31.5x24x20 63 gallon tank stocking

[DriftingNemo]

Before the end of November (hopefully) my 63 gallon tank will be up and running. I already bought a few bits and pieces to start the tank, but its still a planted tank at the moment. I'll be using an Eheim 2028 canister filter on this tank so the filtration will be more than adequate. No skimmer until I want to start keeping corals. Since my tank is a tall tank and will only be filled up to 55 or so gallons because of the rim hiding the rest of the tank, I know that any Tangs are out of question. I want to keep a pair of Ocellaris Clowns (one black and one orange preferably) and I would also get a Bangaii Cardinal. I just want to know how many small to medium size fish I could keep in this size tank, I would like to go for a dwarf angelfish of some sort but I don't know which species is the most reef compatible, some help with that would be appreciated

[altiuscitius]

If you use a canister filter, fill it up with seachem matrix media. Not the carbon, but the rock rubble type of Matrix. It has pore sizes that simulate live rock and allow nitrification and denitrification to occure. Then add a bag of purigen, and a bag of chemipure elite. (Or actually I guess chemipure blue is now a combo of purigen and chemipure elite, so you could just use a bag of that I suppose, Ive just never tried it, but Im told it works well.) Water changes and purigen can replace a skimmer pretty easily. Plus to be honest, I don't like having a skimmer, I find its a lot of hassle to use and set up, and I don't like the way it removes things from the water that other things would like to eat. My feather dusters never lived in my tanks with skimmers, but they multiple and thrive in tanks without.

 

The igreens ultimate guide to nano stocking located on this site is a great guide for what fish are best to get and how many you can have. It only goes up to 30g tanks and says 4-6 small fish is about right for that size. So you could probably go up to 10 small fish for your tank as long as they were types that get along with each other. Ideally get fish that occupy different niches, so they don't compete with each other for food and don't get aggressive and territorial, and then you can pack the tank as full as your biological filter will allow, which a canister full of Matrix will allow you quite a bit of fish.

 

If I had your tank, I would probably go with 2 ocellaris clowns, 3 bangaii or pajama cardinals, a royal gramma, a bicolour blenny (maybe a small midas, but they get pretty big), a dwarf flame angel (or a coral beauty), a firefish, and a goby of some sort, probably a watchman and a pistol shrimp. You could also get some small fairy or flasher wrasses. Either buy a bonded pair, or get 3 females and see who turns into a male, or just get one male to look pretty.

 

Make sure you add peacefull fish first and aggressive fish last. So the Gramma, Cardianl and Angel should be added last basically. The wrasses and firefish first. The other in the middle.

 

All of these are good beginner fish, hardy, easy to look after and feed, inexpensive, a couple of them are even bred in captivity commonly so you wouldn't be depleting wild stocks.

 

Then I would throw in a bunch of snails and emerald crabs. (I love hermits, but they can be destructive, so I use them anyways and just accept that they will eat the occasional snail and will drag their shells over my corals. A true coral tank is better off with just snails and no crabs). Add in a pair of cleaner shrimp, and you got yourself a tank going.

[DriftingNemo]

Thanks for the detailed reply! I'll definitely be looking into the seachem products (a bit pricey where I live) but hopefully they'll be worth the money and I'll research some of the fish you've suggested. I've kept a Blue Chromis, a Royal Gramma, an Ocellaris Clown and multiple hermit crabs in my previous tank. The Chromis and Clownfish were just a treat to keep, the Gramma was slightly aggressive towards me more than anything . I have built up a passionate hatred for hermit crabs since all they ever did was knock my corals over and knock on the glass with their shells in the middle of the night. I want to get a firefish or a wrasse of some sort, but my tank has 2 small openings in the back of the rim that would need to be sealed up completely since those fish are jumpers, and I've read that some Wrasses can get nasty when they get older. I really like cleaner shrimps and will definitely be getting one, I had one for around 3 months before I tore my old tank down, and it was a spectacular addition.

[altiuscitius]

SIx line wrasses are a commonly kept wrasse in nano tanks, and they are fine till they get older and then can become real devils, aggressive and territorial, and fast an manouverable enough to harass and injure fish much larger then them. That is the only real aggressive nano wrasse. There are of course the large 8 inch wrasses that are very aggressive, but your tank is too small to have them.

 

The fairy and flasher wrasses are all peacefull regardless of age, and max out at 3 inches or so, so they are your best choice for a nano tank.

 

Check amazon for the seachem products, they are pretty reasonable as saltwater fish supplies go. You only need to buy the matrix once, 2 litres should run about 20 bucks, and the purigen you can buy once and regenerate it twice a year in bleach, or just buy new stuff every 6 months. Since its only about 10 dollars for the 100ml you need per 100gallon tank, I just replace mine rather then dealing with soaking in bleach and then prime for a few days to regen it.

[DriftingNemo]

I really like the way Fairy Wrasses look, I've never seen one in the LFS that I work for, but I suppose I could get one ordered in for me The latest hype seems to be ChemiPure Blue, I might just use that stuff since it's ChemiPure and Purigen in one product. I can get some A3 size filter floss sheets that are around 1.5 inches thick for about 5 bucks. There's also some phosphate removing media that I would consider using along with the ChemiPure and ceramic rings.