Any help on fish selection

[Ben1]

Just looking for idea...I dont want to do any clowns in this tank. Its a 58 Oceanic RR with an open top, setup for SPS (high flow/light), its BB and since not a big tank elminates alot of my options.

I was thinking anthias but with the open top small size and heavy feeding they would like Ive decided not to do them.

Then I love wrasses but the same issues with the open top, which is making me want to just build a freaking top lol.

I've been thinking about this for awhile I re-read through all the Scott Michael reef fishes series, and the nano reef fish threads here, and just keep wanting something different. I would love some helfrichis to but again open top....

With out me changing the set up what fish might you recommend? Give me some ideas...

A hog fish like Bodianus sepiacaudus? Would that jump too?

 

[cindre2000]

A group of domino damsels...

 

[Mike612]

Keep in mind that with an open top, any fish can jump out.

I wouldn't go with the group of Domino Damsels personally because I kept just one Domino Damsel in the past and I was forced to remove him from my 75 gallon because he was attacking all of the fish and I couldn't even clean the tank. He kept on attacking me, the siphon, etc...

I need a little more info to answer your question though. You didn't specify if you wanted a centerpiece fish, schooling fish, big fish, or small fish. Too many factors to consider and not enough information as to what you're really looking for, other than a reef safe fish for a 58 gallon. Also, what is your stocking list so far?

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

Don't do "damn damsels". You won't be able to do anything else without removing them. Looks for small stuff like ... 6-line wrasse, dotyback, etc. Anthias I hear need a lot of room.

 

[Anonymous]

A group of domino damsels...

's'hole! :lol:

Ben, what do you think about fishes like the Assessors, marine bettas and the like? You could create some nice caves, they're quite peaceful, not too small, but not too big. Otherwise, I would consider Apogons and other cardinal fishes, just because I am particularly fond of them.

 

[Ben1]

Yeah I had a mating pair of pajama cards for almost a decade and always loved them as well. Great fish that was out in the open alot and would eat anything like a pig lol.

Its a new tank so no fish in the tank yet, Ive never had an assessor but do think that they are beautys.

Keep in mind that with an open top, any fish can jump out.

I do realize this, Ive run open top tanks for years and as long as I stayed away from the known jumpers Ive been good.

I wouldnt do any damsels but I am pretty sure cindre meant it as a joke lol.

I am thinking a pair of bangaii cards but I really cant get the wrasses out of my head. I think I might need to build a hood this weekend....these catch my eye for instance

http://liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDi ... &siteid=20

 

[Anonymous]

Clown or Citron Gobys are cool. Lot of variety.

 

[Ben1]

I do like those gobies too but will they nip sps polyps?

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, i really love my longnose hawkfish. She's always out begging for food

 

[Mike612]

Clown Gobies won't nip at sps coral, but they do like to lie down in them. This some times stresses out the coral, but given good water conditions, the coral should be able to recover.
Cardinals are a good option for a tank your size. If you can keep your tank relatively peaceful both inside and outside (meaning not much movement, quiet room, etc...), you should be able to keep a wrasse in your tank. I've kept a Bluehead Fairy Wrasse (recently removed to add a Hawaiian Flame Wrasse) for a while. My tank is open and it never made an attempt to jump out. Even though I've only had my Flame Wrasse for a couple of weeks now, he hasn't tried to go carpet surfing either. Wrasses tend to dart upwards to dodge an attacking fish. In the ocean, this is fine because the wrasse is deep enough in the water that leaping up just puts them higher up in the water column. Unfortunately, our aquariums aren't high enough to hold so much water that when a wrasse darts upwards, he actually leaps out of the tank.
Firefish are also nice and peaceful fish. I know you're afraid of them jumping out of the tank, but it's the same scenario as the wrasse. If you can keep the tank relatively quiet, your fish shouldn't attempt to jump out. I've kept both the Purple and Orange Firefish and neither jumped out. The Purple Firefish are a little more aggressive towards each other, but they are also more outgoing than the Orange Firefish. The Purple shows itself more, while the Orange hides.
If you can get over your fear of the fish jumping out and have a deep enough sandbed/crushed coral, you can add a Yellowhead Jawfish. They are extremely playful and interactive with their handlers. I'm keeping one with my seahorses. It took him about a week to start eating, but now he eats like a pig and he is a lot of fun to watch. When I stick my hand into the tank, he likes to swim into my hand and rest there. They have great personality and are relatively peaceful.
You can look into a Royal Gramma also. It is a bit territorial towards fish that wander near their caves, but they are otherwise peaceful and very easy to care for. They also add a nice splash of color to any tank.

