# 42 gallon wish list



## bobo (Sep 20, 2007)

So my tank is finally getting built and i`ll have it over the next few days
its 42 gallons and at the start i`ll have 50 pounds of live rock
the reason for this is because my LFS sells its coral and anemonies on LR so i`l be adding the whole rock in the future

my current wishlist is : 
2 clowns (probably occelaris or maroon) w/anemone
1 longnosed yellow butterfly fish
1 lawnmower blenny (will be added last)
1 canary blenny
1 mandarin fish (debating this one)
! bluestripe neon goby
2 firefish (pair) 
and some shrimp

i also wanted to add a valentini and/ or yellow tang - i know the valentini may lead to problems with the shrimp but that depends on the character.

help ? am i over the top ? undeR?

also wanted to add that i have a friend with an 120 gallon tank and whatever outgrows my tank will be moved to his - eg. the yellow tang.


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## SeaSerpant (Dec 9, 2007)

I don't know what fish will do well with others but i don't think your overcrowding your tank at all. Hope this helps.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Have you research every fish thoroughly? I don't agree with mixing puffers in a community tank. Is adding an anemone a necessity in your case? What species of anemones are you going to keep? Clowns are fine without anemones and will host just about anything.


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## bobo (Sep 20, 2007)

i know that the butterfly fish likes to feed off anemones - but i believe that the clown will defend theirs greatly. i was thinking of a carpet anemone - probably green and this will be limited. The valentini is the only puffer i can get closest to a reef puffer fish and i`m a major fan of puffer fish. Also my worries about the mandarin fish are that it wont get enough food - but again this depends down to each of the fish individuals i get - since availability when my tank is set up may be different.

the clowns are a nescessity - i love the way they look and interact
also the puffer is important as long as it has a suitable character - that depends on the available one but the LFS had a great reef valentini until recently - got along with everything.

my wishlist is a bit uo/down since availability will vary.

i was thinking more along the lines of overstocking? am i good with that?


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

I'd certainly scratch the mandarin with the rest of the fish, they'd probably eat up the available natural foods. I'd scratch the butterfly fish as they tend to need more swimming room. I'd scratch the carpet anemone as they get huge and could easily dominate a 40g. Instead I'd get a Bubble Tip for those clowns, keep the fire fish., shrimp and algae blenny. That would be the limit in my 40g.


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## bobo (Sep 20, 2007)

alright sounds good - the valentini is still a major debate  but will end up as a no.

as for starfish anything which you think would be suitable for my tank?

at my LFS there is also this fish - bottom dweller - gathers live sand in its mouth and drops it through its gills? any idea on what it is?. it has blue spots on its upper body and head.


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Stay away from that dragon goby. As neat as they are it will quickly make a mess of a smaller tank. You'll have sand everywhere, not to mention the rock slides from when it removes the sand from under the rock work. Well it was just a guess that it was white with blue spots. It may be a blue spot jawfish, kinda orange and blue. The Bluespots are a little more calm but generally command a price of about $120 and are not commonly available for sale at this time of the year. In fact the farther away from Sept you get the more expensive they become. 

Brittle stars and linkia stars are good bets for your tank. Stay away from the linkia until about 1 year as they eat detritus and a new tank won't keep them alive for long. Mini brittles, tiger serpent stars, bubble tip serpents are all safe bets. Stay away from green brittle stars as they catch and eat fish. Chocolate stars eat corals. Most other stars are not reef safe.


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## bobo (Sep 20, 2007)

okay its not a dragon goby - thankfully - it actually is 
Diamond Goby
i was only planning to get one of these because my girlfriend really liked it when she saw it at the petshop ;p what you think of these then caferacer ? 

while at the petshop i saw a small orange starfish in his reef tank - i`ll look for a picture similar to it.


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Retailers tend to mix the name. I owned a Diamond, or AKA dragon (not to be confused with the freshwater [and actually it's a brackish] goby), AKA as sleeper prawn goby, and it was as described. Isn't it funny all these "common" names given to the same fish. Also sometimes called a watchman goby in the same manner as you'd call a yellow watchman goby.

White with blue spots and a few spots of orange through the body. I couldn't wait until my anemone finally ate that thing. 

Better bets are blue spot jawfish, yellow watchman goby, tiger gobie.


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## bobo (Sep 20, 2007)

another thing i want to mention is that i will have minimal live rock at the beginning. what can i put in this swimming spacE?


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Cardinal fish would be a great addition to a 40g tank. I especially like Bangaiis (plus they breed like guppies), but Pajama cards are nice as well. These fish don't do much. They just kinda float around in the space. They are inexpensive and easy to care for.


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## bobo (Sep 20, 2007)

yeah i saw those at the petshop and they looked kinda coool ;p maybe. my tank is coming on monday and my live rock soon after so i`m starting and i`m quite excited


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