32 gal tank stocking questions

[Rafa Reef]

Hi all,

I’m new to reefing and have just bought a 123L / 33 gallon tank I am cycling!

Was hoping to get some advise as to whether my fish would work together and would coexist happily in a tank this size

phase one:
To start I was planning on a black and white clownfish ocellaris, a regular orange and white clownfish ocellaris and a royal gramma

phase two:
once they’ve settled in I was planning on introducing a red firefish and cardinal fish 

phase three:
and finally I was hoping to add a mandarin goby when the tank was very well established , after I was told in the local fish shop they would be fine in this size tank if I was dosing with pods so to speak… although having done more research sounds like it might struggle with pod population, so some advise would be great

in terms of clean up crew, what would people suggest?

And also wouldn’t mind some advise in which order to add everything!

Thanks !

[seabass]

to Nano-Reef.com.

 

You should add the more territorial/aggressive fish last.  So I'd switch the order:

• Red Firefish
• Cardinalfish
• Royal Gramma
• Black and White Ocellaris and a regular Orange and White Ocellaris Clownfish

If you plan on purchasing pods to feed your Mandarin, you'll go broke trying to keep it fed and no doubt there will be times when you can't find them in stock.  I know some people have successfully trained their Mandarins to eat prepared food, but it's a long and exhausting process which usually still requires live pods (which often consists of culturing them).  So, as someone who is new to reef keeping, I'd recommend not getting a Mandarin.  You could probably get something like a Yellow Watchman Goby instead (maybe after the Cardinalfish).

[Rafa Reef]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

to Nano-Reef.com.

 

You should add the more territorial/aggressive fish last.  So I'd switch the order:

• Red Firefish
• Cardinalfish
• Royal Gramma
• Black and White Ocellaris and a regular Orange and White Ocellaris Clownfish

If you plan on purchasing pods to feed your Mandarin, you'll go broke trying to keep it fed and no doubt there will be times when you can't find them in stock.  I know some people have successfully trained their Mandarins to eat prepared food, but it's a long and exhausting process which usually still requires live pods (which often consists of culturing them).  So, as someone who is new to reef keeping, I'd recommend not getting Mandarin.  You could probably get something like a Yellow Watchman Goby instead (maybe after the Cardinalfish).

Thanks for the response! Think the guys  in the shop are probably just trying to upsell the mandarin! 
 

would two fire fish get on in a tank if I were to get a purple one also?

[seabass]

4 minutes ago, Rafa Reef said:

would two fire fish get on in a tank if I were to get a purple one also?

I don't think so.  You could get the purple one instead, but I don't believe in addition to.  A mated pair would work, but might be hard to find.

 

BTW, When pairing the clownfish, the second one should be a significantly smaller juvenile.

[Rafa Reef]

24 minutes ago, seabass said:

I don't think so.  You could get the purple one instead, but I don't believe in addition to.  A mated pair would work, but might be hard to find.

 

BTW, When pairing the clownfish, the second one should be a significantly smaller juvenile.

Can you not pair two clown fish juveniles? 

[seabass]

1 minute ago, Rafa Reef said:

Can you not pair two clown fish juveniles? 

You can; but one should be significantly smaller than the other.  As long as the smaller one submits to the larger, they should bond without problems.

 

If there isn't a clear difference, there is a much greater chance for aggression as they compete for dominance.  Sometimes they work it out, and sometimes they don't.

[Rafa Reef]

2 minutes ago, seabass said:

You can; but one should be significantly smaller than the other.  As long as the smaller one submits to the larger, they should bond without problems.

 

If there isn't a clear difference, there is a much greater chance for aggression as they compete for dominance.  Sometimes they work it out, and sometimes they don't.

Thank you Hadn’t been told that yet!