What kind of fish for a 30g nano?
 

Hey, folks, I'm going to get my nano tomorrow and wanted to start looking into what type of fish I can have in a 30g nano and how many. I was thinking two black Ocellaries or two Maroons 2 peppermint shrimps, one goby (I'm not sure which one yet) and some mini brittle stars that can dwell in the substrate. Is that too much?

All good choices. Look into below. Starfish dont do well in new tanks. I would hold off on starfish until tank matures~ 2yrs

Pajama Cardinalfish
Coral Beauty Angelfish
Neon Goby
Coral or Crown Goby
Dartfish or Firefish Goby
Shrimp Goby
Royal Gramma
Blue Chromis

Well the thing is I wanted to get live sand from the Gulf of Mexico and this sand has all kinds of critters in it already.

http://www.gulfliverock.com/live-sand.html

I also was thinking of getting some of their Coraline life rock. This should kick-start the cycle right away.

I got live rock and sand from TBS and think brittle and serpent stars are pretty hardy. You get them as part of the second part of your TBS package.

I don't think "true" starfish are ever good for the home aquarium. They slowly die.

Other good fish additions are a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp, a lawnmower blenny or an orchid dottyback.

Good luck.

Let's say you are setting up a 55 gallon reef tank. The recipe calls for:
110 pounds of live rock: $550.00
55 pounds of live sand: $110.00
55 blue leg hermits: $82.50
28 Astrea snails: $42.00
2 serpent stars: $19.90
2 tiger tail cucumbers: $19.90
2 Peppermint shrimp: $19.90
8 Shipping Boxes: $64.00

That is from the TBS homepage.

For a 30g tank they would send me 30 hermit crabs :D WAY too many critters.

Do you think there will be an issue with four clowns in that size of tank?

Clownfish should be in very large groups (harems) or kept in pairs... otherwise too much aggression

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Way too many clowns for that small of a tank. I would only get two or three fish max.


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Guys, in the first post he said 2 black Ocellaries OR 2 Maroons.

Don't think he is trying to put in 4 clownfish lol

Ah your right. Saw the comment about four and thought it was op.

Get a mix and match clownfish pair, some small hermits, different types of snails, peppermint shrimp, emerald crab, and a jawfish. Need a good mix of cleaners so they can help with everything, and I'd go 3 or 4 fish. I have a 28 JBJ.

coral beauty can be done, and is a great looking fish. But, IME, they are swimmers and need a bigger tank as their small size is deceiving compared to their desire to swim.

PJ Cardinal are great in a nano
Watchman goby should park himself under a rock facing the tank top great you in the morning and when you get back home.

ocerlaris clowns, IMO, get overlooked, but for the price, ease of care, peaceful manner and their waving of bright orange.white, IMO, are excellent choice. I get that they are common = boring, but I disagree.

If I were to do it again, I would skip the hermits. IMO, snails are better workers and the hermits are programmed to do ethnic cleansing when it comes to snails.


add your clean up crew slowly to make sure their is enough detritus and algae to feed them.


I am a fan of worms for CUC. They are like the maid who leaves the mint on the pillow. You only see them by accident, but they do their job everyday.

id highly recommend a tailspot blenny. easily my favorite fish i've owned. so much personality in such a tiny body.

If you get a goby be sure to have your rock on the bottom of The tank.
Very destructive to rock work if not anchored down.

fwiw - in my 33 gal cube-ish tank I have 2 ocellaris, and a lawnmower blenny. I won't be adding any more fish for a tank this size.

I used 75lbs dry base rock from reefcleaners.. It is very 'fluffy' / very porous. 20lbs of sand. For a CUC I have 5 mixed snails and 10 very small blue leg hermits.

Good luck / have fun.

Also looking at fish for a similar sized tank. Rather than a Coral Beauty, would a wrasse be a good candidate? Any suggestions for a particular one?

What kind of worms would you suggest? And do all hermits go after the snails? I've heard that the red-legged hermits are more aggressive, but that blue-legged hermits shouldn't mess with the snails as much.

Hermits don't have shells, they steal it from others. When a hermit outgrow his, he will go hunting for a bigger one, and will usually kill a hermit or snail to get it unless you have lots of empty shells lying around.