what are some of the hardiest small-tank fish?

[Sk8r]

Most reefers start young, most young people are looking for economy, ergo most new reef tanks are under 50g.

So how do you make a smart choice about fish and inverts for your new tank?

Fish and inverts you should look at:
1. the inevitable clowns...percs and pink skunks are best. Avoid maroons and tomatos: they're aggressive and they require more room than the others. Clarkiis are semi-aggressive [will bite your hand, and they have teeth!] and also require quite a bit of room. You rarely see the modest little pink skunks, and they are a bit more fragile, be advised, but fairly hardy.
General caution: you MUST quarantine clowns before putting them in your tank: they carry two diseases in particular, ich and brooklynosis...look both of these up, and a) don't buy a sick clown and b) quarantine for at least a week and be sure you're putting in a healthy fish. This is one fish you can pair: get one large, one small, and you're guaranteed a pair. THey change sex, and the dominant one is the female.

2. blennies: hardy, funny-faced, personable, and ich-resistent [quarantine anyway.] I don't recommend the lawnmower blenny or the tailspot for under 55g, but the bicolor blenny is a hoot. Will often live in a shell.

3. yellowheaded jawfish, if you have a sandbed. They dig, make burrows, almost always have their heads up, and are cute and pretty.

4. gobies. The yellow watchman is another funny face, will pair with a pistol shrimp, and provides a lot of amusing action in a small tank. Gets up to 4" long, eats anything, and supervises everything in the tank. Sifts a little sand, too. Other good tiny gobies are the highfins, but they're a bit more fragile.


5: good inverts: micro hermits, ceriths, nassarius [1-2 per small tank] snails, turbos, astraea, bristle worms, sponges [don't buy exotic ones: they'll just turn up, if conditions are right.] Shrimp: peppermints are good.

Fish to avoid: mandarins---specialized, expensive food, not for a small tank: will starve. Scooter blennies: same problem. Butterflyfish: won't survive even in a huge tank. Tangs: need a big, big, big tank. Angels: like tangs. Even the dwarfs, require a big tank. Seahorses: only for a dedicated seahorse tank. Anthias: another, for a big, big, big tank: they need running room and they're very fragile, plus iffy feeders. Diamond gobies: will starve.

Inverts to avoid: anemones---yes, I know you may have clowns, but wait on the nem until your tank is at least half a year to a year old...and guard ALL your water intakes: they head right for them! Avoid big hermits, cucumbers [I know they're in some 'cleaner-packs' from certain dealers. What are they thinking?] conchs [need 50g up] will starve; big snails [pita]; urchins [grow way fast]; starfish [too delicate or too aggressive with the sand-sifting]. Micro brittle stars, ok. Asterinas ok. Avoid coral banded shrimp: predators on fish. Avoid any crabs except hermits.

Corals OK: [lowlight] button polyps, zoas, some leathers, mushrooms. Green star polyps, xenia, yellow star polyps. Sponges. Check: alkalinity at 7.9-8.3 MUST NOT VARY, ditto ph must stay stable. As you can guess---get a little experience or be prepared to test a lot if you get these.
Moderate lighting: frogspawn, hammer: watch it if you have clowns: they may be too rough on these. Same with alkalinity, but also need Calcium at 420.

Corals to avoid: ask, on all others. LPS [hammer,etc] have 'sweepers' and may attack other corals if too close: sweepers can run 6". They get along with each other, however. Mushrooms and gsp [green star] tend to multiply way fast: be sure you want them on the next rock over, because they'll get there.

HTH.