Extremely hardy with lots of inverts?

[BurlyWizard]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking at setting up a shallow nano mangrove lagoon, with minimal live rock, compiled in the middle to form an island with mangrove sprouts.

 

Not looking for any corals or anemones, but just a few hardy and active fish. Looking to get as many critter inverts as possible. Small shrimp, small crabs, maybe a star of some sort one day. 

 

Thinking of doing a handful of damsels, but do any damsels nip at inverts as they age? Any other options for something hardy in a minimal filtration, invert-heavy tank? Not looking for clowns.

 

Thanks!

[Tamberav]

The damsels will probably fight in a nano but could maybe work. It is just not enough territory for them each to claim a spot. 

 

Since you like inverts, if you can get a reasonable lid to work around the mangrove or at least a eurobrace lid to prevent wall surfers. A shrimp goby pairs with a pistol shrimp and would probably be something you would enjoy.  

 

 

[BurlyWizard]

Yeah I was considering that, but given the minimal stock allowed for a 25 gallon, I'm looking for very active fish rather than the goby / blenny type.

 

This may be more of an invert question but can you house a pistol shrimp without a paired goby?

 

I've never had damsels as I know they're aggressive but I didn't know they'd fight in a 25. I honestly thought they were more schooling fish than anything, so I appreciate that!

[rough eye]

i can hardly imagine a more active fish than my tail spot blenny. he's all over the place.

[Tamberav]

Not schooling no. A pistol shrimp can be kept alone and not all pistols pair with fish. 
 

 

 

[mcarroll]

On 2/26/2021 at 11:44 PM, BurlyWizard said:

Yeah I was considering that, but given the minimal stock allowed for a 25 gallon, I'm looking for very active fish

What kind of fish did you have in mind?   Have you seen this kind of tank/these fish somewhere before?

 

It sounds like you want your tank to be like a freshwater planted tank.  Why not just do that?  There are way more options and you will probably be a lot more successful.

 

Fish in saltwater are a lot bigger than fresh.  Damsels, for example, get 2-3 inches at minimum.  Ditto for most Cardinals.   And neither of them school.

 

I honestly don't know of any saltwater fish that meet your requirements.  Especially not in such a small tank.

 

 

[Ratvan]

barnacle blennies, red headed gobies, green banded gobies, eviota gobies.

 

Only really can think of small community fish 

 

 

Edit: Maybe a trio of chalk bass, but not exactly free swimming, none of the smaller ones are

 

[HockeyDrumsFish]

I'm getting back into the hobby, but back in the day, one of my go to fish was the Starcki Damsel.  Stunning, very active and surprisingly, quite chill.

[TatorTaco]

2 minutes ago, HockeyDrumsFish said:

I'm getting back into the hobby, but back in the day, one of my go to fish was the Starcki Damsel.  Stunning, very active and surprisingly, quite chill.

I've considered getting this fish.  Please note that LiveAquaria says this fish maxes out at 3.5" and the minimum suggested tank size is 30 gallons. 

[BurlyWizard]

Yep, I've narrowed my search down to Azure Damsels, Starcki Damsels, or Springeri Damsels. All sound like they come from similar genus of damsels, and all seem to be peaceful, hardy, active, and smaller than others. "Schooling" was the wrong word to use, so I apologize for that. You'd certainly need something tiny to be able to school in a 25 gallon tank. The word I was looking for was active in the water column rather than perching on rocks or settling in the substrate, or reserved to a cave.

 

I believe the damsels I outlined above meet that criteria, but would love thoughts from the forum.