What fish for my 8 gallon aquarium?

[1epauletteshark]

I have an 8 gallon aquarium with a small pictus blenny, a yellow clown goby and a yellow stripe clingfish arriving soon which might go in this nano or my bigger nano but I want to have one more fish. The fish I have listed are the fish I think could be appropriate in this aquarium, I would love some input as I am struggling with making a choice. I am thinking maybe a small possum wrasse because they are super cool and will weave in and out of rocks and wont just hide like the goby and blenny have been so far. I also really like tailspot blennies because of their color.

I have compiled this list of small fish available in my area but if you have any other ideas I can see if they are available here too.

In terms of inverts, I have

1x Turbo snail

1x Fighting conch

2x Nassarius snails

4x Bumble bee shrimp

5x Sexy shrimp

3x Pom Pom crabs

2x Small electric blue hermit crabs

[demonclownfish]

If you have enough sandbed left to dedicate a PVC ring with an entrance under the sand I'd say get a blue spot jawfish as your centerpiece fish.

 

That tank is too small for a possum wrasse for sure. 

[jambon]

I think your well stocked now , for an 8 gallon. But I think a small pipefish would do well if you had a nice pod population, The blue lined is tiny and will take dry foods.

[1epauletteshark]

2 hours ago, demonclownfish said:

If you have enough sandbed left to dedicate a PVC ring with an entrance under the sand I'd say get a blue spot jawfish as your centerpiece fish.

 

That tank is too small for a possum wrasse for sure. 

Thanks for the response, unfortunately blue spot jawfish are too expensive here.
I see you voted for firefish, would you say that would be the best option?
If the tank is too small for a possum wrasse, I'll make sure not to get one, thanks!

[1epauletteshark]

26 minutes ago, jambon said:

I think your well stocked now , for an 8 gallon. But I think a small pipefish would do well if you had a nice pod population, The blue lined is tiny and will take dry foods.

I don't believe I have a very good pod population but it's funny you say that as I very recently got a blue stripe pipefish for my other nano 🙂. Unfortunately it doesn't take dry or frozen for me, just BBS. If not a pipefish, on the list do you see any other fish that could be suitable?

[1epauletteshark]

Here is a photo of the current setup

[demonclownfish]

4 hours ago, 1epauletteshark said:

Thanks for the response, unfortunately blue spot jawfish are too expensive here.
I see you voted for firefish, would you say that would be the best option?
If the tank is too small for a possum wrasse, I'll make sure not to get one, thanks!

Firefish are an easy, peaceful, low bio load nano fish. Most important thing is to have some sort of lid to contain it from jumping

[AiredaleReef]

 I have an 8 gallon desktop tank and love it. I decided to stock my tank with a single Black Ice Clownfish.  I have a few softies, and a few LPS, along with other inverts, and the Clownfish is doing well. 

 

When I was researching what fish stock on my end, I debated between a clownfish, firefish, and clown goby. Ultimately, I went with the single clown, but the other fish would have been nice too. I agree with @jambon in that you are pretty well stocked at the moment. 

 

I think if you want more fish, you may want to consider upgrading your tank size.  Four fish in an 8g would be a tremendous load on your biological filtration. 

[demonclownfish]

I didn't even read the part of where you listed fish you already had, you're definitely maxed out for now on tank size. I wouldn't add any more or you'd be asking for trouble. 

[jambon]

23 hours ago, 1epauletteshark said:

I don't believe I have a very good pod population but it's funny you say that as I very recently got a blue stripe pipefish for my other nano 🙂. Unfortunately it doesn't take dry or frozen for me, just BBS. If not a pipefish, on the list do you see any other fish that could be suitable?

As far as the dry food for the pipefish... freeze dried cyclops. It took a while but if you mixed a few in with the BBS.

As far as the fish, I would avoid dottybacks. These guys can be a huge headache. Maybe a yellow assessor or stick with small gobies. A Yasha goby paired up with a Randall's shrimp. 

[1epauletteshark]

2 hours ago, jambon said:

As far as the dry food for the pipefish... freeze dried cyclops. It took a while but if you mixed a few in with the BBS.

As far as the fish, I would avoid dottybacks. These guys can be a huge headache. Maybe a yellow assessor or stick with small gobies. A Yasha goby paired up with a Randall's shrimp. 

I had a dottyback not long ago who was the biggest pain I have ever faced while reefing but he wasn’t too bright and fell right for the food in the acclimation box with a string tied and when it goes in let go. I have been told a yasha could be cool but all I have is a 2cm long candy cane pistol shrimp who lives under a rock. I don’t think they would pair.

[jambon]

21 hours ago, 1epauletteshark said:

I had a dottyback not long ago who was the biggest pain I have ever faced while reefing but he wasn’t too bright and fell right for the food in the acclimation box with a string tied and when it goes in let go. I have been told a yasha could be cool but all I have is a 2cm long candy cane pistol shrimp who lives under a rock. I don’t think they would pair.

I think they would pair up and live happily. The Randall's shrimp I mentioned is the same as the candycane pistol. I have kept this combo together as well as the black ray fin goby and candycane shrimp. Both of these gobies are quite small and make a nice focal point in a smaller setup.

[Tired]

That tank is about fully stocked. You'd probably be better suited trying to make your current fish more comfortable so they'll come out more. More hiding places, less disturbance around the tank, that sort of thing.

 

That said, the smaller shrimpgobies will pair up with a candycane pistol. 

[1epauletteshark]

On 3/17/2023 at 10:58 PM, Tired said:

That tank is about fully stocked. You'd probably be better suited trying to make your current fish more comfortable so they'll come out more. More hiding places, less disturbance around the tank, that sort of thing.

 

That said, the smaller shrimpgobies will pair up with a candycane pistol. 

I was thinking a wheeler’s shrimp goby if that is possible?

[Tired]

They get to about 3", and something that stays at more like 2" is preferable for a fully stocked small tank.