Fish for a shallow 40g reef

SkyPapa

Premium Member
I have ordered a Glasscages 36 x 24 by 12 tank with starfire on the long sides and one end.
It will be plumbed on the regular glass end with a Glassholes 700 gph overflow.
It is going to be a sps tank, with not much with rock and have a 1 inch sand bed.
it will be started with frags from other tanks and some new stuff.

While I have a plan for the rock, coral , etc, I have no idea what fish I can/should keep in this shallow tank.

I have a well/overstocked 120g with anthias, chromis ,PT CBB etc, about 18 fish, and a 40B with a pygmy flameback and a sunrise dottyback.

I have been thinking about a large group, 6-10, of chromis of some sort but ...
Is a 1 inch sand bed enough for any of the gobies? I like the Rainfords.

Any suggestions appreciated.
 
I would consider a Scopas Tang, they don't grow as big and will help you keep the algae trimmed.
 
A six or four lined wrasse is always a beaut to watch swim around and they help with unwanted pests. A green banded goby, clingfish or tailspot blennie would be cool to watch in that tank too
 
if you like smaller fish you could have some of these

Red Spot Cardinals "“ Apogon Parvulus
Green Banded Gobies "“ Elacatinus Multifasciatus
Cockatoo Blenny - Emblemaria sp
Firefish - Nemateleotris magnifica
Candy Cane Trimma Goby "“ Trimma Cana
Yasha Goby - Stonogobiops yasha
Tiny Dartfish - Tryssogobius colini
Neon Eviota Gobies - Eviota pellucida
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15469342#post15469342 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sanchoy
40 gallons.

-small tangs, move later when grown
-gobies
-mandarins

Tangs and mandarins are both bad ideas in this sized tank. Gobies are excellent. Shrimp and goby pairings would be interesting.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15469609#post15469609 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by espocrespo
if you like smaller fish you could have some of these

Red Spot Cardinals "“ Apogon Parvulus
Green Banded Gobies "“ Elacatinus Multifasciatus
Cockatoo Blenny - Emblemaria sp
Firefish - Nemateleotris magnifica
Candy Cane Trimma Goby "“ Trimma Cana
Yasha Goby - Stonogobiops yasha
Tiny Dartfish - Tryssogobius colini
Neon Eviota Gobies - Eviota pellucida

any of these are excellent.
 
Thanks for the suggestions all.

Never considered a tang. I think my 120 is already too small for my 3 inch purple tang.

Firefish sound good. I have one in my 120, only see it when I feed. But then it is a hectic tank. How many can i keep, 3-4? Can I mix species?

And add a shrimp gobie? One inch of sand is enough?
DD has a pair of yashas with a shrimp now and they seem to have
dracula gobies regularly.
Are draculas more difficult than a yasha or just rarer?

Even though this will be plumbed into my common 75g sump, it'll probably be a couple of months before i start stocking corals and fish.
So I will have to see what is on DD at the time for the gobies but I can find plenty of firefish locally.
 
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1" bed should be fine. I kept a watchman with a pistol in my old 29 gallon with only a 1/2" or so of sand and they were "A-OK"

The pistols like to build with different sized grains of sand. You could try throwing a very small amount of crushed coral to mix in with the sand for them to build their burrows with. If it's the larger sized crushed coral, you might want to put it in a pillow case and whack it with the hammer a bit first to make it smaller. By very small amount, I'm talking like 1-2 handfuls for the entire tank.
 
Thanks for the sand info. It is going to fine sand but I will do as you suggested and use some crushed coral I have for a burrow.
Will a gobie choose the pile and stay where I put it?
 
They will find a spot from their burrow, and use the larger grain size substrate to fortify the walls so the burrow doesn't collapse. They will carry it from the pile over to the burrow and then do their thing with it, or the shrimp will do it's thing with it lol.

I don't think they will make their burrow in the pile of crushed coral. You can just mix it in with the sand, the gobies and shrimp will find the pieces they need.

In my experience, not extensive by any means, if they only have 1 grain size to deal with.... they just kind of dig a trench under a rock and live there. They don't really construct a true burrow unless they have the means to do it.
 
I neglected to mention that this is a rimless tank with a 6 bulb T5 ,individual reflector, pendant.
I'd prefer not to have mesh either.

I have read that firefish are jumpers
While I know all fish will jump, the one in my 120 stays near the bottom.
.
Maybe that rules out firefish altogether but I hope not.

That is one reasonI I was thinking of chromis, I never had one jump.
 
You can kind of see how they use the larger grains in this photo I found online.


AmblyeleotrisShrimpGoby&AlpheusSnappingShrimp1ExpEnh_M.jpg
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15470051#post15470051 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
any of these are excellent.

thats good to know, cuz i was planning them for my nano :eek1: :) :D
 
Having various "construction material" available for shrimp/goby combos is a good idea. They will use what you give them including empty shells and small rocks (1/4 inch to 1/3 inch). Firefish are known jumpers .
 
Thanks. It will be a pair of Yashas or Dracula with shrimp as a first addition, when the tank is ready.

I still want some open water fish and I don't care for the rest of espocrespo's list.
No offense espocrespo.
It may be difficult to find something suitable I like.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15473610#post15473610 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
Having various "construction material" available for shrimp/goby combos is a good idea. They will use what you give them including empty shells and small rocks (1/4 inch to 1/3 inch).


Tunnel diggers are funny guys. I watched a buddy's jawfish try and shore up the side of his burrow entrance with a hermit crab. He would stuff the hermit grab on the side, the hermit would eventually wiggle free and walk away.... Jawfish would go grab him again and put him back in the same spot lol.


Also.. as far as fish recommendations:

How about a Midas Blenny? That fish would look awesome once the SPS is grown in a bit and he can hide amongst the coral branches. I've seen online they can be jumpers. I had one in my 29 Gallon for almost a year and he never came close to jumping out.
 
A midas blenny may be a good choice, but LA says they may nip at gobies.
Always something.
As you said, I will have plenty of time as the coral grows, although I may add a couple of colony chunks from existing corals for a jump start.

Has anyone ever owned the Blue Chromis.
I have 5, out of 9, remaining greens in my 120 and like the way they surf the vortechs flow. The 4 greens lost were in the first month and the rest are 2 years in my tank now,
 
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I had my Midas with a watchman goby in a 29 gallon tank and there wasn't any problems.

He was actually pretty reclusive as far as my tank went. He liked his little rock tunnel and really wouldn't venture very far from it. The colors on the fish are incredible. You can't truly appreciate them through a photo.
 
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