.

Right now, i have:

• Springeri Dottyback
• Banggai Cardinal
• Royal Gramma
• Midas Blenny (picking up tonight)

I'd like to add 2 more fish, but I'm not sure which route I want to go.

I'm considering the following fish options:

1. Picasso or Snowflake Clownfish Pair
   
   Or a combination of two of the following:
2. Carpenter's, Linespot or McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
3. Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse
4. Jawfish or Goby
5. Dwarf Angel (yes, I am aware of the risk)
6. Mandarin (after numerous months of seeding my refugium to ensure a healthy pod population)

I'm also open to other unique suggestions- looking for fish with nice color and cool behavior. I do have a 12g nano with a goby/ pistol shrimp combo, so I'm probably not looking to do that in my 40g.

Thanks

 

Maybe, I should make the title "Suggestions Encouraged"...

 

Clownfish! But they are my favorite fish so take it for what it's worth.

 

1. Picasso or Snowflake Clownfish Pair
   
   Or a combination of two of the following:
2. Carpenter's, Linespot or McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
3. Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse
4. Jawfish or Goby
5. Dwarf Angel (yes, I am aware of the risk)
6. Mandarin (after numerous months of seeding my refugium to ensure a healthy pod population)

I vote clowns.



Otherwise, the tank may have too many semi-aggressive fish for a flasher wrasse at this point. If it was added first, then that would have been fine.



Red Velvet probably gets too big for the tank. There are a few smaller that would work, especially Luboock's.



A Jawfish will only work with a deep sandbed, and you need to expect sand to constantly be moved around the tank and on corals. A Watchman Goby with Pistol Shrimp would obviously work.



Dwarf Angel should be ok (a little on the small side, but people have kept them in 30 gal tanks successfully. You already know the nipping risks.



And a Mandarin would work too if you are good about keeping the pod population up, but not with other fish that will compete for food (such as a wrasse or even dwarf angel).

 

Thanks for the feedback!

And Marshall- good point on the wrasse eating pods. That totally slipped my mind.

I think I am now split between Picasso's and Sea and Reef's New Davinci clowns. The davinci's are ocellaris, while the picasso's are true perculas. I think I like the Davinci better, as I'm not really a fan of the true perc's orange eyes. Thoughts?

 

Well, since I last posted this I lost my springer's dottyback and my royal gramma. I have NO IDEA what happened to them, but one day they were there, the next they were not. Both looked happy and healthy.

I also looked all around the tank to see they may have jumped even though I have egg crate covering 75% of my tank- nothing.

So anyway, I just got my clown pair and they are happy and Im now thinking about what I will add back to the tank in a few weeks to get to my stock limit.

Right now, I have the following:

• Midas Blenny
• Bangaii Cardinal
• Paired Fancy Vivid White Ocellaris Clownfish

So now I'm going back to the drawing board and considering the following:

• Dwarf Angel
• Orchid Dottyback
• Flame or Longnose Hawkfish (don't know a ton about compatibility with these guys)
• Firefish (contemplating whether it is too late to add- my clowns are not at all aggressive currently)

 

I am also setting up a 40 breeder and so far I have come up with this list for fish...

No clowns (because I frag too often and don't want to deal with any fish nipping at me) and plus my pair love the tank they are in anyway

I'm going to do 5 Pajama Cardinals, 1 bullet goby, and 1 potters angel fish. That way I will cover a wide variety of color, swimming patterns, and also cover all three levels of active swimming(top, bottom, middle)

 

Yea thats a pretty cool idea, but for me I prefer greater variety. While I've always wanted a school of fish in my tank, I've always decided against it because it was too many of the same fish for my tank size.

I think I am pretty set on the orchid dottyback, just because I had one in my 75g before I broke it down and I used to love the vibrant purple color. I tried to mix it up with the royal gramma and the springers in my new tank, but that got me nowhere since they both disappeared

 

Any thoughts on these potential adds?

 

Skip the orchid. They are jerks. Flameback angel is cool, there one of the smaller angels and are mostly reef safe. Firefish might be ok, I would move your scape around if you do, helps disturb territories that the fish have staked out. Make sure he has some where to hide.