 

[ChrisRD]

Maybe consider doing a screen top to allow for some of your "jumper" options? I could have sworn pics of a nice one popped up in another thread here, but I can't seem to find it now...

 

[Anonymous]

I do like those gobies too but will they nip sps polyps?

They are reef safe and I have never had one jump. Very good personalty for a small fish too.

 

[Ben1]

Cool I am headed to the LFS only an hour and 20 minutes away lol so we will see what they have today.

 

[Nemo2007]

Damsel fish may be a bad idea but there are a lot of chromis varieties that are colorful, peaceful, active, don't care about sand, and aren't known to be jumpers. You make have to go to the internet for the more rare species. The LFS's here tend to stock only green and black axel chromis species.
If your pet store is an hour and a half away, I would consider calling to see what they have first. Gas is not getting any cheaper.

 

[Ben1]

No gas isnt cheaper but the LFS I was going to was That Pet place, and they have a lot of stock...usually lol. I came home with a Bangaii it was there last one. I also got a small ora squasmosa, a aquacultered blue millipora and a frogspawn for my sons tank.

I also bought a magnavore 2 glass cleaning magnent, new pc bulb for my work tank, magnavore fluidized reactor for me to run carbon in, a maxijet 400 to run the reactor, tropic marin magnessium powder, a salifert N03 test, but I spent like $400. I just spent $300 at marine depot online on monday. Good thing I am divorced already :lol:

 

[Nemo2007]

Let me know how that magnavore magnet works out. I have been considering one for my tank. The magfloat I use requires multiple strokes to clean the glass, especilly the curved portions.

When I was in PA, my spot was the Hidden Reef in NE Philadelphia.

 

[Ben1]

Yeah the hidden reef was nice then it was in ne philly but after it burnt down, it took about a year to reopen and it reopened farther away for me. I havent been back since it re-opened but it seems like its nice. I should go there this weekend.

 

[Ben1]

By the way the magnavore is nice. I got the magnavore 2 and its seems clearly stronger then the largest magfloat (thats what I used to use) The reason I switched to the magnavore though was becuase after I got out of the hobby I had broken one of my old mag floats and found it was full of rust so may have been leeching into the tank. I figured spending more would atleast make me feel better lol.

And to add to my bad luck my new bangaii died some time today. Came home form work and what was left of him was stuck to the side of the vortech . It said aquacultured but did have a bit of a pinched abdomine behind its gill. I feed it frozen mysis soaked with some selcon and blue reef powder which it ate some of sat, sun and mon nights. I hate this bad luck streak Ive been on..... makes me wonder why I decided to get back into it lol, bank accounts draining, house is flooding, house almost burned down, fish died, boo......

 

[Anonymous]

Ben, what do you think about fishes like the Assessors, marine bettas and the like? You could create some nice caves, they're quite peaceful, not too small, but not too big. Otherwise, I would consider Apogons and other cardinal fishes, just because I am particularly fond of them.

I love them but a caveat with asessors and bettas , in a high light / high flow tank you may not see them very much. The betta will be more visible than the assessors in my experience but both are quite shy, retiring fish.

I'd consider damsels still but maybe something a little more mellow , possibly in the [Chrysiptera] genus? Look at Starckii damsels, I've kept them - fairly low key with other fish and not too aggressive. Not to mention stunningly pretty. Basically any fish can jump but ones that are especially sketch with an open top in my experience, jumpiest to least jumpy:

Jawfish
Tilefish (not really a good reef fish)
Blennies
Wrasses
Hawkfish
Gobies

Dottybacks would be a good choice too just avoid the nasty ones, maybe get a P.friidmani or some such.

Like SM said Cardinals would be a good choice but please try and find captive bred bangaii's if you go with them - alternately look for Apogon leptacanthus? Blue eye cardinal, seen them in other SPS heavy tanks and they are amazing.

 

[Nemo2007]

Sorry to hear about your bangaii. I tried one a long time ago during one of those sales at the Hidden Reef and the same thing happened. It was dead in a couple of days.