which of these can live in my 2.5g

squishifishi

squishifishi

Hopelesly Addicted Member
I've been exploring options for a fish in my pico. I really don't want a clown goby so someone suggested i scan the nano fish on liveaquaria.
I compiled a list of small fish I found. could you guys go down the list and just yes or no for each? thanks!
firefish goby
trimma goby
barnacle blenny
pygmy wrasse
yellow stripe clingfish
neon goby
Thanks again!!!
 
You could have any one of them. I would be careful and only add one or maybe two so you don't upset the biological filter.
 
I was just planning on one, maybe 2 if I get a trimma because they like groups but I think that'd be pushing it...
 
The neon goby is a type if cleaner fish, it eats parasites off fish, I am not sure how well it would do with out any other fish in the tank

A Helfrichi is an amazing fish, I currently have one and love it, a cheaper alternative might my the purple firefish

Have you seen a panda goby, a little different from the clown goby but very cool fish
 
I am sitting here stunned wondering if anyone actually read the post before replying. This is a 2.5 gallon tank. As in less than 3. There's a decimal there. :hmm4:

No fish belong in there save the tiniest goby. Certainly not a firefish.

Trimmas could work size wise but the problem you could run into with a tank that small is keeping water quality high and stable with the additional food input/waste output.
 
Agree with Kismetsh that the tank would be very hard to keep stable. I run a few tanks that size but they are connected to a main system which is several hundred litres. You need to be sure you can keep the paramters stable before even considering fish but...

In terms of fish choice for a tank that size i would completely rule out the firefish and wrasse. Clingfish are very difficult and the ones i have kept moved around a lot so i think it would be borderline but probably not a good idea.
Trimma, evoita and neons should be ok. You don't need other fish with neons as they eat pretty much anything you add and are very easy.
I saw panda gobies mentioned and having had these before i would again advise against. It might just have been me but i never saw them. They are very secretive and cryptic, nearly as bad as the flaming prawn gobies.
 
ok, that's pretty much what I thought.I couldn't find much info on the others so I figured I'd ask:)
I'll probably get a single trimma because they're the smallest, but if not then a neon.
My other concern is ick. almost all clown gobies I see have ick. they have no guarantees on sw stuff so I'm scared I'll pick up a fish with ick on accident.
The girl told me all fish carry ich, and it's just dormant until they're stressed? so that's why there are no guarantees...it's a risk of the hobby? is that true??? I haven't added anything to my tank for over 3 weeks, so if that's a myth and I pick up a clean fish I should be safe right?
thankyou all so much!!!
 
You are very limited with a 2.5 gallon tank. Odds are you are not running a protein skimmer and have very simple filtration. Your sand and live rock will be 95% of the filtration in this size tank. As far as the fish you listed go, only the trimma goby would be suitable. I had a 2 gallon display on my desk at work for about two years. It was stocked with four trimma cana gobies and they did very well. Even though the following species can be kept in this size tank, they will shown more natural behavior in larger systems.

Here are my recommendations:
Trimma rubromaculatus
Trimma cana
Elacatinus puncticulatus
Coryphopterus personatus
Eviota pellucida
Elacatinus multifasciatum


But consider the fact that you WILL be required to several water changes per week IMO, but in such a small system it can be as easy as removing a few cups of water and replacing. Also remember that your 2.5 gallon tank will not hold 2.5 gallons of water after sand and live rock is added. You are probably closer to 1.5-2 gallons.

Good Luck

~Michael
 
"The girl told me all fish carry ich, and it's just dormant until they're stressed? so that's why there are no guarantees...it's a risk of the hobby? is that true??? I haven't added anything to my tank for over 3 weeks, so if that's a myth and I pick up a clean fish I should be safe right?
thankyou all so much!!! "

I would not buy from a LFS that gave you that ridiculous information. Most fish in the wild do NOT have ick. Ick is a parasite that THRIVES in our closed systems, the fish literally cannot escape. A shop that does not offer a guarantee, and states this is due to ick has no business selling fish. Ick can easily be taken care of (via several methods) and IMO all aquarium shops should practice quarantine but many do not.
If you see a shop that has clown gobies eaten up with ick you know something is not right.

I am the owner of a small shop in NC and I could not imagine selling fish that I have not worked with for at least two weeks, and treated for parasites. All of my fish have guarantees....

Live Aquaria is a GREAT place to buy online and have superb warranties and service.

~Michael
 
Thanks for clearing that up! they don't look that bad in the tank, but I got one before and when I got it home i noticed TINY white specks that quickly grew. They made a special exception for me, only because I informed them that it had it when I got it so they took it back and put it in a seperate tank for treatment. Suprizingly this is a VEY reputable store...maybe she was new.
There's a new store I'm checking out soon though where I plan to get my new fish.
I don't buy online due to shipping prices, but I love liveaquaria as a resource!
The tank's cycled, been running about 2 months now with lr, live sand, snails, crabs, coral etc...
I just need a fishy! It holds 2 gallons of water with the rocks, and I have a filter with floss and carbon running.
Do you think I could get a pair of trimmas, or would that be too much? I just don't want it to be lonely.
Oh, I've got some pictures and stuff of the tank if you wanna take a look!
thanks!
 
I would think you would be okay with one goby from the genus trimma or eviota, or maybe a green or yellow clown goby. Even a neon goby would be too big. You don't want anything bigger than 1" or anything that is an active swimmer. And as other have said, you will need to keep on top of water quality and evaporation.
 
re you sure that the clown gobies definitely had ich? ime they can develope white lumps if overly stressed or over crowded and i've seen this many times. Ironically i think ich is much easier to treat and completely agree with what Michael has said on the subject.
 
I can't be sure, but either way, it's bad!
tturns out neither of my lfs sell trimma or evotia gobies!:(
now what? guppies are my next idea, but that might look pretty wierd!
what about a yellow tail damsel?
bi-colour blenny?
barnacle blenny?
 
Last edited:
squishifishi said:
I can't be sure, but either way, it's bad!
tturns out neither of my lfs sell trimma or evotia gobies!:(
now what? guppies are my next idea, but that might look pretty wierd!
what about a yellow tail damsel?
bi-colour blenny?
barnacle blenny?
Click to expand...

Can they special order for you?
 
A damsel will not work in a 2.5 gallon tank.
Do you have to have a fish? My first tank was a 3 gallon & it was coral & inverts.
 
no, I wasn't originally planning on any fish but I feel like I need something that will leave the rocks...ya know?
I'll have to see if they can special order, because I'd love to have some sexies too.
 
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