Fish help!!

[Duds]

Hey

So I'm almost at the stocking phase for my 40 breeder. It will be a mixed reef with about 80 pounds of live rock and close to the same as live sand.

I've been looking at fish and what I really want are these: two ocellaris clowns kole tang and dispar anthias maybe 2... And then corals and some shrimp hermits and snails for clean up crew.

Lmk if those are possible I know they recommend slightly bigger tanks but will I really be prohibiting them that much if in my 40? Don't wanna make them unhappy.

Thanks
Stephen

Ps if not those then what other cool fish can I keep besides regular gobies and blennies???

 

[jamesdong009]

Unfortunately any tang in a 40g will not work. They can grow pretty fast and like to swim, so a 3' tank is too small. I don't have any experience with anthias so maybe someone else will chime in.

I would recommend some smaller wrasses for a 40g. They can be very colorful and active in the tank.

 

[Duds]

Yea I realized that no tang anymore but I was reading and can do one anthia in my size tank will be fine.

What wrasses can I get for my 40?

 

[jprince]

Yea I realized that no tang anymore but I was reading and can do one anthia in my size tank will be fine.

What wrasses can I get for my 40?

You should really look at your stocking choices as the Dispar are recommended for a minimum tank size around 75 gallons. I had a male and 3 female Lyretails which are very similar in my 200 and they got big. Take into account that with 80lbs of rock in a 40 gallon tank you have pretty much reduced the available swimming area by half. I would size the livestock according to the available area left for the fish to swim in. Oh, and Anthias really do better when kept in groups like a male and several females.

 

[inverted]

The minimum stocking for Anthias is usually for a group. You could do 1, but really they do better in a group. I wouldn't do 2 though. With a group, you'd probably want 3 or more. The males tend to be fairly aggressive and having more helps spread out the aggression a bit, so, one isn't constantly being picked on. Sometimes with just 1 though, the males will become aggressive towards other non-anthias though, you never know. There are a few solitaire species that could do better, although, off the top of my head, I'm not aware of any that are small enough for your tank. There may be, but you may need to do more research, or maybe someone else knows?

 

[Duds]

Well yea I know but on live aquaria they say if you keep a single dispar it'll be fine in 25 gallons. But idk like you said they prefer to be in larger groups so straying away from those as well.

Now what I am thinking of fish not all but these are some of my choices lmk if they will be ok to keep in my tank....

Two ocellaris clown fish
4 chalk bass
2 purple firefish
Purple dottyback
2 red tail flasher wrasse
Orange spotted goby
Coral beauty or flame angel fish

Any of those questionable in my tank with a mixed reef I know the angels are hit and miss....

Thanks
Stephen