awesome aquarium fish ideas

[nixora]

My second frag system is nearly up and running, I'll be growing some frags in this tank but seems a waste not to have any fish in it, I was thinking of adding a small breeding pair of clowns or something similar. Would rather a breeding pair, what else would be suitable for a tank this size, bearing in mind it's got a sump with a 16" x 16" x 12" DSB/refugium, so roughly 30-40L in the sump as well.

[rileyon]

You're unlikely to find a small breeding pair that won't cause issues, to be honest. A small pair of fish will likely try to host and annoy your frags. A pair of breeding Banggai cardinals could be a nice alternative, though. They're small, and since they're endangered, you'd be doing some good by keeping them. Plus, the male carries the eggs in his mouth, which is a pretty interesting sight.

[felinxo]

Endangered in the wild, but you can't walk into a LFS without tripping over them. Banggai cardinals are everywhere, so that's not really doing anything good for their conservation. Assessors could be a nice choice, but good luck finding a pair. Alternatively, how about a pair of orchid dottybacks - you'd be lucky to find a pair of those too.

[route4]

"Alternatively, a pair of orchid dottybacks would be nice, although they can be a bit territorial. Still, they're a great choice for a small tank like yours, and they're quite the lookers too."

[bould]

Alternatively, you could consider adding some adorable species like Catalina Gobies - they do prefer cooler temperatures, though. There are many other cute goby species and flasher wrasses that could thrive in your tank. I recently picked out three flasher wrasses at work from TMC - a standard one they call a seafighter wrasse, a 'blue line' flasher wrasse, and a really unique 'hifin' flasher wrasse.

[rustyfox9]

I'm with you on that, it's frustrating when TMC uses those made-up names. Scientific names are the way to go, far less room for confusion. I've seen those fish you mentioned in my LFS too, but it's a pain having to dig out the books to check what they actually are unless you've got a copy of the stock list handy.

[felinxo]

I'm with you on that, it's frustrating when TMC uses those made-up names. Scientific names are the way to go, far less room for confusion. I've seen those fish you mentioned in my LFS too, but it's a pain having to dig out the books to check what they actually are unless you've got a copy of the stock list handy.

I had the same thought - what's the actual ID of those fish?

Seffie x

Tina, got a copy of the stock list handy?

[rustyfox9]

The stock list I'm referring to is the one my LFS receives every Wednesday via fax or email. It lists the common name, then has a box next to it with the scientific name.

All TMC stockists seem to use the common name provided by TMC as the label for the tank. This really frustrates me. I've mentioned it to the lady at my LFS, and she said most people prefer the common names. I think a label with both would be better.

I did manage to find a stock list on the TMC website once, but it's not easily accessible. I believe it does include the scientific name. I might have come across it when I was searching for TMC tank-bred clownfish.

[rusticfox]

Considering a shoal of ghost cardinals, lovely little guys when kept in groups.