120g Goby Stocking

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

Hey all, new reefer here. In a few weeks I will have my 120g 4x2 plumbed with a 29g sump, and be ready for initial stock shortly after that. I have got my stocking list together finally which I will list at the end of this post. My main concern is most of the fish i want (lookin at you gobys/blennies) will frankly dissappear in this tank. So I was wondering if anyone's cared to share experiences/opinions on numbers. If possible looking to keep several prawn/goby combos. Every other fish unless labeled I was going to go with single specimens unless someone suggests multiple. Still researching various fish. Species/number suggestions on the shrimp, gobies, or anything you believe would do well in this tank are much appreciated.

Mostly just trying to avoid aggression between the shrimp and gobys. I will be providing plenty of rockwork, sand, and such for territory. Tank will be softie dominant with a few specific lps. Will be putting effort into growing a fuge stuffed with cheato and pods.

Stock list (tentative)
Pair or ocellaris clowns
Prawn goby/shrimp combo
Midas blenny
Lawnmower blenny
Cleaner shrimp
Bengai or pajama cardinalfish x2 or 3
Pygmy geometric hawkfish
Royal gramma
Jawfish of some type
Exquisite firefish
Tang Gang
I will pick 3 out of these 4 when small and add at the same time, probably last fish in tank.
Yellow, kole, tomini, purple

On the fence on
Wrasses
Lyetail anthias

 

[EvanDeVita]

Here's my input:
You should not get a yellow tang. It'll be months before you can add one to your tank (assuming you add it last) and at that time they will cause the same as a Gem Tang (by my calculations). You also should not get 3 Banggai cardinals, as two will pair and kill the third (most likely). I have also heard that mixing blennies isn't a great idea, and since Midas and Lawnmowers are two of the biggest, there may be some fighting. Also, I would stick away from firefish. They get picked on by everything, are extremely shy, and are not worth their price. Finally, I gotta warn you about pistol shrimp: they really re-scape your tank. Anything you may have read on their destructive capabilities is, if nothing else, watered down.

Now onto the positives! I love that you are looking at Jawfish! In your tank any Jawfish will do great, but I have to recommend the Dusky Jawfish! They are grumpy and fun and grow to quite an unaccepted size (not to mention they are much cheaper then the Blue Spotted Jawfish [the most beautiful jawfish by far IMO]). I love all the other fish you have chosen, but I gotta push you towards wrasses. Wrasses are my favorite fish; they are beautiful, personable, active, and most help eliminate pests!

 

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

Here's my input:
You should not get a yellow tang. It'll be months before you can add one to your tank (assuming you add it last) and at that time they will cause the same as a Gem Tang (by my calculations). You also should not get 3 Banggai cardinals, as two will pair and kill the third (most likely). I have also heard that mixing blennies isn't a great idea, and since Midas and Lawnmowers are two of the biggest, there may be some fighting. Also, I would stick away from firefish. They get picked on by everything, are extremely shy, and are not worth their price. Finally, I gotta warn you about pistol shrimp: they really re-scape your tank. Anything you may have read on their destructive capabilities is, if nothing else, watered down.

Now onto the positives! I love that you are looking at Jawfish! In your tank any Jawfish will do great, but I have to recommend the Dusky Jawfish! They are grumpy and fun and grow to quite an unaccepted size (not to mention they are much cheaper then the Blue Spotted Jawfish [the most beautiful jawfish by far IMO]). I love all the other fish you have chosen, but I gotta push you towards wrasses. Wrasses are my favorite fish; they are beautiful, personable, active, and most help eliminate pests!

Im assuming you meant cost on the yellow tang and I was leaning more towards the purple anyway. I dont plan to add the tangs for like....a year. I will take your word on the cardinals and firefish. If i have to pick between the blennies I will probably go with a midas.
As for the tank rescaping that is what I am looking forward to. I will make sure to account for that with my rock and coral placement. Ive seen em drag pretty big chunks in vids.

Now as for jawfish, single, group, pair? Personally not a fan of the look of the dusky. I would have to go with the yellow head or bite the wallet bullet on the blue dot. I would need specific wrasse recommendations. I was thinking 1 each of 2 species that are utilitarian and not too ornery.

 

[New&no clue]

I would vote for a goby pistol pair. I have a YWG and a tiger pistol shrimp in my 30g and I love watching them. Yes, the pistol moves sand all over the place, but as long as you have your rocks on the glass to start with, and don't plan to have corals in the sand the are fine.

That being said you can add several gobys to a tank. I have the YWG and a Green Clown Goby in the same tank and they get along just fine. I've also heard of 2 prawn gobys sharing a hole with a pistol shrimp.

You can also add multiple cleaner shrimp as well. In my 75g I have two fires, and 2 skunks.

 

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

I would vote for a goby pistol pair. I have a YWG and a tiger pistol shrimp in my 30g and I love watching them. Yes, the pistol moves sand all over the place, but as long as you have your rocks on the glass to start with, and don't plan to have corals in the sand the are fine.

