Beginner fish to start

[Reza San]

Hi Reefers, 

Any advise on beginner fish to start with? I've seen a lot of fishes in LFS and they're so beautiful. Some are cheap and some are very costly.

For a nano 10g (2 months cycle w dry rocks), what can I start with? And maximum number of fishes? Open for discussion as well.

Tried putting in some clowns, chromis but didn't turn out well after a few weeks. There's no issue with corals though.
Have some Zoas, Duncan and an Elegance coral.

Do I need to wait awhile longer to put in fish?

Edited June 30, 2021 by Reza San

[dtdream]

Generally clowns and chromis are considered easy fishes. Which LFS did you but them from? Did you check if they were healthy and feeding before you bought them?

If corals are doing ok, "easy" fishes should be well, easy. No need to wait longer, especially is Ammonia levels are 0, which it should be if your corals are doing ok.

Unless you're just unlucky and got fishes caught by cyanide and the cyanide levels were too high. Just have to try again. Try to get fishes which look stable, no visible aliments, and feeding (ask the LFS to feed and show you, most will assist with this).

[Reza San]

Mistake for not checking the fish and just buying it. Will get the staff to demo feed it next time.

Thanks for the advise.

[dtdream]

Don't be shy to just stand in front of the LFS's tank and observe for 10mins or even longer too.

Watch out for unusual behavior like swimming erratically, scraping off surfaces, breathing too quickly, etc.

Usually if swimming properly, no visible aliments and eating at LFS is good. If they chase food will be best. 

But again, you could be unlucky with cyanide fishes or maybe some hidden disease. Best best if you can QT, but I do understand why many in SG don't.

So yea best bet is just observe closely at LFS.