The odd couple...fish pairings that work in WHAT TANK SIZE?

[Sk8r]

In other words, if you've got an uncommon fish pairing that works well, no fighting, adequate foraging for both, in two species where there is some possibility of conflict, state the two species that you found to be compatible, plus the tank size. NOTE: tank size is very important in this question.


As follows:
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Tailspot blenny/starry blenny.............54 gallon tank with sump.

Compatibility charts give a caution re 2 species of blennies in the same tank, but this particular set gets along fine.

Highfin redstripe goby (stonogobiops nematodes)/yellow watchman AND with other highfin redstripe gobies...54 gallon with sump.
similar burrowing habit, no conflict with yellow watchman, mild territorial display with other highfins, but no fight, and ok with each other at opposite ends of tank.

Yellowhead pearly jawfish/highfin redstripe gobies......54 gallon tank with sump.

Similar burrowing behavior, same body shape, but no problem: there is some display during establishment of territory, but no fights resulted.

 

[Sk8r]

I forgot a good pairing:
Clarkii Clowns with anemone and various damsels (dascyllus, blue velvet, Fiji blue, chromis) in 100 g or above, with mandys, blennies, gobies [the aggressives ignore them]...although the fish were getting along fine, I did finally get a new home for the clowns as too aggressive: they started biting me.

 

[namxas]

How about Hippocampus barbouri (Barbour's SH) and a juvie Scorpaena brasiliensis (red barbfish) in a 20XT?

 

[Moort82]

Starry Blenny/Tailspot Blenny and Midas Blenny in 200 litre tank. No aggression witnessed ever.

and the best of friends was a yellow clown goby who used to sit on the back of a striped fang blenny when it was swimming, like it was surfing.

 

[Fishypapa]

Great topic! I hope more people chime in with odd "incompatible" fish pairings!

 

[Paul B]

These are not really uncommon so I don't know if this is the correct place to put this. There are 4 types of watchman gobies that get along and two types of cardinals that get along.
Clown gobies. Bluestripe pipefish, Threadfin cardinals, mandarins, watchman gobies, fireclowns, striped gobies?.
100 gallon tank, no sump. These fish all spawned or are spawning with no fighting except the fireclowns won't let other fish near their nest.
There was a third watchman gobi that the male killed. And there was a fifth threadfin cardinal that the two pairs killed. (The striped shrimp gobies have not yet spawned, but they are paired)









Spawning here



Fireclowns, the large one is 19






Female transfering eggs to male, this was in a partitioned part of my reef

 

[SOCOMMike]

I house a Histrio histrio and a Scorpaena brasiliensis in a 50 or so gallon corner tank. The Histrio histrio sits on top, at times, of the Scorpaena brasiliensis -- whom I affectionately call Little Dragon. They were never meant to be in the same tank, but the tank housing the Histrio histrio was knocked over by my cat one day, and well, Little Dragon and the Histrio histrio have been housemates ever sense. Also, the Histrio histrio is considerably larger than Little Dragon; and yet seems to have no interest in her as lunch.

 

[smartwater101]

I have a white blenny that stays with my clown pair. The trio sticks together for the majority of the day. 15g

And at night I've seen the white blenny and possum wrasse share a cave.

 

[Fishypapa]

I just wish my 2 ORA false perc clowns would get along well enough to share 2 anemone's. haha One just chases the other away from both.

On the other hand, my baby mandarin and starry blenny hang out together looking for food.

 

[J.E.Swett]

Female Red Scooter Dragonet and a Male Ocellated Dragonet in a 265 Gallon

 

[rayr18]

These are not really uncommon so I don't know if this is the correct place to put this. There are 4 types of watchman gobies that get along and two types of cardinals that get along.
Clown gobies. Bluestripe pipefish, Threadfin cardinals, mandarins, watchman gobies, fireclowns, striped gobies?.
100 gallon tank, no sump. These fish all spawned or are spawning with no fighting except the fireclowns won't let other fish near their nest.
There was a third watchman gobi that the male killed. And there was a fifth threadfin cardinal that the two pairs killed. (The striped shrimp gobies have not yet spawned, but they are paired)


Beautiful Mandarins..what do you have them eating?






