Please help us vote for our stocking list :)

BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING MORE....I WANT TO SAY I REALLY APPRECIATE PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO ARE RESEARCHING AND LEARNING. I REALLY DO. There are so many posts that say, "I bought this. What is it, and how do I feed it?" It truly makes you want to pull you hair out. However, I don't judge them...I did it in the beginning too. So I just help them learn how to keep it alive or tell them to return it for credit at their LFS.

I love clown gobies. People buy them and think they're short-lived. They are to a degree....but the reality is, they need to be in an SPS-dominated tank and not a softy tank. Only experts should start a new tank right out of the gate with an SPS tank IMO. (Clown gobies feed off of the bacterioplankton in the mucus nets that SPS produce....they aren't short-lived....they starve because there are no SPS corals). If you bought one and it died in 2 or 3 months, you would think you did something wrong because you are new to the hobby. That's not it at all. The online sellers of clown gobies never tell people this so THEY are the people doing wrong...not you.

Now ya dunnit!!! ;D Actually it's a good thing. There's a whole lot of VERY smart people with a lot of experience here. We don't always agree....but we respect each other. I'm more than willing to help you stock your tank. However, to do this, WE need a whole lot of info. Explain your system in detail.

 

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement Curt. I appreciate any assistance. Please see this thread for more information, HTH, and let me know if you would like any additional information.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...as-3-sided-see-through-2-room-reef-77776.html

As you can see, we're still very early on in the process, but it's a good time to come up with a plan.

Matthew

 

personally plan A -- However Flames have been known to pick at corals. I've never had one that does, but there is still a small amount of risk.

 

Hey Curt,
Still looking for your recommendations for stocking...

Thanks,
Matthew

 

Sorry. I've only been answering easy questions the last couple of days. (A good friends dad died a couple days ago, this is the anniversay of one of my best friends death, and another friend had her husband walk out on her and the kids).

I personally love Flame Angel's. Particularly ones that were collected from Hawaii. (They will be dark orange/red vs just orange. Since you're thinking of Ocellaris clowns which are orange, that would be a lot of orange in one tank). The is a slight risk of them picking at coral but you can usually train them that you will provide food they have to graze Vs. just picking up food out of the water column. Find a small piece of rubble that has a lot of holes in it. Twice a week, thaw some Ocean Nutrition Angel Food with sponge and shove it into the hole and put the rock on your rockwork.

We've already discussed that you'll need SPS for a clown goby.

Are you wanting to breed clowns? If not, you'll have much less aggression issue with just one.

Do you want to add ornamental shrimp sometime down the road? If so, the velvet wrasse might possibly go after it......the bicolor psuedochromis almost certainly will. A Royal gramma (Gramma loreto) is even prettier IMO and is much safer with shrimp. Blood or Fire shrimp are quite attractive and if you ever have an aiptasia issue, you'll like being able to drop some peppermint shrimp in there safely.

The red velvet wrasse should not be purchased online. Have your LFS bring it in for you and have it put on hold for you for two weeks. Have them get it eating the type of food you feed your tank. Make sure you watch it eat (and not spit the food back out). Request a male. If you get a female and there is no male around, their colors become more dull over time. This fish is a pooper....make sure you have a good protein skimmer. This fish will become the largest fish in your tank.....in other words, add it last.

To add a little color diversity and to give you a bottom dweller, have you considered a yellow watchman goby? Cryptocentrus cinctus

Due the proper things regarding feeding. Feed a variety of foods. Any flake or pellet foods should be stored with the lid on in the freezer. Never put wet fingers into these foods. A couple times a week, the foods should be supplemented with Vitamin C and HUFA's. In addition to the sponge needed for the angel, all of these fish are going to require some spirulina so if it isn't included in one of your foods, make sure to have that as one of your flake foods.

 

I'm sorry to hear about all of that, Curt. I have always found fishkeeping to be a wonderful hobby for helping me through my more difficult times.

As for us, we've decided to take a different approach and "lock" one fish in at a time. I'm pleased to announce our first round selection goes to Centropyge loricula, the Dwarf Flame Angelfish (we're hoping to obtain one from Tahiti for their generally deeper blood red color and thinner black bars). Simply put, the rewards of including this guy in our tank exceeded the risks. For his contrasting red/black color, higher activity level and size, he will be a centerpiece of the tank and likely be the last addition (or close to).

We definitely do not want to breed Clownfish. However, is it really healthy for a Clown to be alone? Our understanding was that they tend to do better when paired...although we seem to get mixed messages from others about this...which is leaving us a little confused about what we should do.

We wish to "leave the door open," so to speak, should we wish to introduce an ornamental shrimp at some later point. The pseudochromis is still very much a "?" We preferred the appearance of the bicolor over the royal gramma, but we will give it another look. Also up in the air with the wrasse.

Honestly, neither one of us are big fans of bottom dwellers...we were hoping to just get by with a diverse and well-planned CUC. Does this seem alright?

We welcome any other personal favorite fish anyone might have for a setup like ours...

Thanks!
Matthew

 

I have never paired up clowns and they lived for years and years quite fine.

 

Thank you for having us take a second look at the Royal Gramma Basslet (Gramma loreto). We love that yellow/purple combination (which both this fish and the bicolor share), but the royal gramma scores an extra point as it does seem to be a little more peaceful and invert-friendly. Those blood red fire shrimp are really wild looking, BTW, like them a lot! Plus, they can provide cleaning services too. Definitely going to research them further.

How about activity levels...between the Bicolor Pseudochromis (Pseudochromis paccagnella) and the Royal Gramma Basslet...which is the superior swimmer?

Thanks for the help

 

Almost the same. Will spend some of the time swimming in the front and will spend some of the time swimming through the rocks. However, since you have a 3 sided tank, it will be visible at almost all times.

 

We've been offline for quite some time (too long it seems) but now are back in action. Have been very busy working on our tank, pleased to report that it's been smooth sailing, as least so far, and hopefully that will continue. We added our first fish back on March 20, a Royal Gramma Basslet, he's doing terrific and we love him. Thank you Curt for the great recommendation!

We were hoping to add a Yellow Clown Goby (Gobiodon okinawae) this weekend as our second fish. Curt- if your still out there...do we really need SPS corals for them? Diet would consist of cyclop-eeze, mysis shrimp and we also 'dose' in phytoplankton already for some of our non-SPS corals.

Would like to hear thoughts on the Yellow Clown Goby in general as we couldn't be happier with our Royal Gramma...