Livestock suggestions anyone?? :)

plus ten i know sometimes the advice i give is unreliable and based on my experience. also with dwarf angels its pretty much a crap shoot but IME!! haha they more often do not tend to nip. also IME...... the hawkfish get along great with shrimp, i have a long nose and a pixy hawk in my ninety with a ton of sexy shrimp and they never tough them

 

sorry to say but those gobies need
a ton of sand to live unless you get it to eat prepared foods and then they get a gut parasite and die sometimes live a non sleeper watchmen goby is better IMO!

 

Ya gota love clown fish- they are so great- mine are so protective of their 45 gallon reef they attack me when I have to enter their home- I enjoy their company- even so. I'm even beginning to think they are learning to read- as my 45 is right next to my PC in my study. They actually are host to a 8" Deressa clam. For some reason they ignore the RBT- I have no clue why.

However, I personally feel some Anthia's and a few cleaner shrimp would make great tank mates- both are stunning fish/shrimps and are pretty easy to keep. But wait a few weeks to a month before you add them. Cardinals are also very easy to keep and they will school when enough of the same type are in your tank.

Things to avoid- any type of aggressive fish, or high maintence critters- do your home work before you buy. Wait to add ANY coral, let the fish get used to their home and let the tank fully acclimate.

Corals require lots of lighting and more maintenance- keep this in mind. Besides- fish are more entertaining. If I could do it over I would go FOWLR- I have fell in love with look downs, but the coral- well they have a beauty that is unmatched when done correctly. Ya can't have a reef w/o coral- wrong.

 

Not enough room for anthias in a 40g IMO. typically you want 1 male to 3 female. and that many would eventually need more swimmng space as they grew. not to mention for 4 anthias would narrow his diversity.

 

Depends, type and age of Anthia and, like most of us, we grow in tank size over time- a good thing IMHO.

Three years for a 1- 2 inch average growth rate in a good tank- there is plenty of room for 2 to 4 of medium size.

BTW - how diverse would you like a 40 gallon tank to be? What, are we raising mysis shrimp for sale or are we aquarists- tanks grow as they need to- as people learn to appreciate what they have.

 

Op already stated the stock list he wanted.
2 Ocellaris Clowns (already in tank)
1 Tiger Watchman Goby
1 Firefish (red, purple, or scissor tail.. suggestions welcomed)
1 Longnose hawkfish
1 Coral Beauty (maybe)

How the hell is he going to fit this list and/or any additions he wants down the line along with 4 Anthias in a 40 gallon tank? Please tell me because I really want to know the answer to this one.

and yes there are a small fraction of this species that dont grow as big. But Anthias are extremly active swimming fish. Yes they may fit in the tank but they will require a longer tank as they get bigger. and yes we upgrade are tanks so thats when we can get the fish that require it. Should he go get a tang now since he will probably upgrade in the future?

How diverse? Well im sure he wants to be more diverse than a tank full of Anthias.

 

What one wants and what fits are two different things. Hawks should be left in the ocean IMHO- no swim bladder which makes them unsuitable and to aggressive (unusually) for aquaria- esp. if you want to keep any other critters over a given time- Hawks are to aggressive- by their very nature.

As for:

Have you ever seen a tank full of Anthia's that have lived most of their lives together- I have- it's beautiful- only trigger schools and look downs do I find more intriguing.

Over time one learns what is do-able and what is wish-full, having the ocean- any ocean in a tank isn't possible, but to have a group of known community dwellers that rival any fish in beauty - this is possible- in any tank, provided the growth exception is considered.

Are we advising what we want or what really works given the OP's tank? My advice is sound.

 

I can tell now that your wanting to try your luck with the Coral beauty so since your going to take this risk (which I would too) I nay be able to help ou out with this.

As you know I had a Coral Beauty and I too was taking a risk on it being a nipper. Now circumstances maybe a little diffrent for my Beauty then it is for your or somonelses and im in no way implying that what im about to tell you is a garuntee but worth a try. When I got it in my tank it indeed took no time for it to start nipping. I was frustrated at first but decided to wait things out. I tried a little experiment and over feed him until he was nice and full. I was dissapointed to find that even after eating or being completly full he was still nipping.
but then I realized that this was a valuble peice of info to know.
it told me this. The Coral Beauty was not nipping because of hunger. He was not nipping for a food source. I really dont know why he nips but I can tel you he is not trying to bite a chunk of coral of when he does this. maybe just to be a bully and pick on sessile things? but perhaps other people angels do nip to eat coral. Mine didnt seem like it did.

What further proved this bulling theory was the corals he nipped at. ( indeed selective) He tended to nip on the less intimidating corals and tended to leave the corals with more live, movement alone. It had no baring on it being SPS,LPS.

For instance he nipped at my acro, monti cap, nipped at my acans and favia. (all seesile looking corals ) He left alone, my branching Hammer, Frogspawn,GSP, Galaxia (all corals with large polyps or corals with lots of movement. (corals that he was intimidated by) Now there was exceptions. While all agressive looking corals he left alone( with sinularia being the only exception but I only seen him nip at once). but there where other corals that where not either sessile nore agressive looking that he left alone as well, IE Mushrooms, ricordia,zoas.(mainly softies and buttons)

My Acans was the corals he nipped at the most.

Now Later I did have some success with stopping the nipping.
I would sit infront of the tank for a few minutes each day several times a day. I would wait for him to nip then as soon as he went to strike I would abruptly startle him by bumping the tank. after I did this for a few days the nipping subsided for months!

Only downside was for some reason he would not leave the acans alone. As I said b4 the nips never seemed to be to take a chunk of coral and eat it. and from what I can tell non of my corals where effected long term by it. Just seemed to irritate them at the moment he did it. and it was never an often thing. it wasn't like he sat in one spot and repeatedlt bullied a coral. lol. It was always just a periodic, random issue. i took him out anyway however becuase one of my acans was dying. The acans never got better after I took him out so now im thinking that my acan died for another reason.

So if you get him and he nips, try to train him not to nip by doing what I did to make him scared of it. and also either stay away from extremly vulnerable corals, or introduce defenseless or sessile looking corals in the tank FIRST. hope this helps

 

I love Anthias. absolutly love them. Actually looked into them for awhile until I realized it wasnt in the best interest of my tank nore the Anthias to have them.
When I get a bigger tank, that will be one of the first things I get. but for his tank/my tank size... I much rather have 1 fish of each species (and maybe pair of clown) and have 5 or 6 diffrent species, than to have 40/60% of the tank be 1 species of fish....but again...jmho. and this is sound advice but still my opinion.

 

anthias are great fish, you could try to squeeze them in that tank but you could no way add them onto the existing stocking list.