Need help choosing fish

[Roly]

OK. My tank is officially mature. Ive waited 2 months and Im finally ready. I have a 110 gal tank, wet/dry filter, Octopus Skimmer 110, Rio 800 power heads (2), and about 30 lbs or so of live rock, and about 50 lbs or so of "dead" rock/coral. All of my levels are fine. ALK (1.021). I have 5 damsels that Im trading in for new fish. (dont like damsels).
Anywho... I would like to get some colorful fish to start off with. I would like bright colors (yellows, pinks, orange, blues, reds, etc.). What are good fish to start off with that all look different from one another yet eat the same foods and will get along? I would like some invertebrates too. I know that I cant add a bunch of fish at once, but I would like to get about 4-5 of them this week. What do you guys think? Any ideas?:idea:

 

[shallowreef]

All of my levels are fine. ALK (1.021).

is 1.021 your salinity or is that your ALK?

Anywho... I would like to get some colorful fish to start off with. I would like bright colors (yellows, pinks, orange, blues, reds, etc.). What are good fish to start off with that all look different from one another yet eat the same foods and will get along? I would like some invertebrates too. I know that I cant add a bunch of fish at once, but I would like to get about 4-5 of them this week. What do you guys think? Any ideas?:idea:

Well to me it sounds like you would like to do a community tank. What i need to know is do you plan on doing a reef in the future? Anyways heres a little list of things you could do for starters.

Fish-

Yellow tang
Blue tang
Flame Angel
Pygmy Angel
Maroon Clown Fish
actually any tye of Clownfish

Inverts-
Cleaner shrimp
Coral banded shrimp
Sand sifting starfish (if you have sand)
Linkia starfish (orange or blue)

Thats all i can think of at the moment

 

[NaH2O]

Roly - I would also like to know if that is an alk reading or a specific gravity reading.

Are you going for a reef tank? If so, do you plan on having softies, LPS, SPS only, or a mix of the three? Are there any fish that strike out at you as a fish you "must have"?

I would personally stay away from the sand sifting star fish. Unless your sand bed is quite mature and has a good fauna population, they will eventually starve out.

 

[balogh03]

if you want a lot jof colors in one just get a wrasse, i have a fairy, clown, and exquisite. between the three of them, that is just about every color.

 

[VegasMike]

In a 110 gallon tank, I would stay away from most Tangs and full-size Angels. I would do the following keeping in mind trying to stay small and be able to do a reef.


Flame Hawk - Hearty little fish that will perch on a rock and keep watch over your little piece of the reef. Red in color and with a personality

Yellow Tang - Cheap and mundane, but very nice yellow.

Clown Fish - Up to you for color, but make sure you know thier tendencies before you get your list done as certain types would best be added first, while others last. Maroons and Clarkiis can get mean so they would need to be one of the last fish in a 110. I would try to find some nice Ocellaris to add as first fish.

Pygmy Angels like the Coral Beauty and Flame are very colorful and usually hearty.

Fairy wrasses can also be hearty and colorful, but they also tend to be jumpers.

I would just try and stay with fish that won't get too big as they will grow and you will find yourself battling the problems that go along with larger fish.

 

[Roly]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. The "1.021" is my specific gravity reading. Sorry. Im not sure about keeping a reef right now. I would love too and I plan to, but not until I feel that Ive "masterd" keeping a fish only tank. I want to be a pro at this and then I will start planning a reef tank. My guess is that in a year/year and a half. My only must have fish is a Mandarin Dragonet. Im gonna hold off on this fish for a while though. I was told that I need more Live rock and a good amount of pods.

 

[bradreef]

I am a fan of blue tangs. I hate yellow(can be a bad first fish). stores have really small blues in lately. There are a lot of wrasses but some are not amazingly easy.

 

[mcvicker]

I personally like blennies. A bi-color blenny is pretty inexpensive and are fun to watch.
-chris

 

[Brenden]

Brad...What is your issues with yellow tangs? If you want to go reef in the future stay away from some of the wrasse mentioned above. Worst thing you can do is add a fish now because you think it is cool only to find out it is a problem later. Check the galleries for fish you like. Liveaquaria has good picks and average info. by all means ask here first.

