The little fishes: good bet for an under 100 gallon

[Sk8r]

THere's 2 choices for a 100 gallon or under: a centerpiece fish around which the whole tank operates.

Or a reef community, where the fish are sort of to scale with a little slice of reef, and there are more varied types, living pretty much the life they'd have on a natural reef, only without the sharks.

Here's where I'm going in my own re-set-up: (don't ask: power outages and 2 years of construction in the house)...

Uncertain yet whether I'm going to go lps stony or softie, but I'm 'sperimenting. I have an RBTA and am trying to make it happy with the lighting. Presumably the small frag of montipora I have can also be happy with that level. We'll see.

On to the fishes. I have a blue chromis (there can be only one); and a trio of red firefish (no, the reds and the purples don't like each other. Pick a color); I have a yellow watchman goby---they do great in pairs, but finding a paired one is not easy; I have 2 nice ocellaris clowns who have (typically) ignored the anemone; a tailspot blenny (tiny, sassy, and looking at his face makes you want to laugh); a signal blenny (a sand cleaner who imitates a much larger crab, via the 'eyes' on his signal flags.) A royal gramma who is a bit of a bully but not too obnoxious. He really wants the watchman out of his cave, but he body-shoves rather than bites. Grammas and basslets are the same thing: I'd use caution combining them---they're pushy. I have room for a starry blenny when I find one: they change patterns with the speed of a cuttlefish.

At any rate the tank is busy, fairly stirred up with a Gyre; it's mostly a rock pile with a lot of holes and crannies. And ton o coralline. It's one thing I grow well.

Gobies tend to clean the sand or burrow, or both. Diamond gobies are a bit much even for a 100 gallon: they throw a lot of sand. The signal goby would be fine in a 50. They don't get big. And the high-fin red stripe gobies would be a hoot in a small tank. They're tiny but very self-important.

Blennies tend to be rock cleaners and will eat food that chances past, but the comb-tooth blennies, like the lawnmower and starry, are pretty much unable to eat regular food: they depend on your having a little algae. Blennies come in many varieties, including the fanged blennies, which will take food floating in the water.

Clowns---come in mild and OMG, and they have teeth. No two ways about it. A mating pair of mild-mannered types like the percs and ocellaris are a nuisance, but bearable. A mating pair of the aggro types like the maroon are a terror to everything including the owner. Clarkiis are beasts. I had a pair that used to bite my hand bloody when I needed to work in the tank. I was afraid to wear gloves: I was afraid they'd ingest some rubber. I finally donated them to an lfs that wanted to breed. Power to them! Last I saw they had hundreds of tiny ones.

Anyway, decide your destination. This is one of many types of tanks, and after the house remodel, I'm up for 'easy'.

 

[ThRoewer]

Don't bother waiting for pairs of yellow watch men gobies (or shrimp gobies in general) or try to sex them (unless it's super easy as with yashas) - gobies can and will change sex both ways as needed. Toss two together and after a short while you will have a pair.
This worked for me every time.

Just keep in mind that not everything that is being called a goby is actually a goby! The above only applies to true gobies and works particularly well with the various shrimp gobies, especially if you also have the correct Alpheus shrimp with them. (The shrimp are far tougher to pair as they don't change sex)

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[Sk8r]

Interesting. I've never seen such a good pair as a watchman couple---had (with a tank transfer during the early part of the remodel) an oxygen short situation, and the male outright passed out. Got them to oxygenated water ASAP and the female literally shoved him upright and kept shoving and moving him until he came to. Very tight-bonded pair.

 

[Sk8r]

A point very much worth making: a mandarin goby is not a goby and a scooter blenny is not a blenny. They are both dragonettes. And they both are obligate (means they will starve if denied) pod-eaters, meaning if you don't have a swarming lot, really, really lot of copepods breeding like mad in your tank these poor fish will die. There are some advertised as eating pellet, but they usually won't: make the seller prove it by showing you. And even so---they probably need pods to supplement the pellet. It usually takes a very mature 50 gallon up (and sometimes 100 gallon mature) to support one of the tiniest mandarins. If you haven't got that, don't get one, for the fish's sake.

 

[monkeysee1]

....those dottybacks (like the neons) are cool for a tank under 100 gallons. I have one in my 90 gallon. Love him. Ditto my Black Cap Basslett!!
Gobies? You need a REALLY deep fine (NOT rubbled) sand bed for them to thrive. They are NOT really happy in tanks that have shallow sandbeds or are bare bottomed...
For corals?? I'd go with LPS and SPS - IF you have the lighting!! (It sounds like you have sufficient flow for them!).....
I once had a couple of bennies - lost them to my powerbeads- make SURE yours are properly barricaded so that those fish can't get caught in them!!

 

[Sk8r]

The Gyre is way up at the surface and pretty well defended. Thank you for that heads-up.

I use medium grade Aragonite sand, rubbly enough that a jawfish can get a burrow stabilized, but not so coarse that a goby has trouble with it. Sand grain type is a serious consideration if for sand-sifters and burrowers.

I will say, I had one flirtation with extreme fine grain and that stuff (in the flow in my tank) was killing corals. So I found medium to be best for what I like, but of course, what works for your own choices. There is no absolute. But gobies need sand, as do some wrasses, which cocoon at night.

The silly little tailspot is a little over an inch long and sasses the much heftier gramma, but does move when the gramma gets irate. They're shy but nervy.

The black caps are neat. The basslets in general have a variety of interesting colors and types.

 

[Reef noob_]

Great read as always

This is the stocking for my 90 gallon (4')-

Yellow Tang
Coral beauty
White clown
Leopard wrasse
Yellow Cori's wrasse
Lawnmower blenny

Thinking about adding a sand sifting goby. I tried one years ago that didn't last. Definitely wanting a smaller active fish as well but I think I have a good mix. Maybe add a basslet?

I see very little to no aggression except for the CB occasionally diving at someone. Used to have a Kole Tang as well (pre crash last year) that would fight the yellow so don't recommend another Tang.

Definitely agree on the clown aggression as well. Mine is only 2" or so but won't leave me alone while my hands are in the tank. I used to have a clarkii clown that was viscous.

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[primo21]

i have a pair of spotcinctus clownfish that want nothing to do with my hand in the tank (75gal, 4'). as soon as i start cleaning they dive into the nem (rainbow bta). but rule the tank otherwise. they dont cause any damage but the other fish know the deal. had them for years and never damaged another addition, especially my hand. pretty cool pattern on them if you are not looking for the played out orange/white/orange.

 

[Sk8r]

I kind of like the classic ocy/perc stripes. They're bright, they're clean, and when they're front and center most visitors don't dare ask you, "Is that a saltwater tank?" at least in the doubt that makes for a long explanation.

 

[HumbleFish]

Tilefish are great (but hard to find) fish for a 100 gal or smaller. Reef safe, colorful, peaceful, but also sand burrowers.

Tilefish are shaped sorta like a dottyback, but don't come with the attitude. And they grow larger (5-6") so this is a fish that will definitely stand out in your tank.