Livestock Suggestions for a 26 gal bow front

I just made the transition from freshwater to saltwater. I have a 26 gallon bow front with about 25 lbs of dead rock, 5 lbs of LR, and 30 lbs of live sand. It's been running for about a week now and I'm waiting till it cycles before I add the first of my livestock.

I will gradually add the fish and I figure the tank can handle about 3 to 4 small fish. I also plan on adding a skimmer around Christmas time.

Now for what fish to choose. The one fish I must have is a ocellaris clown to meet the demands of my wife. The rest is open. I want to have some diversity and am looking for some neat looking colorful fish. I really like the look of pajama cardinals and flame angels, no idea how they'll do though.

What will be a good mix for my tank and what order should I add the fish in? When should I add the cleaning crew and about how much of what would I need?

 

How awesome is this! Someone else with a 26g bow front just like me!
Fish= mis bar occy clown, fire fish, yellow tail fang Blenny and a tangroa goby/pistol shrimp. I have also placed an order with HappyCoral.com for a white banded possum wrasse.
I got my cuc from ReefCleaners.com with the package they recommended/created for my size tank. I am totally pleased with what they selected. Prices are awesome and shipping was way cheap. John was great to work with I run the CPR HOB aquafuge2 with the Reef Octopus NS80 nano skimmer. Hope this helps you a little. Have fun with your new tank and welcome to the wonderful world of salt water

 

hit liveaquaria.com. Where you shop is your choice but they are a good site for a good selection, decent information and you can filter by tank size.

 

Pajama Cardinals are great hardy fish that will do just fine with your clown. You may want to add some kind of goby as well to take care of the 3 zones.Open water-Cardinal,Intermediate-Clowns,Sand bed-Goby.That will give you a good mix.Good luck!!!8)

 

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I was thinking a goby might be a good choice. What other fish are bottom dwellers?

I also was looking at the CUC from reef cleaners the other night, glad you recommend it.

I was looking at the reef octopus and it seems rather large. Does it have a smaller footprint and look okay once it gets inside the tank?

 

Gobies are cool, but I bought a yellow watchman for my 24g that just completely disappeared and to this day, I haven't found any sign of him. They can be really awesome though if you get it to pair up with a pistol shrimp, as was already mentioned.

Other bottom dwellers are jawfish and blennies. Unfortunately, most of the blennies will get too large for your tank, but there are a few smaller species.

Also +1 on reef cleaners! I just got dry rock from them for my 46g bowfront build and will be getting my CUC once it is cycled. I tried to take what I thought was the "cheap route" by going to my LFS and getting them, only to realize afterward that I spent the same amount and only got 1/2 the CUC I could have from reef cleaners.

I will have to wait for someone else to answer for the skimmer.

 

I have a pair in one of my tanks that I'm lucky to see once a week.

 

The watchmen gobies do look really neat. How do different gobies do together? Say a firefish and a watchman?