Fish suggestions for 20 gallon

[hops523]

Lately Ive taken a break from getting fish, to stock up on coral for my 20 gallon high. Currently, I have no fish, just lps coral, and softies. I have about 34 lbs of live rock, and 20 lbs of live sand. The tank has been set up for about 4 months.

The fish that I dont want are clownfish,cardinalfish, royal gramma, or a pseudochromis(too agressive). I want something thats different, but still regularly available. I also want something that will stand out with vibrant color. I was thinking maybe a pair of clown gobies, but figured they might be too inactive for me. I am still considering them though.

Any suggestions?

 

[hops523]

anyone?

 

[Reefer07]

Some kind of flasher wrasse?
As far as clown gobies, I have mine and I love it to death but I really wouldn't consider it vibrant or too spectacular.
I personally think neon gobies....maybe a pair of them? I am sure there are many more colorful gobies.
Just go to a site like saltwaterfish.com or somewhere that carries a lot of fish and pick out something you like and do some reading on it. (not saying to order from any specific place)
Something also I have been reading about lately that seems really cool is the goby that is paired with the pistol shrimp.....it may be a yasha goby but I may also be mixed up.

 

[kodyboy]

how about a pistol shrimp pair + a pistol shrimp?

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

i have a scooter blenny (ocellated dragonette) and a sailfin blenny. also a small mantis. maybe a watchman goby of some sort?

 

[CarvetheQ]

A Green Mandarin Dragonet or a Blue Mandarin Dragonet would be nice both are passive fish which will not harm your corals and are very colorful and fun to watch. One downside is you need a well maintained tank to keep them successfully, they feed on copepods and other forms of microfauna which require a well maintained tank with good water quility.

 

[Chibils]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13211247#post13211247 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CarvetheQ
A Green Mandarin Dragonet or a Blue Mandarin Dragonet would be nice both are passive fish which will not harm your corals and are very colorful and fun to watch. One downside is you need a well maintained tank to keep them successfully, they feed on copepods and other forms of microfauna which require a well maintained tank with good water quility.

Mandarins or dragonettes (see post above) will not survive in a 20G tank unless you have another 20G refugium plumbed to it. They graze CONSTANTLY, and will very quickly deplete the pod population in a small tank.

Gold assessor (Assessor macneili).

 

[philter4]

I like pygmy angels, though they sometimes pick at corals, to me the angels are worth the risk with their beauty. Just remember, my inverts (except for the shrimp) are secondary to my fish, so if they pick at something I let them and if yours (what ever fish you choose) do you may have a huge problem getting them back out.

 

[hops523]

Maybe some type of wrasse like a yellow coris wrasse(might be too big), or a sixline. Yeah I definatly cannot do a scooter, or a mandarin.

 

[revaltion131]

You could easily do a 6-line, but they can be aggressive as well. I might try an orchid dottyback, pseudochromis fridmani. If I remember my research correctly, that one isn't very bad on aggression terms; it gets confused with a similar looking one that is. However, it's definitly a shrimp killer.

Mandarins have successfully been kept in smaller tanks, but it's not smart to do unless you do have a well-established refugium or larger tank to keep replenishing the pod population. I 'baby-sat' a leopard for two weeks and she had my pod population gone in half that. The tank is a 34g with ~45 lbs of LR.

I wouldn't try to push a pygmy angel in your size tank, but you could if you really wanted to. It's borderline.

The assessors are an option, chalk basslet, neon gobies will perch like clowns do, the firefishes are beautiful, but obviously they just hang around in the water for the most part. You could try a blenny, like a bicolor or tailspot. Smaller hawkfishes are an option also.

You have a good deal of options, just take your time and like someone else said already, browse a few online vendors and see what you like.

 

[Mr.A]

how about a geometric pygmy hawkfish?