Some help deciding on fish please

I'm working on planning out my fish future in my coralless (for now) reef tank.

I currently have 2 clowns (I can't tell if they're true or false, but they're the (dare I say it) nemo variety ). One inch and maybe 2 inch in size.

At some point I will give up the bigger clown because A. she's using up valuable inches of fish I can have B. I'll still have a clown C. She's a b!+ch to the smaller clown. In that order. Yes, I will sell/trade her to you if you want to come get her. Otherwise will ask LFS to trade.

Also, I do not have a skimmer. But I am pretty positive I'll get one for Christmas. Santa rocks. So my plan is to add one fish in the short term and then stop adding fish until sometime after my skimmer establishes itself.

I'm also noticing several small bristle worms (kind of black with red head looking thing).

My params have been very stable over past several weeks so I think I'm finally ready to add a fish.

OK, that's the background. Check sig for more specs (of note, I have CC substrate with no plans to change that).

I want:
For sure:

Royal Gamma
Wrasse (probably 6-line)

And am still deciding:

School of 3 Chromi
Flame Angel
some other fish


I don't think my 55g can fit all that and I'm not saying I will get all that. Just what I've had my eye on.

I'm looking for help in deciding what order to add them in (i.e. which one to get first).

I'm also not sure if I should get the flame angel or not. This fish may be a bit too much trouble.

And I am not sure if getting school of 3 chromi in my 55g is a good idea. I know odd number and 1 just doesn't count! and 5 is probably way too many. But I do really really like the idea of fish schooling in my living room.

But top two on list are Royal Gamma and a Wrasse. So general feedback on my comments above would be great and specific feedback between which of these two to get first would be great too.

Trying to get a good combo by planning ahead.

Thanks!

 

well i would say put the wrasse in last; they get meaner the longer you have them and will be an ass to anything new you put in the tank.

And btw, i've heard that if you have a mated pair of clowns (sounds like you do with the aggression and all that). That if one dies the other one will perish if it is alone? Has anyone else every heard of this? I just remember reading it somewhere. Wouldn't want your little clown to die b/c you removed his wifey

 

Well crap. I hope not. She won't let him eat (or tries anyway) and I've seen her bite him on the back and swish him around (like a dog with a squirrel or rag toy). And she's taking up inches.

Any event, I wouldn't get rid of her for a while yet... not until I start bumping my boundaries of inches of fish anyway.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

DONT GET RID OF THE CLOWNS P!!!
The bigger one is becoming a dominant female. Its the natural pecking order and behavior. Once they establish who's who (may take a bit), you will not regret it. Watching and keeping a established pair of clowns is second to none in my book. You will love it. And as stated, its really not always that great to only have one, specially if you have the ocellaris variety.
As for your other fish, there's only two suggestions that I could make. I noticed that you put "school" in front of chromis. Be aware that it is very likely they will not school. Seems to be about a 50% thing.
I would suggest getting a blenny too. Try to find one that will take prepared foods if possible. They might not always be the most colorful, but they have an awesome personality that more than makes up for it.

 

I agree with Packleader bout the blenny (bicolor is my favorite) - definitely a cool fish. On the other hand, chromis will school but you need to at least have 6 in order for that to happen (they don't do too well with any less). A sixline is cool but I lean more towards a flasher - think they are a cooler fish IMO.

 

I was afraid to hear that about the clowns... I thought it might be true. OK, I'll probably keep them - I hope she calms down.



So I'm hearing it would be fine to add the Royal Gamma now and I can decide on the rest of the fishies next year. Sounds like adding Royal Gamma now won't give me problems later.


I know schooling chromi's is hit and miss. Do others agree that I have a far less chance of getting them to 'school' in a set of 3? I think more than that amount would be too much fish for my system. If that's the case, I'll scratch them from my list and bump up the flame angel... but it's orange similar to the clowns and I was wanting color variety...

 

I've only had one tank, so not alot of experience, but I have a 46 gal. tank with 3 chromis that school. I also have a pair of maroon clowns. The first two weeks were the hardest, I almost took them back because of the aggression from the smaller one?, go figure LOL. He would keep her trapped under a rock and would not let her eat. She would sneak out and grab a bite when she could, but he would beat the buhgeebers out of her. Finally one day, I noticed her trying to rub on him when he got close, like she was asking to come out. That was 2 months ago. She is now the alpha and even has him cleaning house for her LOL. Keep them, you'll be happy you did. Sue

 

my male clown cleans house too! its so funny! he stays in their little cave and will pick up sand and pebbles in his mouth and "shoo" them out.

I have a gramma also. I really like him, lots of personality and a pretty fish too.

 

Today was feeding day. As usual, lady clown would shoot at mister clown so he couldn't get to the food. As usual, mister clown did some fancy underwater acrobatics to avoid being steamrolled. Well, not so underwater this time. Clown jumped out - well, jumped and fell out might be more accurate, I dunno.

Right in front of me.

I put him back in. He is fine.

Glad to hear it's possible 3 chromi's can school... I'm really still thinking about attempting it... later.