Fish or Coral First?

[Mnesarchus]

My 10g reef has been established for about 3 weeks now, and in 2 weeks I am either going to add my first coral or my two clownfish (Ocellaris).

 

Current Inhabitants

3 Red legged hermits

3 Small Snails

1 Longspined Sea Urchin

1 Featherduster

 

Should I add my corals or clowns first? Does the order make any difference. Thanks in advance.

[Dave ESPI]

hearty inverts, then softies, then more inverts, then LPS, and SPS, LAST fish. they are the highest point on the food / waste eco chain. Time it takes...... anyone can add fish... take the time to build the tank. Fish just a creative nusance to an un stable (less than 6 month old) reef tank.

Or add fish, and figure a long battle fer stability.

IME / IMO... its best to leave out the fish till yer sure the rock and "Pods" are stable, Algaes are growing well and the water collumn is Bullet proof.

[printerdown01]

Which do you want more? If you truely don't care, then I totally agree with dave! But if you are looking for a certain fish, and your LFS, just by chance has one in right now, by all means add the fish... Otherwise, I would wait for the tank to become more stable (especially if you didn't cycle with one).

[mxpro32]

i always thought that if you set the tank up and let it cycle then add corals and stuff it would have to adjust to the corals. then when you add fish the waste would increase dramatically and cause another cycle that wouldnt be good for the corals. i always add my fish first one at a time and let the bacteria balance things out before adding corals.