Under eels, I think the Golden Dwarf Moray (Gymnothorax melatremus) shoud be added. 10 gallon minimum, 20 ideal (although a 10 would be fine.)

Seahorses have been added thanks to member lelualexa.

Taking a break from Nano-Reef for some time to focus on school. I will still check occasionally for PMs and emails if anyone needs anything. Later.

He's BACK!

Great post. Lots of good info.

Info on hawkfish:
I kept a falco hawkfish in a FOWLR 30g setup for some time. It was a very interesting fish, with lots of personality, and easy to care for... it would eat any meaty food. It had a cute habit of perching on a rock and turning its head from side to side to look around. Caution though: hawks have big mouths. Mine ate a cleaner shrimp which I thought was safe because it was twice as big as the hawk! My hawk was always the first fish to eat and was a pig. But it was somewhat agressive. At one point, I added a tomato clown to the tank, and the hawk would attack it whenever it would come near the area that the hawk considered his territory. The clown wouldn't back down easily, and quite a fight would ensue, but the hawk would always win.

I believe that most hawks can get fairly large for a nano: mine was about 1.5" when I bought it, and grew to 3" fairly quickly (max size for this fellow). Other hawks get up to 5". Based on my experience, I would class hawkfish as good beginner fish, but would say they shouldn't be added to a small tank, and they shouldn't be added in with any smaller fish or crustations.

Lets get this bumped up for a little while because I find it very helpful to people who don't know much about stocking.. Due to the fish store saying you can put a tang in almost any tank. psh

this should be a sticky

i vote sticky too

STICKY!!!

What would be a good stock list for a 55gal tank?

depends on what you like

Well im saying what would be a rule of thumb of stuff you can keep in a 55gal... Right now I have a Huma Huma Trigger and a Dogface Puffer... I shouldn't have got them but noone at the LFS when I got the tank way back when told me that they are to big for the tank...

They are still small but eventually I will have to get rid of them.. Once theyre gone im done with aggressive fish.. I can't have snails because they will eat them, or crabs, or urchins, or anything good... They even try to eat the LR sometimes...

What would be like a complete list of what can be in a 55? Like how this whole thread is.

I might be able to throw a list together for you, but not until after monday. If you can't wait, pick up a copy of "Marine Fish" by Scott Michael.

Don't forget the barnacle blenny. Stay about 2". Probably a 10g min because they dart out of their hole really fast to get food.

Great list Igreen,

Could I keep 2 red headed gobys in my 5g?
Could I keep 2 pipefish in a 30g tall?Its not very wide so I am wondering,its only 12in wide.

I have all the time in the world Thanks

sure x 2

in both cases, you'd want to make sure and get a male and female though. for sure w/ the pipefish though since the males may kill each other.

I was at my lfs they had a black headed jawfish said it would be ok in my 12G JBJ. I am not sure though does anyone know. It is not a dusky jawfish I am sure of that. It has a dark black head with a yellow line by each line.

ALL dwarf angels need 30 gallons bare min. Also its unetheical to put fish in a pico!

This is a great thread. Thanks to everyone who put work into this.

lgreen? Did you forget about me

firstimereefer: I've heard of people keeping jawfish in fairly small tanks, but I think a 12g nanocube is really pushing it considering you really only have about 8 gallons of area for the fish. I'd personally probably wouldn't.

Betta5: This issue has been more than adequately covered in the introduction.

directional: I forgot, sorry. If I have time at work tomorrow I will throw together a list and post it in the evening.

Just wondering if this is too many fish in my 20g
1 flame angel
2 yellow damsels
1 ocellerais clown

You should be okay... Damsels are the devil... Heh.. Just My Opinion...

would I be able to add 1 more small fish or would this b too much?


P.S. my damsels get along very well and they are happy

Im not sure if you can do one more.. It depends how much you feed. How big they are.. What your filtration is. How often you do water changes. If your running any macroalgae etc...

Either way you should add the fish slowly and then monitor the levels to see how they change.

Ive had the 4 fish for more than a month and they have been doing fine
and i monitored the levels and everything is good so would some kind of burrowing goby be fine or will it b too much?

Im sure you will be okay then...

Directional,

I think a majority of the fish that would work are listed already in the guide and all those listed would be fine in a 55g. I'm not going to be terribly specific, due to school work being my priority at the second, but I'll try and give you some general ideas.

Most anthias would be fine
Most seabass would be fine
Some butterfly's would be ok until they start getting a bit bigger (most not reef safe though, but copperband occasionally aren't too bad)
-longnose
-copperband
-black back
-racoon
-kleins
-threadfin/auriga
Any dwarf angel
Some larger angels maybe for a while, but most need 75-125+
Any damsel/clown
Any reef safe wrasse
Some of the non-reef safe
Some puffers

It is generally acceptable if you keep a tang or surgeon in 55g. Usually purple tangs and yellow tangs do fine long term, but especially w/ surgeon fish you want to make sure and get them small and then plan on moving them to something bigger eventually. Especially avoid powder browns and powder blues, and unicorns unless you have like a 125g+.

Some triggers might be fine for a while but may need to be moved to something bigger later on. Same with puffers.

Anyways, I didn't go too in depth there, but hopefully that will give you some ideas. Sorry I just don't have the time right now to really go through and make a thorough list. If you have specific questions or want to know about options with in a family fish, post away and I'll try to get to them as time permits.

Thanks...

Right now I have a Huma Huma Trigger, and Dogface Puffer, Snowflake Eel... They are still like 3" but I dont like how I cant have any snails or hermits to clean the tank...

