Fish Selection For a 90 gallon mixed Reef

Question
Hi Jennifer,
My question for you is this. i currently have a 90 gallon tank with about 110lbs of live sand and 60-70lbs of live rock. i will be adding more in the future but wanted to plan out which type of fish i was going to keep in my tank.

I already have a few sps, lps and other softies in there.

This is what i am planning any input would be splendid : )
1. Foxface rabbitfish or the (Fiji version would be preferred)
2. ocellaris clownfish(would love the standard tank bred color but would also like to add a pair of black as weLl)
3.Desjardini Tang and a regal/blue tang
4.Shrimp-Goby Symbionts(pistol shrimp and can you recommend a goby for this?)
5.coral beauty

at this point i do not know what else to get so IMO i do not want to overcrowd my 90 gallon tank. if you need any other info please feel free to ask
thanks
mike

Answer
HI Michael. I hope you are planning on utilizing a quarantine tank before putting any fish in with your already established coral tank. Tangs and angelfish are ich magnets! I love the rabbitfishes! They are very often overlooked because they tend to be a little drab as far as saltwater fish go but they are excellent algae eaters. There have been cases of foxface eating and nipping at some corals. Usually if well fed you can curb this behavior but sometimes even a well fed specimen will find some coral polyps tasty. This holds true for your dwarf angelfish and tangs as well. All of these fish will need large amounts of algae in their diet to keep them healthy and all can be polyp nippers. I have a Desjardini sailfin tang and he started nipping at my xenia polyps and guess he likes they way they taste because even when well fed he still nibbles upon them although he leaves all my other corals alone. I have a lot of xenia so there is plenty to spare. However this is just an example of what kinds of personality differences can be seen even with in the same species of fish. Chances are that with the addition of four potential coral polyp nippers that one may end up being quite destructive. All of these fish should get along together okay, however you may want to take some precaution when adding two tangs to your tank as well as four percula clowns. Some tangs get along fine with other tangs but individual personalities can vary and you may get an overly aggressive specimen that decides he doesn't want to share his space with another tang. In this case one tang can become so aggressive to the other that it will actually pick it to death(I have seen this happen first hand with my friends tank). The same goes for the clownfish. You may have to introduce the clownfish all at the same time to ensure that territories are not already established and disputes don't break out. Most of your shrimp gobies will be fine to introduce with a pistol shrimp and will create the symbiotic relationship you are looking for. Two of the better species are the orange spotted shrimp goby and the highfin shrimp goby but any of the shrimp gobies will do. Prepare yourself for the extremely loud noises produced by the pistol shrimp. I have one that hitch hiked on my live rock that I have never seen but I sure do hear! Sometimes when I walk past the tank the loud cracking noise can actually startle me!