Stocking suggestions for 18 x 18 x 18 cube

[xiaoyu04]

I'm thinking about setting up a 18 x 18 x 18 cube as a mixed reef tank. I plan on having a 15 gallon sump/refugium and was wondering what fish combinations is recommended for a tank that size.

I want to do my research before stocking so I don't keep fish in a undesirable environment.

So far, there are a few fish I'm looking into:

- Ocellaris clown fish
- Wrasse
- Dragonet (thinking about the ORA ones)
- Gobies
- Blennies
- Hawkfish

Any insight is appreciated, thanks

 

[small alien]

I'm setting up a similarly sized tank. I was thinking of a single specimen like an angler. Tagging along to see if anyone has any thoughts outside the usual suspects. :bigeyes:

 

[chasekwe]

Gonna follow along, and I'll provide my ideas as well.

My display is 18x18x30, so a bit more gallonage but the footprint is the same and is mostly tailored towards the same types of fish.


Anyways, here are my considerations for my own tank:

Pair of clowns - Originally I wanted to go with something that is a natural symbiont of the bubble tip anemone as most other nems grow to large for my tank. Unfortunately, most BTA clowns also grow larger. So I'll probably go with true/false percs.

Blue Spot Jawfish
Mandarins - (ORA, my LFS already has them in stock)
Small Blenny - like a Tail Spot
Flasher Wrasses - McCosker's and one other so they'll actually flash.
Starcki Damsel
Dwarf Angelfish - Smaller like a Cherub or Flameback, though a Flame or Golden, etc. isn't out of the question.
ORA Orchid Dottyback
Basslet - Royal Gramma or Golden Assessor
Longfin Cardinal
Shrimp/Goby pairing - I like the Yasha Haze personally

NOTES/Things I'm thinking about:

I had hawkfish on my list but I plan to keep some ornamental shrimp and in a tank this small I figure conflict would be inevitable.

My tank doesn't have a ton of space to perch on, etc. So I have to be careful with how many fish I look for that aren't open swimmers.

I'm told that a BSJF and pistol shrimp will not get along in an 18x18" footprint so that's one decision.

I really only want 1 flasher wrasse, but for them to flash I need 2. Do I want to commit so much bioload to this?

Will the dwarf angels eat whatever corals I decide to keep, being bigger than other tank residents will they be mean.

Orchid Dottybacks/Starcki Damsels can be aggressive.

The Tail Spot blenny is mostly an herbivore, while everything else eats primarily meaty preparations making food selections/feedings slightly more complicated.


There you have it, hope this thread gives me some more ideas!

 

[greech]

You both mentioned hawkfish. If you are planning to keep shrimp you may want to look into the Geometric Pygmy Hawk. This is actually an Anthias but stays small, behaves like a hawk and should not eat your shrimp and other inverts.

The other fish listed all sound like good options but you will have to make some choices to cut down on the # of fish IMO. One thing to keep in mind in smaller footprints is to not have too many fish that occupy the same level of the tank. Having a couple fish that swim in the open like clowns, cardinals, dwarf angels, one or two rock dwellers such as a gramma, assessor (or other basselet) and a blenny and something like a goby/pistol pair to occupy the sand bed would be a good fit for your footprints and should lessen territorial wars.

HTH

 

[xiaoyu04]

thanks for the input so far everyone!

Chasekwe, you mentioned jawfish. I wanted to add jawfish for a while too- but i thought they were extremely aggressive, so wasn't sure if I should add it.

Of course I will try to keep the stock of fish to a minimum. probably max 4 or 5... but just trying to figure out the right combination.

 

[chasekwe]

Jawfish can be extremely aggressive with each other, but they're a community fish.

 

[R_Hudson]

I would stay away from the mandarins. Especially in a tank that small. They will starve to death

 

[xiaoyu04]

Jawfish can be extremely aggressive with each other, but they're a community fish.

I heard jawfish need a good deep sand bed, but I wasn't on planning a DSB for my tank. Anyone kept a jawfish with a shallow sand bed before?

 

[small alien]

I kept a pearly with about 3 inches of sand for a year. It jumped. I think that was sufficient. It just burrowed under a rock. Need some fine rubble to build with. Great fish.