I am going to change it all up eventually... Thank you though...

will it be too much to have a sixline, a drwaf angel and a yellow tail damsel in a 20g. i currently have a aquaclear filter a prizm skimmer and some cheato

I don't have any direct references, but I observed my Rainford Goby picking pods out of a vast sea of GHA, never once actually grazing on the algae itself. Given that it also sifts sand which is typically bahavior associated with microfauna-eaters, I'm convinced that their purported habit of eating algae is confusion with the fact that the pods they eat tend to hide there.

genrally, would any of the fish in the 20g section be suitable in a 15 aga? which ones would be a good choice and which would be the worst, thanks

tough call. kind of comes down to your judgment. i'd say a lot in the 20g category are pushing it for 20g as it is, so I think you'd be better of sticking w/ the 10g category.

2007 Update has begun. Cleaning things up a bit to make it easier to navigate and adding a few new features.

2 New Features to be finished in the next few days to week:

-Feeding Suggestions (already had this done once, but PC froze and I lost it. ERRR!!)
-Nano Fish Compatibility

As always, your suggestions are always welcome and encouraged.

damn, i did all the research on my own except reading your guide..my bad..great suggestions for a beginner like myself..thanks

This one goes in the same category as the Helfrichi firefish. I can't find one less than $300! But they're so, so nice...

Thanks for the information. I have been doing alot of reading in preperation of buying a nano. I found this guide very helpful and will refer to it when I finally buy a couple of fish.

Igreen, thank you so much for all of your hard work on this (and thanks to anyone else who put work into it). It has been very helpful!

One thing I am looking for, and if someone could point me to it, I'd appreciate it, is how to know how many invertebrates one could keep with a given invertebrate-safe fish.

For example, if I do a 6g with a false perculla, is there any leeway for any inverts at all, and if so, how many?

I really like arrow crabs, but am afraid it would be too much.
I also like choc chip stars and blood shrimp.

Thanks again!!

inverts don't count towards your bioload, especially since many of them eat waste, left over food and detritus before it can pollute your tank. in a 6 gallon, 6 astreas, 6 blue legs and a scarlett hermit would be a good clean up crew and you could throw in a few ornamental crustaceans. but keep in mind territorial behavior. arrow crabs are the devil, so stay away from them. one blood shrimp would be ok, as long as he had a place big enough to hide in. don't do any starfish in a 6 gallon unless it's just nasty and can support their feeding habits, but even then only a bali star would have a shot at surviving and you would have to hope it started eating pellets. do not get a chocolate chip star, especially if you plan on having corals. they are NOT reef safe, as they eat anything that they can digest.

Thank you SO MUCH for your input!!

Anyone else have anything to add/say?

Anywhere on here that specificly discusses inverts, etc?

Check out the invertebrate forum:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showforum=22

I too would avoid the arrow crab and choc. stars. Really a 6g is no place for a starfish of any type, except maybe baby brittles, if you ask me. Additionally arrow crabs get too big and have been known also to eat just about anything they can get a hold of, which can include fish.

Thanks for the input and the link. I've been working my way thru the beginner's forums and haven't even peeked anywhere else! LOL!

I do have a question which might nix this whole idea for me, tho.

What about vacations? We go, at least once a year, and spend 10 days at my in-laws', 1000 miles away. I have always fattened my FW and BW fish up a bit beforehand, cleaned their tanks and let them be for the 10 days, and they've always been fine (except that my bettas act like they've never seen me before when I get back, lol).

Can that be done with a nano-FOWLR tank? Or would I have to have someone come and feed them, and if so, how often? I don't know if I have anyone who could/would do it more than once or twice, and I would rather not bother them with it if I don't have to.

Completely depends on your setup. If your fish will eat pellets, you can easily go out and buy an automatic feeder to fix the food problem. You can also buy an auto-topoff unit to keep your water topped off (which you should buy regardless of whether you're going on vacation).

If you go that route, make sure you test the new equipment for at least a week to make sure it isn't overfeeding your tank.

Well, it's only a 6g tank, so it'll only have one fish, a CUC, and a shrimp or 2.

Updated for 2007. Feeding and compatibility charts to be added as soon as I get to them.

who made this a sticky? whoever it was theyre a God!

Thanks for all the info, and work compiling it.
I have a simple 12 gal, mini reef setup, low lighting, It is only one month old, I have added a bi-color blennie, small one. My question is could I add another fish, anfd if so, what do you suggest. I would like something, hardy easy to feed..
Suggestions..??
Thanks

Can you have seahorses and fish in a 8 gal tank together?

sure. there is a whole list of fish for a 10-12g tank on the first page.



Maybe a really small fish, but I wouldn't push it. Your going to have enough of a bioload in an 8 gal just keeping the seahorses fed properly.

First off, this is an EXCELLENT write-up, you deserve much credit for taking the time to do this, and share it for free.

I second the inputs that say a 30G is the minimum size for any kind of wrasse (6 line, etc.). I had one in my 40G and felt it was too small of a tank (although more live rock would have helped). I feel the same way about any kind of puffer, they need a larger tank then 10g (prefer 30+).

also, Pajama and Bangaii Cardinals are always found in schools in the wild, and should be kept in groups in the aquarium as well. I've never kept single individuals for more than a week, but have not had trouble with groups.

I think some persuasion needs to be done to make this a sticky in the pico section too, having info. for .5g 2.5g and 5g tanks is valuable info. and everyone always wants to know what they can stick in their pico and never read this.

Sticky in the Pico Section!