Fish stock ideas

[ScubaSteve]

Tell me about it! I wants to find that cool oyster though... =P

A few options that I've been considering:

- Paired dragon-faced pipefish (would be great to tackle a couple of red bugs too)
- A pair of Threadfin or Longfin Butterflys (Heniochus acuminatus)
- Some combination of dwarf angels (Only 1 or 2 species)
- Small group of anthias (no more than 3)
- White bar Mystery and Leopard wrasse

I have a feeling I'd like to find good swimmer as my blenny just hangs out in his hole all day if there is no one to swim with (he does come out and go ballistic at the glass when he sees me come into the room like a puppy). I also don't mind a challenge and going against convention a bit... a lot of what I do goes against convention as it is and it's made for a pretty successful reef thus far.

I would really like to avoid having a mesh of anything over top of the tank. I am going to be rebuilding the tank so that it has a SUPER clean rimless look with no visible wires, heaters, hang my light over the tank instead of legs, etc. I'm even going to try hiding the powerheads. Plus I'd tried the mesh trick before and my Carpenter's Flasher found the tiniest hole to fly through off to fish-jerkyland.

[High tide]

Ha, ha, yeah they tend to do that (jerky that is). I would probably go the angel route, it meets all your criteria, especially for character and being an active swimmer. No reason why you couldn't add more fish though.

I'm not convinced of the dragonface pipefishes effectiveness on controlling red bugs or if it even eats them at all. So don't choose them based on that. But they are very cool and definitely a challenge to keep. I tried them once before because I was really hoping they ate red bugs (as advertised on live aquaria) but was disappointed, they never even looked at them.

Most Anthias and Wrasses are jumpers.