Hardy Nano Saltwater Aquarium

[Hobbs]

Hey everyone,

 

My 8g aquarium is almost done cycling and I am thinking about livestock options.  I have had 6 years of experience with a 10 but after a 2 year break (went to Africa) I decided to start from scratch with a cube.

 

I have 7 pounds of very porous pre cured live rock, 12 lbs of sand, standard mechanical/ charcoal filter, and a moderate intensity LED light fixture.

 

I know my livestock selection is fairly limited so i wanted to get a couple thoughts before making any purchases.

 

I move every year so the corals/inverts/fish do have to be a bit hardy.

 

For a center piece coral, I wanted to do a birds nest coral and have some mushroom and zoos, maybe a couple other smaller corals or a leather eventually.

 

Now the hard part. Fish. I know one or two at most but I really like symbiotic relationships and am having a hard time with compatability.  I was at first considering a royal gramma (slightly larger than ideal though) for its coloring but I realized its a little aggressive.  I am also thinking a pistol shrimp/ watchman combo but the coloring is kind of dull. Also I am concerned that the pistol shrimp might kill other inverts i put in.  I'm of course going to do snails and hermits but I am pretty tempted to go with sexy shrimp and a porcelain/Pom Pom crab and spot feed.  I could just stick with clown gobies or neon gobies but I like more active, free swimming fish

 

I am completely open to suggestions and going with something completely different than what I have planned.

 

Thought of a Harlequin Shrimp but those are too much work...

Edited August 17, 2017 by Hobbs
Updated to include pictures

[Clown79]

Hello

 

For fish you are limited due to it being an 8g tank.

 

A pistol goby pair is the standard for Pico tanks. So are clown gobies.

 

A tailspot blenny would work and they have good personalities. 

 

The tank is too small for a royal gramma.

 

A small clown alone may work but eventually will need a bigger home. 

 

Birdsnest need a good amount of light and housing it with a leather in a small tank will be an issue. Sps don't tolerate the toxins from leathers, in larger tanks ppl can get away with it but with small tanks it's harder. Also the size leathers grow may become an issue for the birdsnest.

 

Birdsnest aren't really a hardy coral. They don't deal with change very well. 

 

Good hardy corals:

Leathers, xenia, gsp, mushrooms, clove polyps, frogspawn and hammers are fairly easy corals

[Mark1313]

I have a 6.6 gal. So I understand the limits. 

I went with a wheeler goby and a candy stripe pistol, color matched each other, kinda cool. Thx @Clown79

They just went in Tuesday and immediately burrowed together, this morning the goby came out and stated keeping watch. 

 

I got 2 pom pom crabs who I don't expect to see much. 

5 sexy shrimp next week. 

Few zebra hermits, I would rather have 1 Halloween hermit instead. 

Anyway there's a few ideas

[Clown79]

I rarely see my pom pom too. 

There will be times he will come out everyday at feeding for a week or 2 then I don't see him for weeks.

 

 

[Hobbs]

Thanks all for responding, I guess I was never too concerned with leathers and toxins since I've always heard that charcoal filters and water changes will quickly neutralize the toxins. I guess in such a small tank I should be concerned. Also I guess I should be worried about GSPs too then.

 

Ill look into the tail spot goby but I'm kind of bummed out that I cant find any free swimming nano fish.  

 

I'm going this weekend to my LFS so Ill update later   Glad to hear that pistols and sexy shrimp kind of get along

[Mark1313]

Free swimming. Maybe research damsel, chromis, or pygmy wrasse. Don't take my word for it but I think they'll be a good fit. 

[StinkyBunny]

I second the pistol shrimp/goby pairings. as for something free swimming, Springer's damsels are great fish as are Possum wrasses.

[Hobbs]

I ended up doing a blackray goby with a candy cane pistol shrimp! I do love the possum wrasse but I'm worried it'll get to big. We'll see in a couple weeks. I bought some zoos, blue legs, and astreas. Everything is doing great but haven't been able to find my pistol shrimp or feed my goby (arctipods). Here he is poking his head out!

[debbeach13]

Welcome back to reefing. I think you made a good choice with the shrimp/goby pair. I hope some time in the future you can get a FFS. That's a Full Fish Shot! 

[Hobbs]

Finally found both of them and they were quite ravenous! First shot I unfortunately did not have the glass clean and after i cleaned it, my shrimp was hiding, but here's what I was able to get! Also I think I'm going to switch to a journal, that way i have a better record of everything. Thanks for your help guys, you helped me make the right choice