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5G Pico Stocking Options


vqreefer

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My tank is still cycling so I'm trying to get some stocking ideas. I've done a lot of research and have some ideas but for some of the fish, I found little or conflicting information.

Here are some of the fish
-Royal Gramma

-Firefish

-Damsel - YTD, Fiji devil, or Sapphire/Springer's

-Clowns?

I have seen several people with grammas and firefish in picos but I'd like to get more opinions.  Damsels are a good option, but how are they with inverts in a pico?  Clowns are often discouraged but damsels are recommended a lot, so I'm wondering why.  

If I go with any of these fish, would they need to be kept alone or would I be able to add something small like a sharknose goby?

 

Thanks!

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for 5 gallons i would think a dwarf shrimp goby n shrimp. definitely too small for a clown or anything bigger than 2”

 

nice scape, wut did u use?

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52 minutes ago, Friendly said:

for 5 gallons i would think a dwarf shrimp goby n shrimp. definitely too small for a clown or anything bigger than 2”

 

nice scape, wut did u use?

Thank you! It was dry rock from LFS. He said it’s from Vietnam I don’t know anything other than that. The sand is Caribsea aragonite. 

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Chris's Fishes

Tank looks great!

 

I agree on the clown - I had one in a 5.5 temporarily, and even at around 1 1/2", she was pretty cramped. In fact, after seeing a full grown pair of false percs in person in a standard 10, I think I'll upgrade my 10 into a 20 long at some point. Captive-bred clowns move around a lot, and interact a lot with their environments, more so than a lot of fish. They deserve that extra room, although I'm sure they'd be healthy in a 10.

 

Firefish is a no-go, too. They get pretty large, and probably need the space to dart around. Mine, when startled, would go absolutely insane even in a 10 gallon, bumping into rocks, sand, and walls. In a 5, I think it'd just get stressed.

 

For the royal gramma, I have no idea - but I'd imagine they'd get a bit large for a 5. I'm going to leave that open-ended, though, just in case.

 

For damsels... eh. You could probably make some of the smaller species work long-term, but I won't say it'd be 100% ideal. The damsels you see in most stores aren't anywhere close to grown, with most reaching at least 2-3", and they're fairly active fish IME as well. It COULD be done, but after keeping a juvenile in a 5.5 for around a month and a half, I'm not sure I'd do it with an adult fish.

 

Honestly, I'd stick to gobies and inverts. A yellow clown goby pair would be fun - I think they mate in a similar fashion to clowns, are a nice yellow, and are usually pretty visible. Light bioload, too. Add a few interesting inverts, and make it a nice tank!

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17 minutes ago, Fisker said:

Tank looks great!

 

I agree on the clown - I had one in a 5.5 temporarily, and even at around 1 1/2", she was pretty cramped. In fact, after seeing a full grown pair of false percs in person in a standard 10, I think I'll upgrade my 10 into a 20 long at some point. Captive-bred clowns move around a lot, and interact a lot with their environments, more so than a lot of fish. They deserve that extra room, although I'm sure they'd be healthy in a 10.

 

Firefish is a no-go, too. They get pretty large, and probably need the space to dart around. Mine, when startled, would go absolutely insane even in a 10 gallon, bumping into rocks, sand, and walls. In a 5, I think it'd just get stressed.

 

For the royal gramma, I have no idea - but I'd imagine they'd get a bit large for a 5. I'm going to leave that open-ended, though, just in case.

 

For damsels... eh. You could probably make some of the smaller species work long-term, but I won't say it'd be 100% ideal. The damsels you see in most stores aren't anywhere close to grown, with most reaching at least 2-3", and they're fairly active fish IME as well. It COULD be done, but after keeping a juvenile in a 5.5 for around a month and a half, I'm not sure I'd do it with an adult fish.

 

Honestly, I'd stick to gobies and inverts. A yellow clown goby pair would be fun - I think they mate in a similar fashion to clowns, are a nice yellow, and are usually pretty visible. Light bioload, too. Add a few interesting inverts, and make it a nice tank!