That being said you can add several gobys to a tank. I have the YWG and a Green Clown Goby in the same tank and they get along just fine. I've also heard of 2 prawn gobys sharing a hole with a pistol shrimp.

You can also add multiple cleaner shrimp as well. In my 75g I have two fires, and 2 skunks.

I may just do that ( multiple cleaner shrimp). Its a 140g system so plenty of space. Just worried about aggression really. Was thinking of getting several gobys/pistols at once and letting them choose territories. Theyd probly be the second batch in the tank after the clowns and cleaner shrimp. Ive heard the YWG can be somewhat aggressive to other gobys, or is it just conspecifics? I like the look of the yasha gobys. The jawfish could also pair with the shrimp so should be interesting.

 

[Baldguy]

My vote is for pistol/goby pair also. I've got two pairs in my 120g. Love the behavior. I'm actually thinking of adding another pair.

 

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

My vote is for pistol/goby pair also. I've got two pairs in my 120g. Love the behavior. I'm actually thinking of adding another pair.

What species of goby/shrimp?

 

[Baldguy]

Tangaroa goby/randalls pistol and Randalls goby/tiger pistol. If you're wondering I added the randalls goby and randalls pistol at the same time but they never hooked up. Added the tangaroa and tiger and they immediately found their partners.

 

[EvanDeVita]

Im assuming you meant cost on the yellow tang and I was leaning more towards the purple anyway. I dont plan to add the tangs for like....a year. I will take your word on the cardinals and firefish. If i have to pick between the blennies I will probably go with a midas.
As for the tank rescaping that is what I am looking forward to. I will make sure to account for that with my rock and coral placement. Ive seen em drag pretty big chunks in vids.

Now as for jawfish, single, group, pair? Personally not a fan of the look of the dusky. I would have to go with the yellow head or bite the wallet bullet on the blue dot. I would need specific wrasse recommendations. I was thinking 1 each of 2 species that are utilitarian and not too ornery.

Sounds good!
I don’t like the colors on the Dusky either, he’s just got a soft spot in my heart for some reason. If you want multiple Jawfish, you’ll have to go with pearly Jawfish. There are other types of Jawfish out there, they are just harder to find.
if you want wrasse recommendations, I’ve got you covered. I see you’re looking for utility wrasses, so I’d put flasher, leopard, and most fairy wrasses out of the picture. Silver belly yellow wrasses, Melanarus wrasse, Christmas wrasse, vroliks wrasse, earmuff wrasses. Naoko Fairy Wrasse may help out, but they are open water fish IME.
Question: is this tank a reef or fish only?

 

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

Sounds good!
I don’t like the colors on the Dusky either, he’s just got a soft spot in my heart for some reason. If you want multiple Jawfish, you’ll have to go with pearly Jawfish. There are other types of Jawfish out there, they are just harder to find.
if you want wrasse recommendations, I’ve got you covered. I see you’re looking for utility wrasses, so I’d put flasher, leopard, and most fairy wrasses out of the picture. Silver belly yellow wrasses, Melanarus wrasse, Christmas wrasse, vroliks wrasse, earmuff wrasses. Naoko Fairy Wrasse may help out, but they are open water fish IME.
Question: is this tank a reef or fish only?

Reef with small inverts. Thats why I went with the Pygmy hawkfish instead of the long nose. I do like the xmas wrasse and the neako would be fine because literally every fish i have besides the clowns and midas blenny are rock, substrate dwellers. Good recommendations. Are the blue dot and yellow head jawfish aggressive to conspecifics hence the recommendations on the pearly? It is a 4x2x2 tank for reference.

 

[EvanDeVita]

Reef with small inverts. Thats why I went with the Pygmy hawkfish instead of the long nose. I do like the xmas wrasse and the neako would be fine because literally every fish i have besides the clowns and midas blenny are rock, substrate dwellers. Good recommendations. Are the blue dot and yellow head jawfish aggressive to conspecifics hence the recommendations on the pearly? It is a 4x2x2 tank for reference.

Yellow head Jawfish are pearly Jawfish.... I think.... anyway, I’ve seen/heard of them getting along fine. To be safe, since there is no easy way to sex them until they mature and their heads grow, I would make the dens yourself and make sure they are far apart.

 

[Aclman88]

I have a YWG and a tiger pistol shrimp. They paired within minutes even though pistol was almost double the size of the Goby. Very interesting behavior, but they will absolutely remodel your sand bed, bury coral, move rocks or coral you thought would be too big, and use frags or small coral to shore up their burrows. A nice benefit of running a sumpless tank is I can actually spy on them from beneath the bottom pain of glass in their burrows. Could probably also do that with a sump, just might be hard to get your head in there

 

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

I have a YWG and a tiger pistol shrimp. They paired within minutes even though pistol was almost double the size of the Goby. Very interesting behavior, but they will absolutely remodel your sand bed, bury coral, move rocks or coral you thought would be too big, and use frags or small coral to shore up their burrows. A nice benefit of running a sumpless tank is I can actually spy on them from beneath the bottom pain of glass in their burrows. Could probably also do that with a sump, just might be hard to get your head in there

I do this with my burrowing loaches lol