How many fish in a 20g ??????

[Metropolis-Reef]

Hello

I have one clown - SHY - in my 20g. How many more fish can I have and what kind ???

Thank you very much again for a wonderful site !

[Thunil]

i'd 2-3 more small fish

[skabooya]

well do a bit of research for min tank requirement for the fish that you like then look at their max adult size and then work in 1 inch of fish for ever 5 gal. so if you get 4 3inch fish that is 20 gal worth. but also remember the bigger the fish the more room they need to swim and also take into account all you LR and corals taking up room as well. i would only add 4 fish max. 2 3in fish and maybe 2 other small fish or inverts like a goby or two or a shrimp.

[jenniebutterfly]

i would keep no more than three small fish in a 20 gallon. maybe a clown, a goby with pistol shrimp, and a 6 line wrasse and that is it. they need their own space, and when taking in account to the rock you should have, i would say between 35 and 40 pounds, plus the sand, this will displace a lot of the water in your tank, so you cannot really go by the inch of fish rule. you really do not have 20 gallons of water. i have a 36 bow, but it only takes 20 gallons to fill my tank with all the rock and sand in it.

[skabooya]

yes i 100% agree with jenniebutterfly. and anyway the less fish the better. Its easier on the fish and the cleanup for your tank. im turning my 20gal High into a nano and i will only be adding 3 fish. maybe even only 2.

[jenniebutterfly]

yeah i only keep 2 fish in mine, a dwarf lion and a clown

[bobioden]

I would say you could keep 4 small fish and be fine. So you can add 2-3 more. With the clown I would go with either a Royal Gramma, Firefish (Reg. or Purple),6-line Wrasse, or one of the small gobies.

 

Bob

[phergus_25]

when i added my other green chromis i niticed soem algea growin, but it calmed down, just add them slowly so you dont have a problem

[Diving Di]

I'm new to this, so please bear with me if this is a dumb question. I recently bought a small (about 1-1/4") false perc for my 24g nano. Other than a small lemon goby, I didn't plan to get any more fish, but now I'm thinking maybe the clown should have a mate.

 

I'm not equipped for an anemone (too new, inexperienced, etc.), and I've read and been told that a clown hosting in a coral is really hard on the coral. This little guy doesn't look very happy -- just swims up and down against the glass. He/she was one of several tank-raised clowns, so maybe I could just get another one from the same batch, if they're still there. So here are my questions:

1) Would 2 false percs and the goby be too much of a bio load when they grow up?

2) Would they be more likely to bond or to beat each other up??

3) Would they bother the corals? So far, I only have 2 mushrooms, but my plan is for this to be primarily a reef tank.

 

Any suggestions? TIA!

 

???

[offsprg01]

answer

 

1.) no

2.) possibly both depends on the clowns lol

3.) no

[DiverDave]

I have a purple pseudochromis, a green manderin (eating prepared food), a small goby w/o pistol shrimp, and a little yellow (lemon?) goby, and 4 peppermint shrimp in my 20. This is as maxed out as I want to go. I should mention that I have a Remora skimmer on for 12 hours a day which, I believe, greatly reduces the build up of nutriets.

[tippeframe]

What is the species name or common name of a small goby? It would be nice to get one that burrows too.

 

Thanks!

[ricky1414]

Originally posted by skabooya

well do a bit of research for min tank requirement for the fish that you like then look at their max adult size and then work in 1 inch of fish for ever 5 gal . so if you get 4 3inch fish that is 20 gal worth. but also remember the bigger the fish the more room they need to swim and also take into account all you LR and corals taking up room as well. i would only add 4 fish max. 2 3in fish and maybe 2 other small fish or inverts like a goby or two or a shrimp.

 

Sorry, but I don't see your logic.

 

Four 3" fish equals 12" of fish. Current ratio held by most is 1" of fish for 5 gallons of water. 5 gallons times 12" of fish equals 60 gallons by your equation.

 

Two 3" fish equals 6" of fish. 6" times 5 gallons equals 30 gallons, and you add 2 more fish to that.

 

I don't understand...

[goisles26]

Hi,

In my 20 I have 2 False Percs, 1 Yellow Goby, and 1 Purple Dottyback (who is a jerk and is quarentined from the rest of the tank) I also have 2 Peppermint shrimp, 1 Pistol, a couple of hermits and an Arrow crab. I pretty sure I've maxed out the tank at this point and am not gonna put anything else in it.

[Diving Di]

Originally posted by offsprg01

1.) no

2.) possibly both depends on the clowns lol

3.) no

 

Thanks so much, Charlie! I went back to the LFS this afternoon and bought a second false perc, just slightly larger than the little guy I already had. It was love at first sight. They started making eyes at each other the moment I floated her in her bag, and they're swimming around together happily even as I type this!

[offsprg01]

good glad to hear it!

[TheCoralReef731]

cool, clownfish are soooo cool!!!

[drg0nzo1]

skabooya - that rule of inches per gallons is not always correct and shouldn't be used when choosing fish IMO. Take for example..a maroon clown in a 30 gallon, now maroons can grow up to 6" in a large tank, but will almost certianly never reach that size in a 30 gallon, and he will most likely be happy for most if not all his life, but if he did get 6" that would be just enough to fit in that tank by that rule, which i would consider cruel keeping a 6" fish in a 30 gallon tank. What you have to look at are the activity of the fish (is it a swimmer, a percher, a hider etc). The aggressivness of the fish. and the adult size of it all are equally important. A very active but small fish is not going to be happy in a really small tank, and likewise for an aggressive fish. But a slightly larger slower moving fish could be happy in that same tank.

 

A gallons/fish rule that some follow that i consider to be the ethical standard of fish in a tank is 1 fish per every 10 gallons in a saltwater. But even then the other factors still are more important.

[drg0nzo1]

BTW, Metropolis-Reef.

 

You say your clown is really shy? what are you feeding him and how long has he been in the tank?