Looking for the perfect fish...

Mrs Smith

Mrs Smith

New member
So I have this sweet little 30 cube set up. It's full of zoa frags, and perhaps it's time to add a fish. Or two. But not many.

I just can't decide on what!

Some details: It's an open top, so no jumpers. I have starboard insead of sand. There's lots of caulerpa, so a fish eating that would be a plus. Obviously, it's a small tank, and I wouldn't want the tang police after me...

Maybe I'll get an army of clown gobies. I just don't know. What's your favorite cool (little) fish?

I had thought about horses, but don't want to put a chiller on it.

Danielle
 
You can have ponies if you want!
Ocean Rider has what they call Mustangs that are ok with tropical tanks. At one point I had 10 of them in a 25 tall. (they kept having babies...)
I was running PC's with a water temp of about 80^. Never had any problems. Other than the usual stuff.
They really were awesome, I'd hand feed them, and they would wrap their tail around my finger....
But they were way too much work in a tank with out a sump.........
 
I've thought about the OR Mustangs (or Sunbursts) before... this is a very minimalistic tank. No sump, no skimmer, a 150W Sunpod and a couple of minijets. Just me and waterchanges.

I do love clowns... I had thought about making it an anemone/clown tank, and it still might be. I'm just looking for ideas.
 
Ahh so - then the ponies are probably not a good idea.
They tend to be kind of messy.....

A clown/anemone tank would be nice.
Our mated pair of Ocellaris Clowns go nuts in our LTA - even though the thing still hasn't anchored....
It is so cool to watch them
 
Not mean just sarcasm lol.

Gobies are actually more prone to being cryptic and explorers that could probably find their way out of a tank without a top (or at least into back chambers of pods and cubes)

I'd totally go with a blenny or maybe a firefish (not sure if they are jumpy) or maaaaaaaaaaaaybe a pygmy angel. They CAN be pickers though but you really don't know until you try. Even then some say its a matter of when rather than if.

Hmmm. You could always lay some eggcrate on top for a lid.. You could do pipefish too- close to seahorses but they will eat copepods off of your rock and what not.

Lots of great options. Also don't forget inverts- there are some pretty cool shrimps and weird what nots out there that can be great for your display
 
oo fire shrimp and I gotta go with black and white percs with a RBTA or the naked clowns gotta love those guys. Or you can do the mini gobys the little 1/4 inchers I love them little guys. firefish are cool and mine haven't jumped yet. I think you could do a green chromis or 2 not positive on that so you might wanna look it up and make sure it would be ok for that size tank. Personally I would put some eggcrate on the top and get a flasher wrasse.
But then I like flashers, all of them.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10308264#post10308264 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chrisstie
Not mean just sarcasm lol.
Click to expand...

Considering that some of the poor whale sharks died, i dont really find that sarcastic but mean.:(
 
They are keeping up their other whale sharks fortunately. It is, no pun intended, a huge undertaking.

And this coming from the kid who posts extremely violent "cool" pictures of animals with their brains blown out?

Pot. Kettle. Black.

*rolls eyes*
 
Firefish are terribly jumpy.
Gobies don't usually tend to. If you keep a totally goby tank you could probably have 10 different fish in a 30g. A yellow watchman, couple of highfins, couple of commensal shrimp [tiger for the watchman, candycane for the highfins], some redstripes, [no diamonds! much too much for a 30!]---they tend to be cryptic, but they have very great personalities and frequently come out to see you when you park in front of the tank---especially at feeding time. The whole 10 can feed off one dissolved mysis cube, and your tank won't overload or crud up. None of them eat caulerpa, but nothing will that's going to fit in a 30: you're going to have to lift a few rocks and scrub with a toothbrush periodically. Just a suggestion. ;)
 
I love the goby/pistol shrimp pairs. They are a blast to watch. Also, the priolepsis gobies (Ascension gobies) are great...they swim totally upside down! They do tend to be more a bit more cryptic than others, but when they do come out and swim around it's great. The tail spot blenny is great as is the starry blenny. Flamehead gobies and Green Barred Gobies add some very nice color and stay small so they don't add much to the bioload.
 
I've got a neon goby and firefish in a covered 12g Nanocube. I have to remove both from the back portion of the tank that houses the heater and pump every month or two. I would be hesitant to put either of those in an uncovered tank.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10310059#post10310059 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chrisstie
They are keeping up their other whale sharks fortunately. It is, no pun intended, a huge undertaking.

And this coming from the kid who posts extremely violent "cool" pictures of animals with their brains blown out?

Pot. Kettle. Black.

*rolls eyes*
Click to expand...

To be honest i love animals just as much as everyone else here on this site does if not more, its just funny how you think that the whale sharks dying is sarcastic, i dont really get the sarcasm in that :(, but anyways the gobies idea sounds really cool as well.
 
With gobies you just need to be careful. I've had to "fish" my YWGs out of the back chamber of my aquapod before I put something back there to stop them from flipping over.

And carpet I know its hard on the web but I look at peoples intentions when they say things, not just what they say. That's where I believe the sarcasm comes in. Gotta love the lack of voice inflection and facial expressions on teh net
 
One thing that works really well is plastic needlepoint canvas. You can precision-cut it with a scissors to fit most any shape or situation, and a small overhang means they're not going to jump over a certain barrier. I also saw one enterprising reefer not wanting the visual distraction, so he'd made a frame and strung it with fishing line like a tennis racket---no jumpers there, either.
 
That's cool - for my 55g I have eggcrate with wedding veil over it so the little ones cant get out either

The thing I used in my aquapod was a cable sheath organizer thingy. I just slit it down one side and pushed it down.. you dont see it because the lid on the pod closes on it

Now I have mY RSM to goby proof but its still cycling.. I need to get pics its awesome
 
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