Going crazy: can't choose another fish!

[cherubfish pair]

For the past few months I can't decide on another fish. See my build and stock thread for tank info. My wife likes Coral Beauties, but they aren't 100% reef safe. I'm thinking another ocellaris, but I also want a variety. I'm planning on two fish max. My 20 gallon won't be ready for a few more months so the two fish will have to be in my 6 gallon for awhile. Could a coral beauty be in a 6 gallon for awhile. It'll be about 1-1/2 inch. Two clownfish will fight until the dominate one becomes a female, so need tank space for that?

[Bogart80]

I put a coral beauty in my tank once. Then I spent the next two days trying to get him out! Now maybe mine just thought he was a lion fish, but man did he go after everything, corals, and my clowns.

They are a great looking fish, and every time I am at my LFS I take a peek at one. But I have learned that at least in my tank they don’t work well. I would say no less than a 20g for them.

[Keiths_Reefs]

My CB was a model citizen for the first year. Now I'm working on getting another tank set up for the corals.

[weimers75]

I would say 6 gallons is really small for clowns, even if for a short time and if they were occys. I bred clowns for awhile, and they are poop factories, you'll have an impossible time keeping parameters in check. The smallest I ever had them in (and this is when they were less than a week old larvae) was 10 gallons, and at that age they're about a 1/16 of an inch.

They will fight to establish dominance, but occys are some of the more peaceful, so that won't be an issue in the 20, but it won't work in the 6. Since they are readily available fish, I would wait until the 20 is ready.

[thejiro]

how about a bicolor blenny or a purple firefish both great looking fish affordable and reef safe

ken

[Sandeep]

I like yellow-tail damsels. Beautiful, super hardy, intelligent and they won't host in and damage any of your coral and they leave invertebrates alone.

[sabazerehi]

never had a problem with my coral beauty but they need at least a 30g anyways.

[Justinandkrista]

purple firefish or sixline wrasse

[Justinandkrista]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+2124

theres to many to say

[El Camaron]

I'm on the same boat, looking for the right 4th fish but cant make up my mind. The Purple Firefish is really nice but no one has it locally and will always wish i could get a mandarin but i wont do it. Like the mystery wrasse but its way expensive.

[Bogart80]

mandarin might be just the way to go! I love mine, also they are very hardy.

[Mark426]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12633870#post12633870 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bogart80
mandarin might be just the way to go! I love mine, also they are very hardy.

Now thats funny!

[jamest0o0]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12633870#post12633870 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bogart80
mandarin might be just the way to go! I love mine, also they are very hardy.

Yes they are hardy, but they are also great at starving.

[jeff209]

orchid dotty back, yashia and shrimp pair, yellow watchman, gum drop goby, court jester goby

[nate82]

madarin hardy? haha the guy at my local fish store tells everyone they're so cheap because they never last long

[Bogart80]

The mandarin can and will starve if you are unaware of how to care for them. Before you buy any fish you should always research what the fish needs. They will eat frozen foods, the problem is they are freaking slow eaters, so by the time the fish had one bite all the rest of the food is gone. That is why it is a good idea to have a well established tank with a lot of little goodies for them to feed on until they get the hang of dinner time.

I read a lot of ways to try and coach them into eating; the one I came up with worked the best. (For me) I would put ½ a cube into a small bowel of the tanks water and let the frozen food thaw out. Once that was done I took the rest of the cube frozen and held it into the tank. While the clowns were eating the frozen food out of my hands I would pour the rest of the food into the tank, this aloud most of the thawed food to sink to the button so my mandarin could get some food before the clowns got it all.

I had great success with my mandarin. All be it, he was a pain in the butt to feed.

[cherubfish pair]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12638561#post12638561 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bogart80
The mandarin can and will starve if you are unaware of how to care for them. Before you buy any fish you should always research what the fish needs. They will eat frozen foods, the problem is they are freaking slow eaters, so by the time the fish had one bite all the rest of the food is gone. That is why it is a good idea to have a well established tank with a lot of little goodies for them to feed on until they get the hang of dinner time.
That's sound advice. What about using a very productive refugium to provide little goodies?

