Wish List: Will these fish go together?

I have just started my saltwater tank and I am no where close to buying these fish right now, but I have made a wish list and want to know if these will go together:

I currently have 3 damsels cycling my tank.. two blue ones and a domino one. I plan on getting the one with the stripes as well.

These are my favorites:
Dogface Puffer
Maroon Clown Fish
Cleaner Shrimp
Lawn Mower Blenny
Seahorse

I also like..
Emperor fish
Leopard Blenny
Clown Gobby

 

Seahorses need to be in a special type of tank, a biotope, with only seahorses.

That puffer will eat any shrimp and other inverts in a tank.

How large is your tank?

 

I heard the dogfaces are very sweet. I guess I am going to cross the seahorse and cleaner shrimp off my list. My tank is 55 gallons.

 

They are really cool fish. They are very dirty, so a good skimmer is always recommended. The Dog Face gets up to a foot in length so a bigger tank is need for proper care. Around 120g would be a good size. Unfortunately, even if you get a very small puffer, you would be well over the limit bio load in a 55g.

 

Hmm.. so cleaner shrimp back on the list, dogface off .

What if I did..
maroon clown fish (and maybe one more clown fish)
lawn mower blenny
cleaner shrimp
and some kind of angel fish or tang all together? On top of my three damsels.

 

Hehe, it definitely is like a puzzle when stocking a tank. The good news is that the cleaner shrimp doesn't really factor in to your bio-load.

The selection you have looks fine, provided you add them slowly to the tank. One fish every week or two AFTER the cycle is complete. Beware though, damsels can be quite nasty to smaller newcomers. Many in the hobby return the damsels to the LFS once the cycle is complete.

Maroons can be quite mean to other clowns and peaceful fish. They're really the bullies of the clownfish world. If you want another clownfish, really you should only go with another maroon one. Hopefully you will be able to buy them as a mated pair to avoid the typical fights when pairing first takes place.

A blenny will do fine since it can easily hide and it is a bottom dweller.

As for the angel fish, to avoid overloading your tanks filtering capabilities, look in to the pygmy/dwarf family. Flame, flameback, coral beauty and such are great little fish that will utilize your whole tank.

 

How big do damsels get? My damsels right now are the smallest fish I've ever had. Even my betta fish is bigger. What about the black clownfish? I also like the panther grouper and lionfish.

 

3 or 4 lined damsels will most likely get mean, lionfish and groupers are fond of eating other fish... Be careful. You are doing the right thing by asking questions of the group. Research is always key!
Cheers,
Steve

 

Blue damsels stay relatively small at about 2 inches. The dominos can get upwards of 4-6 inches. The black ocellaris clownfish don't get bigger than 3 inches.

The panther grouper gets up to over a foot and a half and requires a VERY large tank. 250 gallons and up.

I'm not too familiar on lionfish other than to say that they are semi-aggressive to other fish, but can be very personable to the owner.

 

Will my damsel try to bully everyone in the tank? I really like the domino damsel and would like to keep him even after the cycle, but I really want clownfish, blennies, and cleaner shrimps.