Spawning here



Fireclowns, the large one is 19






Female transfering eggs to male, this was in a partitioned part of my reef

Beautiful Mandarins..what do you have them eating?

 

[nikon187]

clown tang ( Everything else lol ) 210g tank, raised from tiny 2 inch. Housed with naso ,yellow tang, 7 wrasses, 2 clowns, 5 chromis

 

[JReefaddict]

i have a coral banded and red booted shrimp in a 57 gal rimless, was told coral banded dont like other shrimp and should be kept by itself, they dont hang out together, but they have their own established territory in the tank.

then in my 180 i have the same but more juvenile gold coral banded and red booted shrimp that share the same rock.

my 180 also has a yellow tang, powder brown tang, and blue tang that all swim together, the powder brown was introduced awhile after the yellow and blue tang so i wasnt sure how they would get along, thinking about adding a yellow eye/bristletooth tang but not sure if that is going to upset them and have them start fighting

 

[Paul B]

Beautiful Mandarins..what do you have them eating?

I don't have to feed the mandarins unless I want them to spawn frequently, which I do. They eat new born brine shrimp from this feeder which also feeds the copperband, scooter bleenies and bluestriped pipefish, which also spawn.
The tank, (and the mandarins) also get live whiteworms every day which also helps put them in breeding condition. If it were not for live food and especially blackworms, I would not be in this hobby.
Here is a video.



Dragonfaced pipefish also eat newborn brine as this video shows.

 

[natan]

I got a small juvenile hipo tang in to the 180l tank with a copuple of ocelaris in a seba nem. What happened is that the hipo literally incorporated as a trio with the percs as an extra male. It lived like that with the perks for 2.5 years, in the anemony, somehow swimming around but just not touching tentacles all day, and slept under a rock where the nem foot was attached. The thing is, aggression hipo display is exactly like ocelaris submission display (hippo turning sideways towards the perc orienting center of its body towards the perc's mouth), so any exchange with the dominant female perc maid both believe that the other one submitted. I think at that early age hipos are social and have an instinct to scool with whatever they can, and percs was the only option available. After 2.5 years it outgrew this scooling tendency and gradually distanced itself from the percs, ewentually moving to sleep under another rock after 3+ years.

 

[zooman72]

3 reef tanks - three challenges:

1) 20L (2 months with this grouping) with male "Fiji devil" damsel, tomato clown and clarki clown - damsel won't accept a female and the clarki clown won't either, but all three exhibit zero aggression towards each other, not even any displacement behavior.

2) 40B (8 months with this grouping) with 3 ocellaris clowns, 2 azure damsels, 2 springer's damsels (one might be a sinclairi), tailspot blenny, orangespot goby, yellow watchman goby, elongate dottyback, and a yellow tang - only displacement behavior/ aggression comes from the larger azure and springer's damsel towards the other of the same species.

3) 29g (2 years with this grouping) with 5 royal grammas, a large Stenopus shrimp, and a pair of cherub angels, except the cherubs were only recently paired - placed a tiny 1" female in with larger 2" male, and he accepted her within a few hours - second time I have done this, both worked in the 29g tank (full of gorgonians). The grammas occasionally display to one another (gaping mouths) when too close to each others "holes", but that is it...

 

[chase613]

How did you get your mandarin to eat live brine shrimp? And how do you use the feeding station?

 

[desertrat505]

I had a springeri dottyback with a 6 line wrasse in a 60 gal. Wrasse and dottyback not a very good combo but some how it worked. The dottyback died from a pistol shrimp (my best guess) and I tried again with a neon dottyback and the same wrasse in my new 90 gal. The wrasse chases the dottyback every once in awhile.

 

[Johanv]

I have a neon dottyback and orchid dottyback together in a 45gal

 

[Nocare]

Zebra lionfish with Erectus lined seahorse
Mombasa lionsfish as well.

Also a white ray yasha shrimp goby and tiger pistol in the same tank as the lions

All the other things that I have that you would think might eat the seahorse, the goby or the shrimp
Orange toadfish
Marine betta
Flounder
Black angler

Was a 55 when picture was taken is now a 120