Stocking Suggestions: 29g Xenia Garden

[JustinFromAL]

Hi all, I have a basement sump system and recently plumbed in a 29g I had laying around. I think I'm going to make it a "Xenia garden" since I've always loved pulsing xenia but never wanted to risk it taking over my DT. Might even through in some GSP and mushrooms and let them fight it out, haha.

Since I've always stocked for reef safe DT's I'm curios as to what people would suggest as an interesting, unique choice that would be different than what's typically in my mixed reef aquariums.

Lightly stocked, maybe 1 or 2 species or a harem of a single species.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Kremis]

You should add an orange spot filefish, I used to have 1 in my 28 gallon but it got some weird internal infection, and died. It had lived a good 8 months in there with my seahorses. They are uncommon and hard to come by, I got mine from liveaquaria divers den. Usually if you do find them at the LFS, they are not eating prepared foods. The one I got from LA was eating within hours. They do eat sps corals, so do not add any in. 1 should be good in a 29.
check here - http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1879315

 

[JustinFromAL]

Sounds tough to keep, but beautiful!

 

[Kremis]

If you order from LA, they are not very different from other fish. Just feed at least 2-3 times per day. Mine loved brine shrimp, mysis was kind of hard for him to chew, being that they have small mouths. Liveaquaria already does the work by weaning them onto frozen foods.

 

[SaltyDoug]

I vote for a single painted angler

 

[mike61289]

An angler would be awesome, but would require strong filtration given the amount of waste that predator will produce.

I would stick to something simple. Royal grammas are beautiful and very hardy. You'd only be able to keep one though. You can put a goby/pistol shrimp duo for an interesting show. If your tank is covered and you have enough substrate, jawfish can be a very entertaining addition.

I'd also avoid the filefish as mentioned. They're beautiful, but are difficult to keep. In my opinion, that's a fish that shouldn't. E collected from the ocean anymore. We're just killing those individuals collected and negatively affecting their population as a whole this way.

 

[Cliving1]

The angler is a good combo with the xenia. Xenia like somewhat dirty water anyways so it should work.

 

[Rilelen]

ORA is captive-breeding some filefish - not sure if any of the species they're working with would be small enough for a 29 gallon, though.