I’ve heard that grammas stick to the rock work and aren’t super active so it could work. Size would be the only problem there. I’d stick with smaller damsels, like the sapphire. I saw a couple in a store today and they looked great but they’d probably be the only fish. I know clown gobies are an option but I want something a little more active but not to the point it would be miserable. Maybe a damsel and a sharknose/neon or two if the bioload wasn’t too much. 

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I had a bicolor blenny in my 5.5g. That's it besides snails and hermits. Plenty of room and it was a happy camper.

 

A regular firefish should be fine alone.

 

A smaller  goby would be good.

 

A tailspot blenny

 

Clowns, damsels etc not recommended for 5g.

 

Are you running the stock pump in the tank? It's a topfin?

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19 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

I had a bicolor blenny in my 5.5g. That's it besides snails and hermits. Plenty of room and it was a happy camper.

 

A regular firefish should be fine alone.

 

A smaller  goby would be good.

 

A tailspot blenny

 

Clowns, damsels etc not recommended for 5g.

 

Are you running the stock pump in the tank? It's a topfin?

Yes it’s the stock pump. The tank is a Top Fin Retreat I had laying around. I’ll probably add a small powerhead and if that pump isn’t strong enough I’ll upgrade it too. I do like the tailspot and bicolor blennies. Was yours active?

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1 hour ago, vqreefer said:

Yes it’s the stock pump. The tank is a Top Fin Retreat I had laying around. I’ll probably add a small powerhead and if that pump isn’t strong enough I’ll upgrade it too. I do like the tailspot and bicolor blennies. Was yours active?

Blennies are active fish. They have personality.

 

The tank definitely will need more flow. I had it and its stock pump is good for a betta but for corals it's not enough.

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1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

Blennies are active fish. They have personality.

 

The tank definitely will need more flow. I had it and its stock pump is good for a betta but for corals it's not enough.

I’m planning on adding a Koralia Nano or something similar. A guy at a LFS recommended Sicce but they’re a bit pricey. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
randofishguy

I have the same tank at the end of its cycle now. I’d love to see an update on what you have done with it so far?

 

I am still using the stock pump, but pulled the stock filter media and put in a bag of activated carbon. I also added a powerhead, so I have a nice flow going.

 

Hoping to get some better ideas as to where to go from here as I am still pretty new to the game. 

 

Are you using the stock light? 

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If it was my tank...I would do two greenbandeds and a two spot blenny.

 

Greenbandeds gobies are super active gobies and tend to hop all over the place and will check you out. They are tiny and change sex so you can end up with a pair and spawning behavior.

 

A two spot is even smaller than a tailspot so a nice small bioload with all the blenny personality.

 

 

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17 hours ago, dasrkrain said:

I have the same tank at the end of its cycle now. I’d love to see an update on what you have done with it so far?

 

I am still using the stock pump, but pulled the stock filter media and put in a bag of activated carbon. I also added a powerhead, so I have a nice flow going.

 

Hoping to get some better ideas as to where to go from here as I am still pretty new to the game. 

 

Are you using the stock light? 

I’ve been meaning to post I just wasn’t sure where. At first I added a pygmy geometric hawk but it died a few days later. Params were fine so I’m not sure what the cause was. I’ve since added a small cleanup crew of 2 nassarius snails and a trochus snail. The frags are 7-8 polyp bam bam zoas, an acan, 3 polyp magician zoas, and 4 polyp red people eaters. Everything seems to be doing well but the magicians and RPE haven’t opened yet but they were just added on Monday. It seemed like they were starting to open a few hours ago. Algae seemed to be gone then came back but not nearly as bad as the first time. 

 

As far as equipment:

Asta 20 marine light

Stock pump

Seachem Matrix

Small bag of Chemipure Blue

Koralia Nano

Aqueon 50w

 

What are your plans so far? I’m new too so trust me I understand 😬

5F8287BB-81D7-479B-ADEC-5D86F4E0D96C.jpeg

4552EE93-13FB-472F-B5E6-56C927DACB67.jpeg

  • Like 3
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17 hours ago, Tamberav said:

If it was my tank...I would do two greenbandeds and a two spot blenny.

