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Cheap/small fish recommendations for a nano tank


NaturalViolence

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NaturalViolence

I've never been much of a fish person. I've always been more of an invertebrate person. But after running an invertebrate only tank for 1-2 years and not getting the growth I wanted out of it I decided to try adding some fish. I was out one day bait fishing and managed to snag a baby blue striped grunt about the size of a quarter. It's been suggested to me many times that fish poop is the best coral food and that adding fish would help improve their growth rates. I have seen some improvement since adding fish and I suspect the microdetritivores, their larvae, and the nutrients produced by the breakdown of the fish waste have contributed to that.

 

The problem is the fish I have in their now with my corals is getting too big for the tank. I will need to move him to a bigger separate tank. To avoid this happening again in the future I want to replace him with some fish that won't grow too big for a 20 gallon tank. I also want them to be fairly cheap. I do not care about colors or appearance at all (I know, very unusual for a reefer). They need to be reef safe obviously. Oh and no clown fish.

 

So any suggestions?

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mine cost about $50 for the pair, but Yellow Watchman Goby / Pistol Shrimp are really neat IMO... They will clean your sand too

 

I don't have sand. I probably should have mentioned that earlier.

 

somehow I knew you'd say that. lol

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It depends on what kind of invertebrates you keep as well, wrasse (especially six line) are likely to eat shrimp. Same goes for hawkfish. Look into fire fish (not sure how they would do without sand) cardinals, clown gobies if you don't keep SPS, royal gramma might be good as well.

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...royal gramma might be good as well.

 

I loved the Royal Gramma I had, cool fish - live aquaria says 30g tho... ours was about 3 1/2"

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I would go for a six line wrasse, or if you're only going to keep one fish then a nice looking damselfish. IF you want to introduce multiple those two can get territorial so put them in last.

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I've never been much of a fish person. I've always been more of an invertebrate person. But after running an invertebrate only tank for 1-2 years and not getting the growth I wanted out of it I decided to try adding some fish. I was out one day bait fishing and managed to snag a baby blue striped grunt about the size of a quarter. It's been suggested to me many times that fish poop is the best coral food and that adding fish would help improve their growth rates. I have seen some improvement since adding fish and I suspect the microdetritivores, their larvae, and the nutrients produced by the breakdown of the fish waste have contributed to that.

 

The problem is the fish I have in their now with my corals is getting too big for the tank. I will need to move him to a bigger separate tank. To avoid this happening again in the future I want to replace him with some fish that won't grow too big for a 20 gallon tank. I also want them to be fairly cheap. I do not care about colors or appearance at all (I know, very unusual for a reefer). They need to be reef safe obviously. Oh and no clown fish.

 

So any suggestions?

 

 

What kind of corals do you keep?

 

Do you keep shrimp?

 

Do you have a lid?

 

How many fish do you want?

 

 

Royal gramma, sixline wrasse, damsel, firefish are cheap options.

 

Damsel may steal food from certain corals if you need to feed LPS but provides pest control.

 

Sixline may eat small shrimp but also provides pest control. Will probably jump out of rimless.

 

Firefish is a safe bet to leave all your corals food alone but won't provide much pest control. Will probably jump out of rimless.

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firefish are noturious jumpers. check out a talbets damsel. im planning on a six line for mine, small an active, if it gets too big, ill put it in my 90

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NaturalViolence

What kind of corals do you keep?

SPS, LPS, and soft.

 

Do you keep shrimp?

Not at the moment. Although in the future I may introduce peppermint shrimp to fight the inevitable aiptasia problem that I will eventually develop no matter how careful I am. It's a brand new tank so at the moment it's aiptasia free and I have no need to add them.

 

Do you have a lid?

Nope. And my light is mounted so close to the water's surface that it would be a massive hassle to remove whenever I had to feed the fish or modify the tank in any way.

 

How many fish do you want?

I don't really care to be honest. Probably only 1 since that's all I really have space for even if I stick to a small species. Maybe 2.

 

Great suggestions so far. Keep em comin'

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It's been suggested to me many times that fish poop is the best coral food and that adding fish would help improve their growth rates. I have seen some improvement since adding fish and I suspect the microdetritivores, their larvae, and the nutrients produced by the breakdown of the fish waste have contributed to that.

plenty of info about how corals eat... since you were wondering how good fish poop was:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/12/aafeature

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aafeature

 

Coprophagy: The Scoop on Poop

Coprophagy, or eating of feces, is not a subject commonly discussed in polite company (or impolite company for that matter.) However, it is common in the bacterial world. It is also seen among some reef fish species. Fecescan combine with other substances and form ‘marine snow.’

