Stock My Tank! (1 Viewer)

[LoganLaBonne]

Hi All,

Looking for some help stocking my 30 gallon nano. This will be a mixed reef.

Current plan is:

1 x Rainford's Goby
2 x Snowflake Clowns
1 x Six Line Wrasse

Would love to hear what you all think!

 

[ikserk]

six lines can be "fish"holes (if you catch my drift). was there a particular reason you included it on your stock list?

 

[LoganLaBonne]

six lines can be "fish"holes (if you catch my drift). was there a particular reason you included it on your stock list?

I've read they can be quite aggressive but figured I could minimize that by adding it to the tank last. Would that not work?

I like it because of the movement it will add to the tank, its coloring, size, and that it might take care of pests.

 

[ikserk]

I just wanted to be sure that you knew what you could be getting into. and you have been doing the research!

 

[LoganLaBonne]

I just wanted to be sure that you knew what you could be getting into. and you have been doing the research!

Thanks! Do you have any other ideas for nano fish? Also, are you aware of any designer clown breeders on TCMAS? I'd love to buy local.

 

[ikserk]

sand bed or bare bottom?

 

[LoganLaBonne]

sand bed or bare bottom?

Sand. Had planned on only doing about an inch of fiji pink. I have a court jester goby in my 10 gallon now and he does a pretty good job of keeping the sand sifted and clean. Would love to have a bigger tank with a deep sand bed to keep a leopard wrasse but unfortunately I just don't have the space.

 

[ikserk]

with a sand bed, i would be looking at a pair of Amblyeleotris sp. or Stonogobiops sp. gobies and a pistol shrimp (I prefer the tiger pistol shrimp, Alpheus bellulus)

Gobies: http://www.liveaquaria.com/category/31/gobies
Tiger pistol shrimp: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/1148/tiger-snapping-shrimp

watching the shrimp work in the sand and the gobies stand guard is well worth it.

 

[jlanger]

30 gallon nano...

You must include a goby and shrimp pair; hands down my favorite nano inhabitants. Bottom dwelling gobies will get along just fine with the Rainford's Goby. In addition to the aforementioned species, the Cryptocentrus spp. gobies are great fish also.

The pair of clowns will do well but over time, they [she] will become the dominant fish in the tank, so at some point adding new fish may be an issue.

When it comes to Six Line Wrasses, I've written them off as "fish-holes" and avoid them. I've had some that were great and some that were not; one eventually killed two blennies. I would recommend the smaller flasher wrasses. I just added a male McCosker's Wrasse to my 32gal and I'm very pleased with him. It's always swimming in open water and seems to have calmed my skittish Royal Gramma.

Speaking of blennies... Most blennies make great nano fish; especially the genus Ecsenius.

 

[LoganLaBonne]

Is there a Goby you'd suggest? I don't want one that will broadcast sand all over my coral. Do I need a mature sand bed for it or will it eat flake, pellet, and frozen? is 1 inch deep enough?

Wow! The flasher wrasse are stunning! I had totally discounted these as liveaquaria says these need 55 gallons. Will they be fine in a 30G?

 

[ikserk]

The gobies aren't the ones moving the sand around. That's the job of the pistol shrimp. you will need to be mindful and not place corals on the sand in the vicinity of burrow entrances or they will get buried.

 

[jlanger]

Gobies of the Valenciennea sp. are the best when it comes to sifting the sand, but that means they're the worst for depositing said sand on your corals.

That being said, pistol shrimp ca also be notorious for pushing sand on top of anything on the sand near the burrow entrances. The larger species (i.e. Tiger Pistol Shrimp) are even capable of dragging small frags (even small clams (been there)) into the burrow. The smaller species (i.e. Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp) stay very small and don't create much havoc.
The shrimp and goby will make due with any amount of sand. It is best to have your rocks sitting directly on the bottom glass so the rocks don't shift when the shrimp digs beneath them. The deeper of a sand bed you have, the bigger the piles of sand the shrimp will create.

Gobies of the Amblyeleotris genus make for great goby and shrimp pairs; any of them will do great.
The Stonogobiops genus is also good, although I would consider the Yasha Goby (S. yasha) to be more timid and less hardy than the Hi-Fin Goby or Dracula Goby.
The smaller species of gobies like the cleaner gobies and Masked Gobies are very cool and make for great nano fish, but they have much shorter life spans than the other gobies.
Most gobies will eat prepared foods; frozen blends and mysis shrimp.

When it comes to looking at the flasher wrasses, look at the maximum size of the species. If you stick with the species on the smaller end of the range (around 3"), you'll have better luck. They do like to swim, so if they have adequate open water, holes/tunnels to swim through and not much competition for space, they'll do fine.

 

[LoganLaBonne]

Thanks for all the advice. I think you two have me settled on the following:

1 x Rainford's Goby - 3 inch
2 x Snowflake Clowns - 3 x 2 = 6 inch
1 x Red Banded Shrimp
1 x Wheeler's Goby (or other Amblyeleotris) - 3 inch
1 x Flasher Wrasse (probably McCosker's but maybe a Filamented) - 3 inch

That comes to a total fish length of 15 inches which is will be less than 2 gallon per inch (after accounting for rock and equipment). Can I get away with this? Will be running small skimmer, chaeto refugium and marine pure spheres.

If not, I'll probably only get one clown though I had a breeding pair before and loved watching them.

 

[ikserk]

looks like a good little tank to me. good luck

@jlanger: teamwork high five!