stocking question

alexlaser

New member
I'm setting up a thirty gallon reef. and I'm trying to figure out what to put in it. I'm sure i want to have a pair of ocellaris clowns, and probably a green mandarin goby, and a red scooter blenny (i know they eat live food) and am wondering what else would be good in the tank. i really want a really cool uncommon fish in there. i have been looking into dwarf lions, matted filefish, and small puffers... but they either seem to eat coral, inverts, or are to agressive, and the last thing i want to do is have and inverts, fish, or coral threatened, would a dwarf angler be good. let me no some good fish to go in there. thanks in advance.
 
Well, a pair of clown fish, once sexually mature, will command about 25 gallons of your tank; they can be very aggressive. Anglers eat fish so you might be providing expensive meals. In any case, if you want to consider dwarf lions, etc. try a larger tank. A mandarin or other dragonette might have difficulty in such a small tank.
 
Mandarins and scooter blennies are both dragonettes and will feed on the same food source. If you are unable to train the fish onto frozen food and then target feed them, which can be very intensive, the fish generally needs a system of 100 gallons or more to sustain it, and that's for a single fish. Pick the one you like more. Do a ton of research on training these to eat prepared foods and decide if you're prepared for the extra effort involved. Personally, I'd skip them altogether in your tank size.

Some unique or interesting fish to consider are the assessors, species of cardinals besides the Pajama and Bengaii, several smaller wrasses such as the Possum, the sunburst anthias (a single fish). I would go to a site such as Blue Zoo or Live Aquaria and just browse. Write down a list of what you like and then research each one thoroughly until you're confident that it will or won't work for your system. If you're still not sure about a fish after your research, don't hesitate to ask about it.
 
If you really want the lion and mandrin id try to get a bigger tank. Otherwise the clowns will be ok, and maybe a chromis or something else that doesnt get big.
 
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