10 gallon saltwater tank stocking

[Amnemonemomne]

Hello I'm getting to the point where my saltwater tank is cycled and was wondering what my stocking should be. I definitely want a shrimp goby pair but was wondering what else i could put in the tank. It's ten gallons and it's my first saltwater tank.

[M. Tournesol]

Here the go to guide for stoking:

 

[Tamberav]

lots of options

 

a small species of clown

tailspot blenny

royal gramma

springer damsel

 

are some ideas... not all obviously 

[Amnemonemomne]

what species of a clown?

17 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

a small species of clown

 

[Tamberav]

2 hours ago, Amnemonemomne said:

what species of a clown?

 

occy or perc

[Tired]

A shrimpgoby and shrimp pair is a great choice! Besides that, I would pick one other fish that's not another shrimpgoby. Clown gobies are always cute, but you shouldn't buy one of those unless you've seen it eating, as it can take them some time to start eating in captivity. I really like yellowtail blue damsels- bright colors and lots of personality. Territorial, but they should leave the watchman alone. The above options are also good. Basically, you want a fish that's not really over 2" long, not especially active, and not particularly similar to your shrimpgoby. 

 

Make sure there are plenty of good hiding places. Shrimpgobies come with a buddy who'll make their own hiding spots, but you need to be sure to give the shrimp plenty of things to burrow under. Ideally you should also give it some busted-up shell bits and maybe some gravel, as it can build and shore up tunnels with those. 

 

Do you know what species of goby and shrimp you want? If it was me, I'd probably get a candycane/Randall's shrimp and one of the small gobies, like a hi-fin. Tiger pistol shrimp allow for larger watchman gobies, like yellow watchmen, but tiger pistols need plenty of space to dig. One could probably work okay in a 10gal with a lot of surfaces to dig under, but a candycane, which is smaller, would be better. The candycane is also less able to steal frags, which is nice. 

[Amnemonemomne]

so should i buy a smaller shrimp goby pair then?

[Tired]

I'd suggest a smaller pair, yes. There are lots of nice shrimpgobies that stay at or under 3" long, and, if you can find one, a candycane pistol is an excellent choice for a smaller tank. You'd probably be okay with a yellow watchman and a tiger pistol, if you really wanted one or both of those species? But smaller would be better. They'll still have the same cool behaviors. 

[Amnemonemomne]

ok so i'm going to get that pair but is it ok to have a cleaner shrimp in the tank too? I think I remember seeing that you can't have 2 different shrimp in a saltwater tank.

[Tired]

Cleaner shrimp and pistol shrimp pretty much ignore each other. It's varying types of non-burrowing shrimp that should only be combined in large tanks. Pistols don't care about anything that isn't a burrow invader, food, or building materials, but some cleaner shrimp will be aggressive towards some other cleaner-type shrimp.

[Amnemonemomne]

ok cool thank you, do you know what is a burrow invader tho? Just wanna make sure i don't buy it

[Tired]

By "burrow invader", I meant anything that's trying to get into the burrow. As long as you don't get any other burrowing creatures, that shouldn't be a problem.