 

[ronj]

i would stay away from the blue tang at first ....the tank needs to be well maintained and maybe a bit more mature ..it is more sensitive than the yellow tang..you could go with a yellow...the blue tang will need a little more swimming room also!! if you do get one, i will expect pics!!! also, i think the yellow striped maroon clowns look really neat!!

 

[DonW]

I dont really think that two months is mature. But anyways, Id learn alittle more about chemistry before trying some of the tougher fish like blue tangs. Yellows arent all that bad but are usually in pretty bad shape from the importer. There are plenty of very colorful reef safe fish, wrasses and other fish. Just go real slow so that the tank can actually build up enough bacteria to handle the bioload.

Don

 

[Roly]

What is a good way to tell if its fully mature? Its been running for about 2 and a half months. I have some live rock and have had damsels for a few weeks now. Is there any way of knowing for sure?

 

[DonW]

What is a good way to tell if its fully mature? Its been running for about 2 and a half months. I have some live rock and have had damsels for a few weeks now. Is there any way of knowing for sure?

A tank is constantly maturing. Live rock and damsels for a few weeks is not even close to long enough to build up the bacteria for the lr and damsels. Maybe pull out the damsels and get a single small fish that you actually enjoy. Give it a few months and add another.
Make sense? If anything happens fast in this hobby it cant be good.

Don

 

[Roly]

Thanks Don, I wish their was a way to tell when you could go "all out" and get anything. Of course a few at a time though. The live rock has been in there for about 2 months, the damsels for a few weeks.

 

[DonW]

Thanks Don, I wish their was a way to tell when you could go "all out" and get anything. Of course a few at a time though. The live rock has been in there for about 2 months, the damsels for a few weeks.

You can never go "all out" well you could but youll be flushing alot of live stock.

Don

 

[Sk8r]

Best add things one at a time: each new fish [or pair] creates a minuscule spike as the sandbed adjusts and catches up to a new load.

Putting in a cleaning crew before you choose your fish is a good idea. Their load is small. They can go in pretty well together.

I'm worried that you haven't talked about algae. That hints to me that you have a crisis yet to come. You should be rolling in green stuff by now, and needing a cleaning crew.

Re mandarins: you won't get much in the way of pods until you do get healthy algae growth. Many fish eat pods, for instance, wrasses. If you lust after a mandarin, be careful what you put in that may compete with him.
To encourage the growth of pods you need algae, and you need little rockpiles in odd areas where they can breed and the fish can't wipe out the parent stock. Feeding phytoplankton also helps. You'll know when you get them: they'll be all over the glass unless they're being hunted: then you won't see a one.

 

[DonW]

.
You should be rolling in green stuff by now, and needing a cleaning crew.

Why? please explain.

Don

 

[jonneedshelp85]

i think the best advise i ever got was to keep it simple move slow and pick your fish out look through books and here on the web one thing to always remember is that this is your tank and you can do anything that you want with it.

 

[morgan]

i think 2months is plenty of time escpecially if u had 5 damsels do u have bad algeal growth? if u cut down to just 2 fish that wouldnt equate to the same amount of fish weight the 5 damsels equals, this way so not to upset ur husbandry. 110gl is huge for a tang but if first fish in will more then likely become bossy towards other free swimmers, blennys are good and very placid the red hawk fish or any hawk fish i wouldnt keep with small inverts, hermits and shirmps
u have to choose fish that appeal to u and ur requirments the lfs will help u out and if they dont whats there problem i would get a yellow and blue tang and a red sea sailfin tang with a pair of true prec clowns
the dragonette need a tank about 6 months old with placid fish but i have never seen a fish pay attention to my old mandrin or my scooter blenny(which is a dragonet and not a blenny)

 

[ronj]

i would get a yellow and blue tang and a red sea sailfin tang

i don't know if i would do this...i'm not saying that it wouldn't work, but it could cause unwanted problems ..i'm not sure, but i don't even think the 110g is 6ft long...that wouldn't be good for the tangs..i think he could go with a yellow tang..i wouldn't want him to start out with a fish that requires a little more care..the yellow are pretty easy to maintain and they are colorful..