New tank Fish Selection

rottface4 · 09-04-2004, 02:05 PM

I have been working on setting up an new nano reef tank now. I'm upgrading to a 20L, still going to be a reef tank. Which compared to my Eclipse six I have been running for three years now, its quite an upgrade. The tank has been up for about a month now and cylced about two weeeks ago. I have been planning the fish I want to add to this tank and I'm not exactly sure of what I want, but heres the list I'm working and the order I plan on entering them into the tank: I just added a pair of tank raised ocellaris (fairly young, probably not sexed yet, only about 1.25 in each)
1. 2 tank raised Ocellaris (added Sept. 3)
2. Blue neon goby
3. Some kind of Wrasse or blenny (greenleaf wrasse, perhaps)
-or some kind of fish to eat bristleworms, flatworms and
other little critters, any recommendations?
4. Flame hawk
5. Maybe some kind of fish for algae control, or perhaps just a lettuce
nudibranch

Any suggestions or ideas would be great. My plan is subject to change so any creative chnages are appricaited.

Hi-Rise Reefer · 09-04-2004, 02:43 PM

OK, 1st off, a 20L is a good selection for a nano, they are shallow and give you alot of surface area, youll get nore bang for your lighting buck with this tank as opposed to say, a 20H!

Thats 6 fish, 2 of them being clowns... Maybe a little high as far as crowding and bio-load. I have a packed tank, but I also have half the tanks size in sumps, refugium space. I will not say no to this line-up. But if a fish is assasinated by another or one dies, I wouldent rush to replace it with another.

I believe a 6 line wrasse will eat bristles. Maybe a better choice is a small arrow crab. They are active and interesting animals, mine is hunting bristles/pods 24/7. Never messes with shrimp, fish or corals.

Nudibranches are not the best algae scrubbers IME, a better choice are snalis. In your tank 20-30 of them. mix up the types, algae eater, detrious eater, night shift snails, etc..

Pamsreef · 09-04-2004, 09:45 PM

Hi,

I wouldn't recommend a hawk fish if you want shrimp plus a large one might eat small fish like a neon goby.

Don't know about the wrasse you mentioned but unless it's really small it might do better in a larger tank.

Never had an arrow crab but I thought they could eat small fish. Anyone know?

I think neon gobies are great and one of my favorite small fish is the clown goby. I have 2 yellows, 1 rusty and 1 green and for some reason the yellows are always out and about.

I've had many blennies and I've found that they have lots of personality. I would recommend a bicolor or midas. They can be kinda active and may jump from an uncovered tank.

I wouldn't count on a fish to eat flatworms. I don't have a problem with bristle worms.

Just a thought,

Pam

Phishnoob · 09-04-2004, 10:40 PM

What about a cardinalfish or a yellow watchman goby. That tank is pretty puny for some of the other stuff.

A royal gramma is pretty as well and peaceful.

rottface4 · 09-05-2004, 10:00 AM

First off I would like to thank everyone for their input. I like some of the ideas. SO of the many reasons I went with the 20L is because of the shallow depth I like it much better then the 20H which I did on my first screw up reef. I also should have mentioned I do have some snails. I have like 12 turbos, and about 10 hermits for the time being. I also have a tiger serpent star. Any recommendations on other critters. Like for sand sifting and detrious eating, etc (as Hi-rise mentioned) I was also trying to go for a tank where the fish and the critters have beneficial functions in the tank. Well besides the clowns, they were for my girlfriend. I"m not so sure about the arrow crab. I had one once and it liked to chase my fish. Is that usual behavior for them?

Phishnoob · 09-05-2004, 10:57 AM

Instead of crabs think about shrimp. We had a skunk, peppermint, fire and a coral banded in our 29g. They were great and fun to watch. We had to move our emerald crabs to my bigger tank as they were aggressive.

Pamsreef · 09-05-2004, 11:07 AM

Conchs are great to have for the sand. Pretty neat to watch also. I would pick shrimp over a Hawkfish any day (already made the mistake). FYI, don't put any fish in a tank that you may want to remove.

Good luck,

Pam

rottface4 · 09-05-2004, 04:26 PM

Ok, this is what I am thinking now.
1. The two Ocellaris
2. Neon Goby
3. Yellow Watchman goby

What do you all think? Any idea for cool critters?

Hi-Rise Reefer · 09-05-2004, 07:39 PM

I agree, get a fighting conch, they are very cool creatures and good scavengers and sand sifters. Another suggestion for a smaller tank are fish that live in holes or rockwork, they are affected much less by tank size. Get a yellow headed jawfish, they have alot of character and are peaceful and interesting. An engineer goby is a good choice as well, and they are happy as long as you have some sand and rubble for them to play with. I believe you could add these two fish and not have problems.

tims · 09-05-2004, 07:40 PM

with such a small size tank putting the two gobies togeather may cause some territory problems. i would switch one to a lawn mower blenny instead.. but the is just my penny's worth

Pamsreef · 09-05-2004, 08:41 PM

Yeah, a lawnmower blennie is a good idea. They're so ugly they're cute plus they have lots of personality.

Pam

ObsessiveProgression · 09-05-2004, 11:10 PM

What your Really need is one of these......

Phishnoob · 09-06-2004, 02:05 AM

We have a yellow watchman goby and a lawnmower blenny together in our 55. The blenny is pretty assertive though at feeding time and is the only guy that will go for the same morsel as the royal gramma.

Is a 29 too small for the blenny or is ours just a biggun?

The goby though is perfect and worked out great in our 29 before we sized up.

tims · 09-06-2004, 07:34 AM

LMB seem to just do what they want.( think they are all female then!)