Fish Suggestions - 25x25x12 Rimless Cube

[Endemion]

Hey all,

I'm having a 25x25x12 rimless starfire cube built (30G) and I'm wondering what kind of fish I should keep.

I already have 2 ocellaris clowns and I plan to eventually keep a 'nem after the tank matures a bit.

The tank is shallow, but will have a decent amount of swimming room as I plan a more open aquascape with maybe a valley.

Any good ideas?

This is what I've been thinking about so far:

Would I be able to keep 3 Bartlett Anthias? (1 male, 2 female)
A Mandarin Goby pair?
Some Interesting Blennies? Midas? Tailspot? Ember?
Blue Green Chromis?

Any other interesting ideas or suggestions would be great! Thanks!

 

[TampaReefer79]

I'm not 100% sure but think the tank is way too small for anthias. Without a big refugium, the mandarins won't work either...unless you plan on getting the ORA ones. But I don't know how well they will be panning out either. (and they aren't gobies lol)

 

[Endemion]

The refugium will be 22G. I know mandarins are dragonets (don't ask me why I said goby, I think i was going through fish types in my head . I understand the feeding requirements for Mandarins as well and have been doing the research and will continue to do so. The reason I thought smaller anthias may be an option is because of the swimming room provided in a 25x25x12. So a fish needing swimming room would be okay, as long as it doesn't need to go up and down in the water column. But, I certainly know Anthias would be a stretch.

At least that's my logic behind it.

Thanks for the information!

 

[revaltion131]

In that size, if you want an anthias, keep it to a single fish and stick to the smallest of species. Have you considered the sunburst?

 

[Endemion]

I looked at the fathead sunburst anthia and it's definitely a cool looking fish. My concern is that Live Aquaria lists a 125g requirement. I was only looking at fish in the 50-70 gallon range and what kind of swimming room, how big they got, and where they liked to stay in the water column.

 

[TampaReefer79]

If your tank is 30g, why are you looking at fish in the 70g range?

 

[Endemion]

If your tank is 30g, why are you looking at fish in the 70g range?

Well, my reasoning is that my tank footprint is fairly large for a 30g. So as long as the fish was small enough, I would assume that a 70gallon range is for swimming room for the most part. So the horizontal swim range for my tank is 25" either way. The vertical swim range is only 12". So assuming the fish prefers the bottom of a tank and is just looking for room to swim, even with a 70G recommended minimum gallon size, I could probably keep it. The total water volume will be 52G.

I could get a 60G cube with 25x25x24 tank dimensions. But if the fish stays in the bottom 12" of the thing, what's the difference if I cut off the top 12"? Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[TampaReefer79]

A nice helfrichi firefish pair would be nice! (get a top for the tank)

 

[Endemion]

While I certainly like the look of the firefish. Throwing on a lid would kill the look of the tank i'm going for so unfortunately those type of jumping fish are out.

Also, I have 1 sexy shrimp already in my 12g nanocube that I'll be migrating things from and I plan to get him about 8 other buddies. So fish that eat these guys are not welcome, .

 

[nikon187]

if you really want an anemone in that tank it will limit anything else you put in there as all anemones get large ( over a foot in diameter, most much bigger) No anthias or mandarines should be put in that tank as it is just too small. 25 x 25 is nowhere big enough for anthias.

edit. blennies and anthias are also jumpers so without a lid i would avoid them as well