[cherubfish pair]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12628791#post12628791 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bogart80
I put a coral beauty in my tank once. Then I spent the next two days trying to get him out! Now maybe mine just thought he was a lion fish, but man did he go after everything, corals, and my clowns.

They are a great looking fish, and every time I am at my LFS I take a peek at one. But I have learned that at least in my tank they don’t work well. I would say no less than a 20g for them.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12628970#post12628970 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Keiths_Reefs
My CB was a model citizen for the first year. Now I'm working on getting another tank set up for the corals. <a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12631355#post12631355 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sabazerehi
never had a problem with my coral beauty but they need at least a 30g anyways. What corals DIDN'T your CB's pester?

[Bogart80]

i dont have many, but the only ones my Coral Beaty. didnt touch where my mushrooms

[cherubfish pair]

Well I didn't choose another fish, but I did lose a fish. My only fish, it was an occy that I had for eight years, must have died from natural causes. My son, two of his friends, and I had a burial for him outside. It gave my son a lot of closure as he took care of it occasionally.

[reefman13]

I had a Rusty Angel that didn't bother anything....until I got my PBT...then it had to go...

[cherubfish pair]

PBT?

[Acan Lord]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12837691#post12837691 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cherubfish pair
PBT?
Usally powder blue tang or powder brown tang

[reefer1024]

i dont mean to bash, but I think a 20 gallon is to small for a CB let alone a 6. I think you should wait till you have the 20 set up and then add a second fish.

Why not do a Pair of clowns any of the following:

pair of neon gobies or other small goby
firefish
dottyback
blenny
flasher wrasse
pistol shrimp and goby
royal gramma

[cherubfish pair]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12837759#post12837759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefer1024
i dont mean to bash, but I think a 20 gallon is to small for a CB let alone a 6. I think you should wait till you have the 20 set up and then add a second fish.
Yes, I wouldn't put a CB in there either, nothing less than a 30.

[rustrocker]

Seriously, even a mandarin eating frozen in a 10 gallon isn't getting a nutritionally sound diet, they need to eat primarily live pods. Please stop encouraging amateur biologists to experiment with the lives of such beautiful creatures. Yes I'm aware of the guy with a blog who has done it for 3 years, I'm also aware of the massive amount of work, and luck involved. To top it off, if you see a mandarin in a large tank, they are constantly on the move, and make full use of every inch of tank space given to them. They are not appropriate for a 10 gallon, let alone a 6.

In a 6 gallon, i'd recommend clown gobies, neon gobies, small shrimp gobies. Thats about it. And 2 is pushing it.

[cherubfish pair]

Why do you people think I'm putting fish in a 6 gallon? It's more than big enough for my quarantine tank.

[rustrocker]

2 months is a long quarantine... and 6 gallons is a very small tank.

[cherubfish pair]

Where are you getting two months?

[rustrocker]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12628679#post12628679 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cherubfish pair
My 20 gallon won't be ready for a few more months so the two fish will have to be in my 6 gallon for awhile.

2 fish, 6 gallon tank, a few more months. Forgive me if I misinterpreted that statement.

[cherubfish pair]

Yes, you caught me with my foot in my mouth. I said that. It goes to show how real the title of the thread was: "Going crazy: can't choose another fish!"

Well I'm still lost as what to get. I know if I ever get up to a 40 gallon tank I'll have a snowflake moray, a dwarf angel of some type and a clown/bta.

[Moonstream]

I dont get it, are you planning to keep fish in the 6g temp. or not? IMO it would be a good idea to get a bigger (min 10g) QT tank, because most things arent going to be very happy in a stressful stage such as QT, and a 6g is so tiny that they wont be able to have adequite swimming, hiding, ect places.

as for stocking, I would say that a yashia shrimp goby and pistol shrimp, a pair of B&W clowns and a neon or yellow clown goby would be cool.