 

Greenbandeds gobies are super active gobies and tend to hop all over the place and will check you out. They are tiny and change sex so you can end up with a pair and spawning behavior.

 

A two spot is even smaller than a tailspot so a nice small bioload with all the blenny personality.

 

 

I’m still all over the place on fish. One of my local shops might be able to get GBG and trimma. They also had a Springer’s damsel that caught my eye. I’m also considering royal gramma, sixline wrasse, firefish, or a small damsel. A few LFS have said clowns would be fine but the consensus on the forums seems to be absolutely not. If nothing else I can find clown gobies and sharknose gobies pretty easily. 

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30 minutes ago, vqreefer said:

I’m still all over the place on fish. One of my local shops might be able to get GBG and trimma. They also had a Springer’s damsel that caught my eye. I’m also considering royal gramma, sixline wrasse, firefish, or a small damsel. A few LFS have said clowns would be fine but the consensus on the forums seems to be absolutely not. If nothing else I can find clown gobies and sharknose gobies pretty easily. 

Cramped for a sixline, pygmy wrasse might work.

 

My clowns grew to a pretty decent size and use about 20g of space. 

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24 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Cramped for a sixline, pygmy wrasse might work.

 

My clowns grew to a pretty decent size and use about 20g of space. 

Those pygmies are cool just expensive and I don’t know if I can find locally. I’m staying away from clowns. I’ll call and ask about a GBG pair but royal gramma is still very tempting. I just found a thread of a 3g with one that did well. There was also a bowl with a couple of corals and a RG that was perfectly balanced. Also had neon dottyback recommended but that seems like it would get too big. The tank is 14x9.5x9.5” it that makes any difference. I’ve seen sixlines recommended for picos because of their more cryptic nature a few times but I haven’t seen many picture examples. Edit: found one on RC. Maybe it’s doable? Still going to research it and see if others have done it successfully.

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On 3/21/2019 at 7:55 PM, vqreefer said:

spacer.pngAlso, here’s a FTS and pic of some brown algae. Nitrite is dropping so cycle should be done soon

 

 

EE4175A3-5749-4292-ACB7-0E92631C482C.jpeg

5AEAD32D-C80D-431B-96A0-912716A7BF64.jpeg

EC73FF26-F021-45EC-BB81-8DEFAA56DFF6.jpeg

Nice aqua scape! can't wait to see this tank mature.

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1 minute ago, 748S911 said:

Nice aqua scape! can't wait to see this tank mature.

Thank you! I can’t either. The scape may not be final but I’ve played around with it and this is the layout I like the most. My plan is a nice zoa garden with acans in the sand and maybe LPS at the top. Maybe even acro if I’m feeling brave enough. 

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6 minutes ago, vqreefer said:

Thank you! I can’t either. The scape may not be final but I’ve played around with it and this is the layout I like the most. My plan is a nice zoa garden with acans in the sand and maybe LPS at the top. Maybe even acro if I’m feeling brave enough. 

I have a 5 gallon as well and might take the idea of green Banded gobies plus a two spot blenny for my spec!

B63AF726-866C-459A-8640-05F093E13718.jpeg

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25 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

A single royal gramma is probably fine, they kind of hang out by their cave to defend it. 

That’s what I was thinking. 

 

24 minutes ago, 9darlingcalvi said:

I have a 5 gallon as well and might take the idea of green Banded gobies plus a two spot blenny for my spec!

B63AF726-866C-459A-8640-05F093E13718.jpeg

Beautiful tank! What types of macro do you have in there?

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11 minutes ago, vqreefer said:

That’s what I was thinking. 

 

Beautiful tank! What types of macro do you have in there?

Some dragon breath (red stuff) and hamelida or leaf algea is the green stuff, the green stuff needs calcium to grow 

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1 hour ago, 9darlingcalvi said:

I have a 5 gallon as well and might take the idea of green Banded gobies plus a two spot blenny for my spec!

