Which Maintenance Crew and Tang?

[derekpmiller]

I will be starting my 12 Gallon Nano Reef in a few days and after allowing plenty of time for the tank to cycle I will be adding a maintenance crew with some snails and a Tang. I am just wondering what all of you guys would recommend for the type of snails to buy. I am also wondering which tangs you would recommend, if you have pictures to go along with your recommendations please post!!! I will eventually be adding a pair of perculas, a mandarin goby and lots of soft corals to go along with the tang and cleaners. Thank You In Advance!!!

[MammaDuck]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I wouldn't recommend a tang (any size, any variety) for a 12 gal tank. Tangs require a LOT of open swim area. I wouldn't put a tang in a tank smaller than 70 gal. You can get away with putting a small one in a smaller tank, but only if you have a home for him to go when he's too big for his digs.

As for snails, I'm partial to the nascissus (sp?) snails. They are great sand bed stirrers. Another side note, make sure you have a thriving pod community before you add the mandarin, otherwise he'd probably starve to death

That said, welcome to TRT (if you haven't been welcomed yet

[squid]

I will eventually be adding a pair of perculas, a mandarin goby and lots of soft corals to go along with the tang and cleaners

That's too many fish in a 12 gallon tank.

I agree with Jenn on any tang

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I wouldn't recommend a tang (any size, any variety) for a 12 gal tank.

It's just not fair to the animal.

I think you need to do a bit more research on fish and their requirements to survive in the homes we give them. I would stay with fish that won't get big, that won't out grow your tank. We'll be here to guide you along, but you should have some basic knowledge (not meant to be mean here..) of the animals you want to take care of.

OH btw, if you don't already know this, MOST saltwaer fish will grown to their natural size. Unlike MOST freshwater fish what only grow to the size of their tank.

[ruhspolostar]

I think bumble bee snails are good and peppermint cleaner shrimp and small brittle stars all make great cleaners in my opinion

[manderson0805]

3 words on the mandarin.....no, no, no. I've yet to see one live in a tank smaller than a 75, and that one had about 175 lbs of live rock. They will devour a tank full of pods a lot faster than you think, and before you know it, there is no way for the pods to reproduce fast enough to keep the mandarin's appetite happy.

[Geoff]

i agree with all that has been stated. the problem with SW is that the critters we want to keep are not used to such small places. i have found that knowing what the critter likes to do in the wild give me an idea on whether or not it will survive in my system. i like to research my animals so i can sound smart. Tangs: what i have found out is that they are like bison, wide range herbivores they cruise the reefs looking for patches of algae. they are constantly on the move. Mandarine: come from rubble areas where there are lots of pods. rubble can be deep in some parts so that the pods can be several layers down where the madarine can not get them. not very practical in the aquarium. so if we want to keep one we have to make the area searched much larger.

i think a pair of perc would be great in a 12. that fits what they do in the wild. they are very territorial. do not travel far from their host. whether it be an anemone, hammer coral, or power head.

G~

[derekpmiller]

Thanks to all of you for your feedback. I'm trying to do as much research as possible in order to give my animals a good, natural home. What kinds og gobies and blennies would you recommend for my tank?

[Geoff]

a bi-colour blenny would make a great addition. also fire gobies do well. they are just prone to jumping. jawfish can also make good candidates. they like to dig so make your LR strong.

G~

[Doug1]

The so called "clown gobies" are small, cute and come in a few different color varieties, like green, black and a few others. thes guys max at maybe an inch and a half. most of the gobies or blennys will establish a bolt hole that they will call there own, and spend a lot of time perched near making occasional foreys out and about, they should not conflict with a pair of samll perc or occelaris clowns. However 12 gallons is not much space nor does SW support the same bioload as the same volume of FW. In a FW tank you could prolly get away with 2 dozen neon tetras, zebra danios, or white cloud fish with no problem, however no way will a 12 SW carry that much fishload. SW carries less dissolved O2 and the waste products of fish are are responsible for more complex changes in water quality in SW than in FW. And the less space you have the more critical water quality becomes. Waste buildup and resultant water quality changes will occur faster and impact a small tank sooner than a large one. HTH

[squid]

The so called "clown gobies" are small, cute and come in a few different color varieties, like green, black and a few others. thes guys max at maybe an inch and a half

GREAT little fish. I am going to try to add 2 pictures. One is a shot of the coral with the "yellow clown goby" the other is a close up shot.

[squid]

Here's the close up I have had this little guy for about 9 moths now and is doing wonderful. He goes from coral to coral, but mainly sleeps in this one

[Doug1]

Thanks Lise, i was hoping someone had a pic handy

[Rob_Reef_Keeper]

Squid, What coral is the goby in?

[Toadfish]

I think the clown gobies are pretty cool. I never paid much attention to them until I saw a green one in my LFS the other day. I think the clown gobie would be perfect, as would a jawfish. Another great fish

[squid]

I am not 100% sure, but from pictures I have found (eric boreman's aquarium coral) its a Montipora Tuberculosa. pg 345.

I wrote to GARF and sent them a picture. They couldn't ID it either. So, if this is incorrect name, please let me know.