Once the tank was up and running for a while, I was ready to look for some livestock. Keep in mind, if you are starting from scratch, you need to let the tank fully mature for 2-3 months with your rock and sand before adding your livestock. In my case, I used matured live rock and the same filters used on a matured tank. Although I could have stocked it within a day or two, I still ran the system for a couple of weeks, just to be sure everything was working the way it should. To mature a tank, you need to add a couple of fish and wait for the tank to cycle, although there are products available to greatly speed up the nitrification cycle.

The first fish I purchased were two yellow-tailed blue damsels, Chrysiptera parasema. These feisty little devils are very hardy, don’t get very big (approximately 2 inches), are very active fish, make a good community reef fish, and are also good first fish for maturing a tank. They do tend to be territorial, and therefore a bit aggressive to intruders, but their size prevents them from doing any damage. Another good candidate, and a bit more docile, is the green chromis, Chromis viridis, which grows to about 3-4 inches. They are very active and are good schooling fish, in groups of three or more, with their iridescent green shimmering in the water as they dart back and forth along the upper levels of the tank.

The next candidate was a false clown anemonefish, Amphiprion ocellaris. These fish are a colorful orange with white vertical bands and black trim around the edges of all the fins. They make good community reef fish, grow to about 3.5 inches long, are active in the upper portion of the tank, and make an excellent choice for a reef tank. The clown anemonefish, Amphiprion percula has similar coloration, except the black lines are thicker separating the white bands from the orange on their bodies, among other distinctions. I also added a Clark’s anemonefish, Amphiprion clarkii that a previous owner had for a few years, so he was fully-grown at about 5.5 inches. I guess because of his age and size, he is a bit bolder then the smaller percula clown, and lets everyone else in the tank know he’s boss. Although these fish have a symbiosis relationship with certain sea anemones, they can be kept without them. Anemones must have excellent water conditions and high intensity light for survival in a tank and are only recommended for the advanced reefkeeper. The Clark’s anemonefish has made a home in a large soft coral known as a colt coral in my tank. On any given night, you can find him lying in the center of the colt coral amongst the branches.

Now I was looking for another active fish that would move amongst the rockwork. The six-lined wrasse, Pseudocheilinus hexataenia fit the bill perfectly. Being one of the most active fish I have come across, this colorful fish, with horizontal bands of blue and red along its body and a green caudal fin, zips in and out of the rocks all day long and covers the entire tank many times over. Sometimes he is seen doing a dance along the front glass. He also makes a good community reef fish, getting along with the other tankmates, as long as there are no others of his type. I have found many species of marine fish get along fine with other species except for their own, so you have to be careful not to add more than one of the same species unless they are a mated pair, or are schooling fish.

Next, I found another unusual patterned fish know as the pajama cardinal, Sphaeramia nematoptera. Although this is a nocturnal fish, with the big red eyes, they tend to stay out during the day and just "hang" in the mid to upper levels of the tank as if suspended on a string. You can keep more than one of these fish in the same tank, and are a good fish to get two or three of at the same time. They can grow to a maximum 4-inch length. At the time I set up this tank, the banggai cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni was not available. This striking fish with black vertical bands against a silvery white background with many small white spots on the body and edging the fins, is another great fish to keep more than one in a community tank. They share the same traits as the pajama cardinal in that they sort of just hang there, although they are a bit more active, but they are a sight to see.

To take care of the lower portion of the tank, I obtained an algae blenny, Cryptocentrus caeruleomaculus, which can reach a length of 3 inches. These remind me of a stone, so ugly they are cute, as they will perch on a rock and not move for quite a while before suddenly bolting after a morsel of food or start "sucking" on the rocks or the glass for algae.

I couldn’t pass up getting a few tangs or surgeonfishes as there are quite a few varieties out there with beautiful coloration. I chose a regal tang, Paracanthurus hepatus and a yellow tang, Zebrasoma flavescens. These surgeonfishes are very active, and make good community reef fish. They do require a bit more attention to special feeding requirements than the above fish. Being herbivores, tangs need lots of vegetable matter in their diet to stay healthy.

When this fish caught my eye, the coloration and movements of the mandarinfish, Pterosynchiropus splendidus dazzled me. Obtaining a length of about 2.5 inches, this fish reminds me of a hummingbird, with the way it glides over the rocks and then hangs there until it pecks live micro-organisms from the rocks. This fish is very entertaining to watch, although if you have a lot of rockwork, you may not see it for long periods of time. This fish needs these micro-organisms that live in the matured live rock to feed on, so it is not advisable to add this fish to a new tank.

When I saw my first flame angel, Centropyge loriculus, I couldn’t pass it up and just had to have one for my tank. This fish, although one of the safest in the angel fish family for a reef tank, can still nip at some corals and clams to the point of stressing these animals. So beware if you plan to keep a lot of delicate corals in your tank.

Except for the tangs and mandarin fish, all the above fish will do fine on a variety of flake, frozen, and freeze-dried foods, as well as an occasional treat of live brine shrimp, which I try to obtain once a week from my local fish store. Although the tangs will eat the same food, they do need the addition of vegetable matter to their diets. You’ll find most of the other fish will eat the vegetable matter as well, such as spirulina flake food.

I hope this helps you in your quest for the first fish in your community reef tank, but I have only scratched the surface. There are many more fish that would make excellent tankmates. In the future, I hope to discuss them with you as I try them out in my reef tanks.