Reef Discussion

rosechaser

Member
Jul 14, 2011
532
41
Sydney
What order to put fish/inverts in tank
This is a very broad question, but one that I hear lots of LFS advise differently, but then again they aren't there at home watching fish settle in.

So the question is if you have as an example a territorial fish like a tomato clown and say a school of chromis, which would you put in first, or a semi agressive fish and a not so agressive fish

If you wanted a Hawkfish and Shrimp, which first, similarly

Bi colour blenny and and sat a midas blenny

Anyway that's the gist of my question? Hope it's not too broad
 

rosechaser

Member
Jul 14, 2011
532
41
Sydney
Just starting to putting in a lot of ground work planning things....but tank is 1400 x 750h x 600w (600 l) with 900 sump

What I was planning was;-

  • Zebra moray eel
  • Bi colour blenny
  • Pair of yellow watchman gobies with a pistol shrimp if I can
  • Pair of red line shrimp
  • Pair of Barrier reef clowns (akindynos)
  • Flame hawkfish

    and either a small group of
  • Anthia Cooperi or Bi-colour, or
  • Blue Chromis Cyaneus not Viridus

    if there's room
  • Bi colour angel fish
 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
Lots of different answers as people will use their own experience when devising the answer. The problem is that even though we can generalise, two fish of the same species can react differently depending on the circumstances.

Generally, you will want to put in the least aggressive fish first so that they can establish a territory before the more aggressive fish arrives. You also need to consider the colour, shape and feeding patterns of the fish concerned.

In your fish list I have no experience with eels, watchman gobies or Barrier Reef clowns. I don't think you would have too many problems with the remaining fish no matter what order you got them.
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
thats a nice fish list. very suitable for the size. anthias will be a good choice as long as you can keep up with the constant feeding.
Pair of yellow watchman gobies with a pistol shrimp sounds great. problem is often in a large tank you never see them as they will hide behind the rockwork.