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[JAMBON]

Can anyone suggest some suitable fish for a community aquaruim? i've been looking at clowns, chromis, tangs, angels and dwarf angels etc....but as i'm anovice i don't want to make any mistakes. I'm aiming to get as much colour into my tank as poss. it will have LR and Hard Corals.

much appreciated.

[liquidlogic]

wht size tank? wht are ur paras? What lighting? What inverts?

[JAMBON]

My tank is an Aqua one 850 the lighting is either 2 x t8's or t5's not sure which.No inverts but i will be looking at putting in a cleaner shrimp, some live rock, DSB and a couple of power heads.

i've only just got the tank and am going to put the water in tomorrow.

[oakwell]

its a matter of opinions i'm afraid just take it slow at first and dont get fish that will outgrow the tank.

All the usuals have been mentioned but i would rec clowns, chromis, bangai cardinals etc etc.

Best advise is goto your local LFS(marie tech is close by) tell em what setup you have and they will tell you what fish they have in that is suitable.

[Tangman]

Hi Jambon, Tangs will not be advisable to keep in your tank also hard corals as they want halide lighting, as Oakwell says stay with the small stuff and take it slow and dont impulse buy and stock 1 fish per month upto your limit. HTH. Eric

[liquidlogic]

the smallest of the tangs need minimum of 75 gals;) the rest need 200 gal at least

[Dons1903]

lighting is either 2 x t8's or t5's not sure which

Jambon,

The T8/T5 thing comes from the diameter on the tube in 1/8 of inches.

i.e. T8 is 8 x 1/8" = 1" standard size tube
T5 is 5 x 1/8" = 5/8"

And just to confuse Arcadia claim that the thinner T5 tubes have around 80% more power!

[Gillybaby]

Can anyone suggest some suitable fish for a community aquaruim? i've been looking at clowns, chromis, tangs, angels and dwarf angels etc....but as i'm anovice i don't want to make any mistakes. I'm aiming to get as much colour into my tank as poss. it will have LR and Hard Corals.

much appreciated.

As said, avoid the tangs and also the large angels. The dwarf angels are nice but may nip your corals so you will have to bear that in mind if you get one.

I think you have missed out some great fish in your list:

Blennies - lawnmower blennies may be dull in colour but they are most definitely not in personality. However, bi-colours, tailspots, orange spots are all pretty colourful, as are the fang blennies.

Grammas - can't get much brighter than a Royal Gramma, you could even try a shoal of 3/4 instead of chromis. They will defend their wee cave but are otherwise peaceful.

Gobies - how about a shrimp goby and pistol shrimp pair? Great to watch. Citrus, Clown and Neon gobies are tiny but colourful and full of personality.

Firefish - really colourful and very peaceful.

Chalk Bass - I love these fish but don't actually have any myself. A bit different though.

Just some suggestions for small, colourful community fish. You don't have to have Tangs and Angels to have a great looking reef.

HTH

PS Thought I should qualify, I don't mean add all of the above, just that this is a good selection of fish that you could choose from. Sorry if this was obvious.

[waren]

I love my yellow banded maroon clowns, the only down side is that you wont be able to have any more clowns due to the aggression but its a good excuse to get a nem:D

[Kev]

One of my favourite fish for the reef tank is the beautifully coloured Pyjama Wrasse. They are a real busy, non stop, inquisitive little fish that I have never seen bothering anything else. The one I used to have I did witness is devouring some small bristle worms, but was certainly not bothered by that. Great fish in my opinion.

Kev