Fish Stocking Challenge
 

We have just started up a 28g long nano tank. This tank is BB with lots of zoo corals and some LR in it. I would like to get some small fish for this tank.

My challenge is what small fish that don't jump would be ok in a BB (bare bottom) tank, other then clown fish and damsels.

Any ideas? Thanks :biggrin:

Royal grammas, blackcap basslets, cardinals, blennies, dwarf angels, many types of gobies, i'm sure there are others these are just the first that came to mind

What is the minimum tank requirements for dwarf angels? I thought they needed more space or I would own one!

A rusty angel would be ok...pistol shrimp and goby too, some small yellow tail blue damsels..although they can preasent a challenge in some cases. Mine havent though...

Some good ideas everyone :biggrin: Some of this decision was made for me today when my boyfriend came home with a wonderful surprise of a very cute little yellow clown goby :mrgreen:

I will try to post pic.'s later. So far this silly little guy likes to perch on top of the edge of the plug at the back of the tank :confused:

I was going to say a yellow clown Goby :smile: I have two in my 24g. Aren't they super cute!

I pm'd you, I was wondering how your 2 gobies get along with each other.

My Rusty Angelfish swims the entire breadth of my 55G. I might feel guilty confining it to something half the size!

How about a Mandarin Dragonette (if it's eating frozen/mysis) and/or a Six Line Wrasse? You could also spice it up with some interesting inverts (linkia starfish, shrimp, etc.)

I was thinking about a 6 line wrasse (I really like them) but my concerns are: 1) do they need a sand bottom to sleep in? 2) is it likely that one will jump out or not? and 3) Will a six line pick on a yellow goby? Generally speaking of course.

Anyone know?

1-3) no, or at least not so with my previous six lines.
Rainford gobie might be a good choice, stays small, somewhat colourful, and generally pretty sociable.

I was actually going to suggest that, Catherine, but I'm not sure about keeping multiple gobies in such a small space? I have no experience with it, so it's all really speculation on my part.

I have a Six Line in my open-top, barebottom aquarium. He zips in and out of the rocks/corals and has a great ol' time. Or so it seems. No problems so far. And it's so cute, active and interactive.

Thanks Catherine and Drew. I thought a rainford goby needed a sand bed?

I don't totally remember. What I do know though is that they are small, and stay small, I don't think they grow any larger then 1" or 1.5".

Have you look at the nano fish list on some of the nano websites?

Yes, I was looking at a few different websites about nano fish. The problem I was having was that all the small fish that I really like either are known to jump out (BTW we are not using the canopy, the open top makes it easier to frag zoos) or they need a sand bed to eat from and/or sleep in. I'm pretty sure that a rainford goby eats by sifting through the sand for food. If one would be ok in a BB I would love to get one because they are a very cool looking fish.

I was thinking that a six line wrasse would be good to add. Then I remembered that we just added nudibranchs to our tank to help get rid of the aptasia, and I believe a six line would eat the nudi's right?

Not sure on that one. I've only ever had one lettuce nudibranch.

You could always try unconventional fish and inverts like say a ribbon eels or maybe even a frogfish. However, those two aren't compatible with your new little clown goby. Depending on how you are going to be doing the flow you could also look at seahorses and pipefish.

Rainfords/Hectors need sand, ribbon eels would escape,frogfish is a good choice for something different if your willing to feed it 3x a week, seahorse/pipefish will require a hitching post and low flow.

Thanks for all the ideas and advice everyone. We have a pipefish in our refugium, so we won't be getting another one. We thought about a frog fish but we don't know much about how to take care of one, so we got a yellow clown goby instead.

I think I'm going to get a red scooter blenny (lots of pods and live mysis in our system) and a black cap basslet (if I can find one) or (if I can't find one) maybe a royal gramma.

I went to the LFS today and I didn't know that black cap basslets cost so much! I couldn't find a red scooter blenny so...

After talking to the guy at the store (AI) he was fairly certain that the only thing that eats nudi's are powerheads so... a six line wrasse and a cute little bi-colour blenny followed me home :mrgreen: