STOP! and help a fellow nano reefer figure out what to put in his tank?

[lowpro1]

i have been trying to figure out for about a month now on what fish to add to my 20 gallon high. and everytime i get closer to deciding on the fish, i find a differant one i want! i want to make sure that i make the right decision for the fishes sake and my own. so allow me to walk you through my thoughts on what fish i want to keep and see which one you guys think would work out better in the long run.

1) spotted mandarin all by himself. (herd that in a 20 it could work with dedication, but starting to maybe think that would be a bad choice)

2) 1 bicolor angel and 2 firefish.

3) 1 cherube angel and 2 firefish

4) 1 red tail hawaiian filefish and 2 firefish

As you can see, i really want to do with one main fish and 2 smaller fish. i want to have 1 colorful fish for an eye catcher and 2 little guys who are colorful jus to add to it. i dont know how much live rock im putting yet, guess it depends on what fish i get. but i planned on putting somewhere between 10-20 pounds. protien skimmer is a seaclone, im thinking maybe about 2-3 inches of araganite and live sand mix. and a penguin powerhead.

So now that you know my ideas and thoughts, please feel free to share yours. i just cleaned my 20 out a few days ago because i orignally have it fresh, but salt is just breath taking. so i would enjoy any information you guys can share with me and push me twords the right path.

[lowpro1]

i just looked around the internet a little more and think i may want to get 1 or maaaaaaaaaaybe 2 purple pseudochromis or 1 or 2 royal dottybacks. i want to add them to any setup i decide to go with that i listed above.

[Flanders]

Man, you're really having a tough time deciding!!!!

I think two firefish, two pseudochromis or two dottybacks are out of the question. I'm pretty sure they will fight in your tank unless they are mated pairs. I would recommend not going with filefish, they're not suited to reefs and most need much larger tanks.

I have a firefish and although it's very pretty, I find its behavior to be very boring. Just my opinion.

I would only put one or two fish in tank that size. If you go with the cherub angel I would keep it by itself. I don't think the bicolor angel is a dwarf angel so that is out. If you want more movement and color, try a cleaner shrimp. They're neat to watch and don't need a lot of space.

The only fish that I can think of that you can keep in a pair in a tank your size is clownfish.

I recommend that you take it slow, set up your tank, get live rock and don't buy any fish for a few months. Let the tank mature. During that time, research and read. Definitely visit www.nano-reef.com. Look through those tanks and you'll get an idea of what fish you can keep.

[nickel76]

yeah like I just said above, do a search. NO DONT ADD TANGS, ANGELS, ETC. TO A NANO! They need much, much more swimming room than that, they require a MINIMUM of AT LEAST 30 gallons to cruise in.

[Flanders]

A cherub or flame angel would be fine in your tank, IMO - if you wanted to keep it by itself. Tangs and larger angels need at least 4-6 foot long tanks.

[Mr James]

When in doubt, add another tank!! Stick with the small fish. If you want bigger fish, be responsible and provide them with a good home!!

nickel: You did mean 300 gallons, correct?? Adding a tang to a 30g "to go cruising" would be like you living in a 6' x 8' cell, similar to a prison cell, for the rest of your life. It wouldn't be fun, you would fit, but would you be happy??

[sjpresley]

Spotted mandarin is definitely a bad choice unless you are going to have a large refuge hooked up to it and you have a dependable source for live foods.

Bi-color's are Centropyges, so they are considered dwarves, but they do get rather large. They also don't seem to do well in captivity and are rather bother some to corals on occasion.

C. argi, C. loricula, C. auronatus, C. flavicauda, C. acanthops are all Centropyges that only reach about 3 inches and would be fine (IMO) in a 20G. More space is always appreciated by fish, but just as often they would like to have something to do, especially angels which love picking at rockwork, more rock and activity in the tank will help keep them from getting too bored.

Two fire fish would definitely fight unless they were a mated pair.

I know I'll get slammed for this but, in reality the difference between a 2' tank and a 4' tank is probably barely noticed by these fishes. The ocean is big, really big, really really big, and if you have done much diving you would probably agree that most tangs and angels would require a 30' tank just to coast (pun intended), much less to cruise.

Fish "happiness" in any tank is debatable, but I (and many others) have Centropyges that seem to do fine in small tanks. I have a C. argi in a 10G.

[Agu]

Lowpro,

In my ten gallon I have four fish, most people would consider that too many but...........

One firefish, it's out and about in the water column,

Two clown gobies, they perch on the rock and coral,

One yellow watchman goby that stays on the substrate.

The result is that they don't compete for territory, there is "action" in several areas of my tank, and there's always something to look at. Oh, and they don't get large. Consider competition and territory when choosing fish.

The clowns would be a good idea if you get clowns that don't get too large.

Agu