Position available

[Ryan22]

Position available for two possibly three fish to take up residence in a 72 gal saltwater fish tank. Applicants must be willing to earn their keep, while residing in this evolving community. Responsibilities will include but are not limited to algae control. Current fish residents include 1 chalk seabass, 1 royal gramma and 1 maroon clownfish. Other residents include 1 tigertail cucumber, 24 astrea snails, 6 tiger trocus snails, 15 nassarilus(sp?) snails, 2 peppermint shrimp, and 7 scarlet reef hermits. This community will soon incorporate LPS corals and soft corals but is without at this time. Other features include 70lbs of Figi live rock, a 4” sand bed and a 25 gallon sump which features a 6” sand bed..

Ok so I’m trying to plan out my last few fish additions to my tank, but I want fish that will be beneficial to my tank while are also interesting to watch. I was thinking a foxface might be a good addition. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, positive experiences ect…

TIA,

 

[Lurshy]

The two algea control, fun fish I vote for: Purple Tang & Lawn Mower Blenny. Just my .02

 

[King Jason]

Tang (yellow or purple) and maybe a small school of green chromis?

I think nurse sharks are known for eating a lot of algae, and you have ample space in your 72g for one! :wink:

 

[wombat1]

But not ample space for a tang. Do a search on "tang police" and you'll know what I mean. How large is your female maroon?? If she's really big (say3-4") you could try pairing her with a very small (1") male. I would also add a pygmy angel like a flame or lemonpeel.

 

[Tanger]

Ryan, Purple Tang, Pygmy Angel of some type and maybe a great white shark to round it off, I heard they like to eat the greens!!!!

 

[Ryan22]

Well I certianly found a way to get poeple to at least look at my thread. :lol:
Thanks for the replys guys, I think that adding a tang is probably out of the question, don't get me wrong I love them, if fact a tank full of yellow tangs is what actually got me interested in starting a saltwater tank. I've had this tank up for just about two years now, and over that time I've tried 3 tangs, a yellow, a powder brown and a kole. All three got ich and died, and all three took out some other fish with them. So I've desided until I get at least a six foot tank tangs are out, even though I would love to try a kole tang again.
My Maroon clown is about 2 1/2 inches, I would love to try to pair her up with another maroon, but I've been afriad to try it. I was at a LFS the other day and they had a bunch of tank raised maroons that were about an inch, maybe a little smaller. I almost desided to give it a shot, but I chickened out. I've had the maroon for almost the entire time I've had the tank, I didn't want to risk anything. Any tips on how to do it? I was think that I could put the one I have in my sup for a week or so and then put both of them in the main tank at the same time. Would that work?

 

[Ryan22]

There is a foot long nurse shark at one of the LFS I was at recently. Maybe I'll stop in and pick him up my way home from work today It's in a 40 gallon tank, I have almost double that, so it should be just fine :roll:

 

[King Jason]

I was able to pair my maroon. It was actually really easy for me. Here is what I did.

My female (bigger one) was about 1 ½ inches (like yours).

I was able to find a tinny tiny tinny maroon (maybe ½ inch or smaller) at my LFS, so I bought it. I also bought a small clear plastic container with a lid. I cut if full of holes so water would circulate through it.

I then placed the little clown in the container and placed it on the sand WAY FAR AWAY from where my female maroon's host (bubble coral) is. I put a small rock on the top of the lid so the container didn't float away.

The female investigated the new clown and gave it the "death dance" every now and then.

I left the maroon in the container for about 2 days before I gave it a run for it's money. When I left it out it went straight for the female! I was scared. The female chased the small clown around for about 15 minutes. I could tell the small clown was getting tired and was luckily able to scoop him up back into the container.

I left him in the container for another day then gave him another chance to stretch his fins. This time he went over and sat in a bunch of fuzzy mushrooms. The female checked him out but didn't harass him this time.

Eventually (about 2 months later) they ended up hanging out at the females pad and been like that ever since.

 

[King Jason]

and I wish I could keep a 1ft nurse in my tank! That would be such a cool pet.

 

[wombat1]

I actually kept a 1 foot wobbegong for a year in a 55 gallon. I know I know, but I had a future home for him before I even bought him. That was an awesome pet. He bit me twice so I can officially say I'm a shark attack victim.

Ditto on the maroon pairing. They need to be as far apart in size as possible, and use a container.