What fish to go with...

[Marshall1385]

After doing a lot of reading on here, I have been discouraged in my choices for finding a algae eating fish for my tank. I have a 75g w/ mainly zoas, a few lps and a clam. I plan on keeping it lps and softies for the most part. So at one point I thought about getting a tang, but everyone on here seems to be against putting one in a 75g d/t size. Then I started thinking about a flame angle and found that they are pretty notorious for nipping at clams. Then thought about a foxface and have read where they ate a lot of reefers softies. So, my question is, is there anything that I've missed or am I being a little over cautious with my decision here?

[anbosu]

You could try a lawnmower blenny. What type of algae are you having a problem with, hair algae?

[Adam_T]

Everyone has their opinions regarding tangs, but IMHO...1-2 tangs will do just great in a 75 gallon. Plenty of room to swim. Heck, it has the same length as most 120 gallons and people are just fine with putting tangs in those. Sure, a 120 gallon is deeper but with tangs, you are going to see them swimming the length of the tank more than back and forth short distances while scaling the width of it. But like I said...just my opinion.

[Marshall1385]

Its hair algae... I forgot to mention earlier that I do have a very fat lawnmower blenny.

[jenjen]

My suggestion would be against adding fish as a solution to any type of algae, but hair algae in particular is usually controllable with dilligent husbandry.

What fish do you currently have, and what is on your potential wish list? One of the smaller tangs may do alright in a 75g (ie: tomini, kole, yellow) but it would very much depend on what else is in the tank.

[Marshall1385]

I'm actually redoing my sump now so everything will hopefully be a little more stable.

Currently I have a small true perc, false perc, lawnmower blenny, clown goby, green manderin, orange spot goby, and a purple firefish. All I would really like to add at this point are maybe a couple of smaller gobies, and tang. I'm not too fond of yellow tangs tho.