Stocking my 40g

Hey everyone! My 40g breeder is just over a month new, my diatoms is finally dying off and I'm getting some good coralline growth in the tank so I am trying to finallize a stocking list for the tank. I am planning on it being a reef tank and following "go slow, let it grow" so no fish will purchased at least until mid-October. Right now I have three turbo snails in the tank to clean up the diatoms and that's it. Here's what I'm think for fish and if anyone could give me tips or advice and let me know if I'm overstocking.

4 green chromis
1 orchid dottyback
2 black-egde clownfish
1 pygmy angel or flame angel

My plan is to add the fish in that order so that less territorial fish can get set up in the tank before the clowns and the angel come in. As for the dwarf angel, it's not a must have, just something nice if you guys dont think the tank would be overstocked after the other fish.

Like I said its a 40g breeder, 50lbs rock, 25lbs sand, Coralife Super Skimmer 65, 1300gph water movement, 1.025 sg, and normal parameters (i.e. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate).

Thank you in advance for your input!

 

Looks OK to me other than the chromis. I have never been able to keep more than one for long. They seem to kill each other off.

 

bump

 

agreed on the chromis, usually try to get them in odd #'s but they may eventually kill each other. I had 3 that all eventually perished. They are fairly jumpy fish and got stressed very easily by my other tank inhabitants. I swear the last one died of fright & I didn't have anything aggressive in the tank.

look into a Potters Angel for a beautiful Dwarf, they are my fav of the dwarf angels. They can be a little finnicky eaters though so if you get one that is eating frozen well you should be good.

if you plan on going corals later, angels can develop a taste to nip, it's 50/50.

Other cool fish to consider IMO:

- Banggai Cardinal
- Royal Gramma
- Flame Hawk (if you have a top)
- Blue Star Leopard Wrasse (gorgeous fish)
- Green Clown Gobys (very small but cool)
- Yellowhead or Blue Dot Jawfish (def need a top but lots of personality, need a decent sandbed for them to burrow in)

 

Same problems with Chromis myself. No matter how many I start with, even or odd, they always end up killing each other/jumping out of the tank/dwindling down to 1. Not sure why that is.

 

I don't think your tank is big enough for a school of chromis as others have stated they will have a pecking order and the smallest will always be picked on by others. I would eliminate the chromis . Angels are a bit touchy. While some have reported success by keeping them with corals it is not a good idea IMO. Once introduced you will never be able to catch it without removing a majority of your rocks. Also keep in mind the dottyback can be quite aggresive. While it will be fine with the clowns you will definitely want to make it the last fish you introduce especially in a small tank.8) Also don't wait too long to introduce fish. The bacteria you have grown will die without a food source. Also keep an eye on those turbos. One is really all thats needed in a tank that size and they will quickly consume all the algae and diatoms and could starve to death.(fouling the water) You could supplement there diet but truthfully I would remove two and bring them back to your LFS if that is possible.

 

Thanks for all the great suggestions guys! I will stear away from the chromis for sure.

so it looks like I should at least do
2 clownfish
1 orchid dottyback

but any other suggestions for fish? I really like the leopard wrasse idea that MoJoe suggested but liveaquaria says that they are "expert only" and that scares me; I am a total newb at SW. I would really love to have a dwarf angel but I know that they can be nippy and its more important to me to have corals than an angel.

 

I started with 3 green chromis about a year and a couple of months ago ....all was well they always swam together then 3 weeks ago I noticed the largest alone in a corner and I saw my 6 line take a nip at hm the next morni.g he was gone ..never found the.corpse ..sincehad a bad cyno outbreak and corline has stopped growing on the glass

 

Leopard wrasses are notoriously picky eaters. They are most happy when a tank is large enough to support a good size pod population.(at least 55 gallons but IME more is better) If you can find one that eats prepared foods they are great fish but need a failry deep sand bed in which to hide. They do best when introduced in groups so I would say this is not a good choice. A six line wrasse would be a good candidate they can hold there own with the dottyback and clowns and are beautiful active fish.8)

 

True my 6 line is awesome