A concise investigation of nutritive value of fish poop was conducted for this article. Information on particle size, and nutrient content (total nitrogen and total phosphorus) will be shown below.

First and foremost, can the particle size be small enough for ingestion by small polyped corals? Samples of fish faeces (from Yellow Tangs (Zebrasoma flavescens) and a Chevron Tang (Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis) were drawn from an aquarium with no substrate (‘bare bottom.’) These were placed in a 1-liter bottle, capped, and shaken vigorously to simulate maceration by a pump impeller or propeller. The resulting suspension was sequentially filtered through filters with pore sizes of 1.5, 1.0, and 0.45 micrometers. Results are shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16. Particle size of macerated fish poop.

As Figure 16 demonstrates, particle size can be small enough to feed any small-polyp stony coral. The second question asks about organic content. To this end, a suspension was filtered through a pre-combusted (and pre-weighed) glass fiber filter with a pore size of 1.5 micrometers. The filter, with captured solids, was dried at 103°C for one hour, cooled in a desiccator, and weighed with an analytical balance. Weight of the dry suspended material within the sample was determined using this formula:

[(a-c) / volume of sample (milliliters)] x 1,000

Once suspended solid content was determined, the filter (with retained material) was placed in a muffle furnace (temperature of 550°C) and volatized for 20 minutes. The volatile content (generally considered to be the organic portion) was determined with this formula:

[(a-B) / volume of sample (milliliters)] x 1,000

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SPS, LPS, and soft.

 

Not at the moment. Although in the future I may introduce peppermint shrimp to fight the inevitable aiptasia problem that I will eventually develop no matter how careful I am. It's a brand new tank so at the moment it's aiptasia free and I have no need to add them.

 

Nope. And my light is mounted so close to the water's surface that it would be a massive hassle to remove whenever I had to feed the fish or modify the tank in any way.

 

I don't really care to be honest. Probably only 1 since that's all I really have space for even if I stick to a small species. Maybe 2.

 

Great suggestions so far. Keep em comin'

 

You have a small access point to feed the fish, correct?

 

If there is a way for the fish to jump out, I would probably skip the sixline/firefish and go for a damsel. Less prone to jumping and if it jumps, its only $5. It does pose a small risk to shrimp though. ofc peppermint shrimp pose a small risk to coral, they sometimes eat them so keep an eye on it if you get one.

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You absolutely can't beat a tailspot blenny IMO

4686979630_472511d137.jpg

 

-Costs between $20 and $30.

-Gets 2.5" long

-Friendly with everything.

-Eats nuisance algae.

-Hardy.

-Not shy.

-Relatively average/below average bio-load per inch.

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Sixline wrasse, barnacle blenny, Tailspot blenny, Yellow clown goby (if you're okay with them bothering your SPS occassionally), bicolor blenny, green chromis, small damsel (Springeri, yellowtail etc.) etc.

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Get a firefish.

Cheap, Very mellow, and very pretty.

Agree! I have one in my tank and it very active, also tailspot blenny is a good too. Have both in my tank.

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i just got a Royal Gramma and a Sunburst Anthia

The anthias is a large, difficult, and expensive fish. They're best off in a 100+ gallon tank and their feeding requirement alone can overcome a smaller tank's ability to handle the nutrients going into the tank.

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6 Line Wrasses are notorious for getting aggressive and so are the majority of Damsel species. I would also not recommend an Anthias in a nano tank, especially to an owner that does not have a lot of experience with fish.

 

The following fish are reef safe, generally not aggressive, and will look great in a nano if you want multiple fish.

 

Firefish (Purple or Red)

Royal Gramma

Tailspot Blenny

Chalk Bass

Barnacle Blenny

Orchid Dottyback

Blue/Green Chromis

Possum Wrasse

 

If you want only one fish, I would go with a brighly colored Dottyback, a 6 Line Wrasse or nice Damsel.

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The anthias is a large, difficult, and expensive fish. They're best off in a 100+ gallon tank and their feeding requirement alone can overcome a smaller tank's ability to handle the nutrients going into the tank.

We must be talking about different fish.The sunburst anthia i bought i paid $29.00 and is about 2 inches.Eats mysis and not difficult at all.

post-88262-0-76220200-1453838331_thumb.jpg

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We must be talking about different fish.The sunburst anthia i bought i paid $29.00 and is about 2 inches.Eats mysis and not difficult at all.

 

That's a great price on it, but they reach 5" and need fed multiple times per day. It's not getting them to eat that's hard, it's keeping them fed enough to survive long term. If they're underfed they'll usually act fine but they won't survive more than a few months.

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