fish for 46

ok so as long as I am in the planning stage for my bowfront 46 I am thinking of fish that I would want. I do want some pajama cardinals. how many should I get for them to be comfy? what other fish would be good? I don't want jumpers as I don't want to put the cover on. thanks

The formula is 1 - 2 inches of fish for every 5 gal of water. But this can be fudged with a good protein skimmer, frequent water changes 25% per WEEK?!?!? Matt has nano tanks with fish jammed in like sardines. I was incredulous, he told me about the water changes and said small bodied fish do not really count much towards that formula. Hence a two inch watchman gobi would barely count, but a three inch angel fish has a heavier body and would contribute to the "bio-load" of the tank. Look to see how big they grow, and many websites will give you a recommended tank size for that fish. This won't tell you how many you can put in. "It is more of a set of guideline than rule." Pirates of the Caribbean.

Is it going to be a reef? I would really think about putting at least some eggcrate over the top, it's really not worth the risk, any fish can jump. I lost 3-4 that way before I learned my lesson and covered all my tanks. IME blennies, damsels, hawkfish and wrasse are all jumpers. Firefish and gobies are too. I've heard of plenty of angels carpet surfing too. Even clowns. Peaceful bottom dwellings fish would probably be safest but make for a boring tank.

I just lost a fairy wrasse cause no egg crate, I still didn't learn my lesson though. I just can't help but think egg crate would affect par or something?

I'm sure it does, it is light diffuser after all. I know some people are using plastic mesh instead, especially with wrasses, it comes in black or almost clear, is smaller than eggcrate so stops more fish and doesn't affect the light output much. You have to buy/make a frame for it though. I couldn't find any locally though and light isn't really a concern of mine, there's still more than enough for what I'm keeping. Technically eggcrate is supposed to go on a certain side too, it's slightly angled apparently. I will be looking into the mesh myself as I'm debating adding firefish to my nano reef and think the holes in the eggcrate will be way too large.

GoingPostal wrote:I'm sure it does, it is light diffuser after all. I know some people are using plastic mesh instead, especially with wrasses, it comes in black or almost clear, is smaller than eggcrate so stops more fish and doesn't affect the light output much. You have to buy/make a frame for it though. I couldn't find any locally though and light isn't really a concern of mine, there's still more than enough for what I'm keeping. Technically eggcrate is supposed to go on a certain side too, it's slightly angled apparently. I will be looking into the mesh myself as I'm debating adding firefish to my nano reef and think the holes in the eggcrate will be way too large.

Well, we've been talking about doing a "screen top" build for the newly revitalized club over here in Duluth...I'll keep y'all posted The framing and mesh is available through Home Depot - I have plenty of the black mesh on hand. Fritz down at SWE in the cities first showed me this, and they look fantastic compared to eggcrate and assuredly block less light. I've built two already.

FWIW,

Matt

What kind of mesh was it?

there are so many fish u can put in a 46 just rember that they all like to jump especialy the gobys. if you find a fish and are wondering what tank size let me know i can pucnh it in on this cd i have with over a 1000 species and it tells me what they eat tank size disposition care levels and compatibility best cd ive ever bougth no more chasing the intranet lol

Basslets
Cardinals
Jawfish


Just a few that I would look at.

check out www.tcmas.org. They have the directions to make a screen top on the site as a sticky somewhere (I think DIY forum). They use a screen kit with bird netting. It's really light and has almost no effect on the lighting at all...

I had EggCrate on my 75 and took it off due to light restriction... Now I just have my canopy. It is fully enclosed other than a couple fan holes...

pepemint basslet is a good choice, easy care peacfull and reef cap. with 3in in size, fairy basslet also good . Pajama cardinals or bangia cardinals probably spelld it wrong. a blue spot jawfish has a intermidiat level but it is reef cap. and a good disposition they all have good color and are samaller fish so currents willl want to be slower any specific fish let me know

Jawfish are pretty easy to take care of, as long as you have a sand bed deep enough to make them happy.

watch the burrowing fish or at least make sure that the rock is stable aginst the floor of tank cause one day it might all come crashing down lol

where did you get the cd you are talking about, sounds like a great investment

I have 2 Pajama's I'm looking to get rid of.
a Christmas tree wrasse.
a chalk bass.
a Black clownfish.