B63AF726-866C-459A-8640-05F093E13718.jpeg

You won't regret it... these fish have HUGE personalities!!

 

very nice tank btw!

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35 minutes ago, 9darlingcalvi said:

Some dragon breath (red stuff) and hamelida or leaf algea is the green stuff, the green stuff needs calcium to grow 

I have some blocks I just need to see what’s in them. Maybe I’ll put some macro on there. I saw some red and blue macro at one of the stores I’ll look into care on the blue stuff. 

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randofishguy
2 hours ago, vqreefer said:

I’ve been meaning to post I just wasn’t sure where. At first I added a pygmy geometric hawk but it died a few days later. Params were fine so I’m not sure what the cause was. I’ve since added a small cleanup crew of 2 nassarius snails and a trochus snail. The frags are 7-8 polyp bam bam zoas, an acan, 3 polyp magician zoas, and 4 polyp red people eaters. Everything seems to be doing well but the magicians and RPE haven’t opened yet but they were just added on Monday. It seemed like they were starting to open a few hours ago. Algae seemed to be gone then came back but not nearly as bad as the first time. 

 

As far as equipment:

Asta 20 marine light

Stock pump

Seachem Matrix

Small bag of Chemipure Blue

Koralia Nano

Aqueon 50w

 

What are your plans so far? I’m new too so trust me I understand 😬

5F8287BB-81D7-479B-ADEC-5D86F4E0D96C.jpeg

4552EE93-13FB-472F-B5E6-56C927DACB67.jpeg

That's awesome, thanks! 

 

My tank is two months old, and I was finally starting to add my cleanup crew. Then the worst happened... My buddy got into this at the same time I did, and he completely jumped the gun, added fish before his tank was ready. Of course he lost a bunch. He decided this hobby was to much for him so he handed the remaining fish to me, so I have livestock introduced way earlier than I am comfortable with. And it's not stuff I'd ever want in a five gallon setup, so after I gain a little control I'll be immediately upgrading to a larger tank! Having friends is fun isn't it? 🙂

 

Here is break down of my tank as it sits:

 

CUC:

2 red leg hermit crabs

2 blue leg hermit crabs

several bristle worms that hitchhiked over from live rock

 

Inherited livestock and reason for needing a bigger tank so urgently:

2 Ocellaris clownfish

1 Condy anemone

1 bleached to all heck Acro SPS

 

The clowns are both younger and only just over an inch in size, so the tank seems to be fine for now, as they play and dance in the waves and run around the rocks, but I spoke to LFS / did some research here, and I won't be able to keep them in this tank for much longer as they will most likely more than double in size.

 

The Condy must be a strong breed. He survived that other tank of dred, the trip over to my place, and now my young tank and he seems to be taking it like a champ. Right now he's mad because my power head failed and I just ordered a new one rush shipping! Not enough flow in the tank with that stock pump.

 

The Acro SPS is all but gone. It was green when it was purchased, but by the time I got it there is just the tiniest little bit of green at the base and the rest is almost bone white... I'm not sure if anything is even left. I am right in the middle/end of my Diatom bloom (those little crabs really went to town on it) and the diatom algae has started growing on the poor acro. I'm not sure I have the ability to bring this thing back if it's even possible. Some advice would be appreciated. 

 

As for hardware I have a weird mix of stuff from my tank and the few things I dared to take from my buddy's abandoned project. I replaced my stock tank light with his 21 watt Hygger Blue White LED. I have a NICREW Submersible Aquarium Heater I got in anticipation of the larger tank, so it looks really awkward int his tank. I just ordered a Hydor Koralia Nano which will be here tomorrow. I'm using activated carbon and zeolite crystals as well.

 

I did a seven day round of Seachem Stability when I first put those inherited fish int he tank, and use Seachem Prime to help keep levels stable until my tank can mature a bit more as adding these little guys and gals has definitely thrown off my plans.

 

Also ignore the cheesy background. I put it up because one of the clown fish kept seeing his reflection in the back of the tank and wouldn't stop chasing it and hitting the glass... those guys are very strange. 

 

 

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IMG-7018.JPG

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