Would you add a third fish in this 10-gallon tank? If so, what would you add.

[RLiu818]

I have a 10 gallon tank that i am setting up to be reef-ready. A 70W MH + 1x36W PC is currently being made at PSL.

 

 

I currently have one false percula and a royal gramma in it right now.

 

The tank has 12 lbs. of Fiji Live Rock and 25 lbs. (2.5 inches) of Aragonite (not live yet, just added). I am also running a Prizm Skimmer.

 

 

I was thinking about adding a blenny or some other sand sifting fish since i have aragontie now. I don't kno if that is a good idea.

 

But anyways, I want your suggestion on what is a good third fish to add. Of if you highly recommend not adding a third fish, considering this is going to be a reef tank, then please say so.

 

 

I am still unsure about which corals i will add.

[MKramer]

In my personal opinion, the two fish are pushing it for a 10g reef, both for reasons of bioload and confinement/territorality stress.

 

The bioload concern can be accounted for by top-notch maintenance and preparation (good filtering plan, adequate water flow, etc.). However, dealing with the stress is not so easy.

 

While the clown doesn't require much moving space, it is naturally territorial. Therefor, it's going to sometimes (or a lot of times, or always) chase away other fish, increasing both tis stress and theirs. If the other fish had apple running space, this isn't as big a deal, but in a 10g, the clown could chase them in circles all day long. Some fish, like the gramma, are comfortable hiding in the rocks, but if they get chased every time they come out, their stress will still be high, and they won't likely get as much food as they like.

 

But you can probably get away with it, especially if the clown is on the docile side.

 

However, adding three fish just makes it all thaqt much worse. Blennies a) generally like lots of swimming room, are extremely skittish, and c) have a horrible habit of jumping out of the water when frightened. You get two other fish swimming all ass-crazy around the tank, and it's going to make things worse for the belnny.

 

Really, a blenny, excluding the small barnacle blennies, should never be kept in a tank smaller than 20g, regardless of other tankmates. They just need the space to remain destressed. There are better choices, although any 3rd fish in the tank is going to add stress and be stressed.

 

Because of the limited swimming space and aggressor fish, if you really want a 3rd fish, I'd consider something considerably small, willing to stay out of the way of the clown, and comfortable with swimming in rockwork. In my opinion, this narrows it down pretty much to the red eyed barnacle blennies, clown gobies, and small gobiosoma gobies (redhead, greenband, neon, etc.)

[MKramer]

Oh, as for your sand-sifting concern, don't count on a fish to do this. You're much better off with inverts, such as nassarius snails. The best option is to order a detrivore kits from someone.... you'll get all sorts of sand-dwelling critters that perform a variety of sandbed maintenance roles. In small tanks, I actually think it's wise to restoke on detrivores every 6-12 months, as they get depleted fairly quickly.

[Djm9288]

Absolutely nothing!!!!!! 2 s pushing it! I had the false percs in my 10g, and It was pushing it! ( i recentlty moved them to my 46g)

[Satchmo]

You could get away with it, but like MK said if your focus is going to be a reef, stick with what you have. The bigger your bioload, the more unstable your tank is going to be.

[JJshiv]

Like MKramer said, if you have the right set up functioning well with lots of filtration then only something very small. If I was you and I really really wanted one more fish I would go for a redhead goby. They are awesome little fish that go in and out of the rocks all the time.

[Kalanianaole]

I'd add a neon goby, blue or yellow. Clown gobies–especially the citrons–are full of personality. Neither species gets over two inches and they're pretty thin, so as bioload goes, I don't believe they'll stress your balance much at all. If anyone knows better, please correct me, but I think it's more involved than the number game. It seems reasonable that you could put five neon gobies in a five gallon and have them equal the waste output of a perc. The reason being, neon gobies are poor swimmers and hang out on rocks or substrate most of the day and dart around occasionally, thus using substantially less energy (which means less food, equaling less waste) than a perc, which swims all day long. Another pro about small gobies is they live under the territory radar of larger fish.

 

Does my logic stand up?

 

It seems to in my 6 gallon. I have a small pygmy angle, green clown goby, neon goby and a juvenile pajama cardnialfish. There's no agression and nitrates are continually fine with water changes every nine days or so. My pygmy angle completely ignores the gobies and every once and a while looks at the cardnial. Before I get flammed on the pygmy, I am giving him to a friend with a larger tank. He did fine in the six gallon for 6 months or so, but now he seems to need more swimming area.

 

Let me know if I'm way off. I could be, but in my little tank everything is going quite well.

[MKramer]

Personal experiences always run the gambit... I'm glad to hear you've had no problems with your 6g, and that all the fish seem to have struck a balance with relation to aggression and territory. There are actually ways to encourage this sort of balance when overstocking a tank, but it's really judgements made on a case-by-case basis and nothing I would just flat-out recommend to anyone not overly sure of their ability to keep it sane.

 

In your case, the two gobies and cardinalfish are all low bio-load. The gobies don't require much swimming area... neither does the cardinal fish, either, but they tend to prefer OPEN water. The pygmy, while tolerable of such conditions in the short term, will continue to be quite stressed by the lack of room. Both the angel and the cardinal, with their higher stress levels, will be more suseptable to disease outbreaks and death from increased cardiovascular activity (ie, if you have to spend 5 minutes chasing it with a net sometime). This is obviously more true for the pygmy angel than the cardinalfish.

 

But like I've said, everyone's situation is different. For all of the board members who would cry bloody murder about keeping an angel in a 6g (I realize he's going to be moving, I'm just using it as an example), there are always those who will have maintained one in a smaller tank for a couple years.

 

It's about luck, good husbandry, and good tank maintenance.