Fish for newbie in a 10 gallon

[Cheeselady]

Ok so I'm going to do a 10 gallon reef.
First off, weekly water changes - check, close monitoring of water conditions - check, close attention to evaporation -check. Stick only to soft corals -check.

Here's where I am so far. I'm a few days in started with 10+lbs of live sand and some (supposedly) pre-cured rock. I have 2 110gph powerheads to make turbulence. Have heater set to 78. Have small protien skimmer (that i have no idea if I am using properly.... Any advice?) And I have a 50/50 t8 light.

Now I did foolishly listen to the store clerk about not needing to cycle due to live sand and I have 1 blue legged crab and one astrea? snail. (plan to supplement feed until until enough algea growth) Bad move and I should have known better......

So #1 question how's my set up sound? Anything I should fix/change?

And question #2 fishes! (will add one in a month). So I can do 3..... I'm thinking 1 clown goby but after that I'm not not sure. Firefish? Blue Damsel? Clown? Dottyback? Looking for hardy guys that are somewhat low in price. Thought? And what order to add?

 

[jraker]

If it is cycled, you will have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, but some nitrate.

Some good fish are clown gobies, shrimp/goby pairs, firefish, and possum wrasses.

Your setup sounds pretty good, but how long do you run your lights?

 

[Cheeselady]

I was planing on 12 hours I think? 8am to 8pm. I'm seeing a small ammonia spike but hoping it wont go too high.

Definatly leaning clown goby, and I like firefish. But no on a purple stripe dottyback?

 

[Dogshowgrl]

Dottyback in that size tank might be too aggressive. I am stuck on green banned gobies right now. You could have several in that tank along with the others you have planned and they are always out. I also love the gobies pistol pairs. Neon and shark nose gobies are cool too.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Cheeselady]

Sigh and I really did like the dottyback's lurid colors. Guess I need to plan for an upgrade lol.

 

[Sk8r]

Damsel, figure at least 50 gallons for one, 100 gallons for multiples. Look at the adult sizes on charts at, say, Live Aquaria. In that small a tank, start with inverts and soft corals, and only after your tank is chemically stable, after several months, consider one of the small fishes.

 

[Arsenal09]

Blue neon goby, stay small at around 2in, very peaceful and will clean other fish.

 

[bdunn12]

Cardinal fish but they are boring.