Ok! What to get!?

Darla

New Member
Alright!!
Water is perfect!!
Still building on the live rock because it's so damn expensive, but decided on a FOWLR tank.
We are ready for 2 fish.
Just 2,right now.

Should I get a pair of clowns or the ever dreaded yet cute damsels.
Or maybe a lawnmower bennie and a damsel??
32g biocube is my tank.
It's been cycling since November.

Just need some suggestions on which to get first.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Personally I would not recommend the clowns, damsels, or a lawnmower blennie.

Here is what your dealing with. Your tank is modest in size. By the time you add live rock and maybe a sandbed that tank is holding only about 25 gal of water. Typically in a SW system you want 1 inch of fish per 5 gal of water. That gives you about 5 total inches of fish to deal with. Most SW fish come in at about two inches, but you do need some room for them to grow.

Since you have a limited amount of fish you can put in there, you want to make sure each addition is a real gem and greatly adds to the tank. Small, but colorful fish I'd tend to go with would be -

any of the fire gobies (warning these can jump, make sure your tank is tightly covered)
Green clown gobie (other clown gobies are good also)
royal gramma
neon dottyback (add last, these can be aggressive. Other dottybacks are good also)
Yellowhead jawfish (avoid the blue dot jawfish as they have special requirements and are expensive)
long nose hawk (other hawkfish are good also)
Marine beta
many of the fairy or flasher wrasses (check required tank size, some need a larger tank)

That should get you started. There are lots of other good selections. Be sure to research any fish you want to add to make sure it's going to work out in your system.
 

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
image.jpeg Agree with DaveK, this is the unfortunate outcome of popularity.
Many of the problems begin with the interbreeding of clowns to create designer clowns, nice looking, expensive, but not necessarily heathy.

I have had this pair for 5 years now, same colour, same species, once heathy, tend to be very very hardy and adapt well to captivity.

Good luck.......
 
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