20 long stocking. (Macroalgae and softies)

[NoahLikesFish]

alright so I have been thinking about stocking for a long time and did chatting with my friends. They said that I am stressing a lot about stocking and if I keep it super under stocked it could be detrimental to the macros ans they told me not to stress about xenias which are the main coral I want. They said I should go for a couple schoolers a pair of clowns a blenny, a hawk fish then a basslet And a small goby Or a group of schooling gobies. They said if I did water changes and used good filtration it could work well. by schooler I mean like small chromis or blue line cardinal.

 

[Tamberav]

alright so I have been thinking about stocking for a long time and did chatting with my friends. They said that I am stressing a lot about stocking and if I keep it super under stocked it could be detrimental to the macros ans they told me not to stress about xenias which are the main coral I want. They said I should go for a couple schoolers a pair of clowns a blenny, a hawk fish then a basslet And a small goby Or a group of schooling gobies. They said if I did water changes and used good filtration it could work well. by schooler I mean like small chromis or blue line cardinal.

If you look at the nice TOTM macro algae tanks. He only has a few fish.

Chromis don’t even school or get along... especially in a small tank. They kill each other.

In a 20g, I like around 4-5 fish unless you do very small ones like green banded gobies or such.

Pair of clowns (not large mean ones), small blenny like a tail spot, shrimp goby, and a royal gramma or similar would be fine.

Fish need their own space and territory.

 

[dedragon]

its a 20 gallon, so only 3-4 fish max. Probably 2 clowns, blenny and maybe down the line a damselfish (Chrysiptera genus only), chromis, goby or basslet etc. But again only 4 max

 

[Mightythias]

My general rule of thumb that has worked out for me over the years is 1 small fish per every 5 gallons of tank size.
So for a 20g you are looking at 4 fish max

 

[Bribo12]

I have a 20 gallon with 2 clowns and a possum wrasse and feel it is stocked. The clowns use the whole tank while the wrasse sticks near the rockwork. 4 is definitely stocked. Like stated earlier chromis kill each other. A trio of small eviota or trimma gobies could work if you want 2 clowns and then the trio of gobies but that would be stocked as well.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

The 3” puffer seems fine imo. I might do 2 clarkii a bottom or rock dweller micropredator and a leopard Toby. IME puffers aren’t that messy if you don’t overfeed. I kept a pea puff in a tiny nano tank for a friend a while ago while he was moving and it did well even though people say they are messy, i Fed it only what it ate and it thrived. the tank had 0 wc and 0 nitrate

 

[NoahLikesFish]

Plus I’m gonna have a 75-110g filter a reverse UG and high flow so it won’t be too much load on the corals and macros.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

And hopefully if I get a ro unit a 50% wc every 2 weeks

 

[NoahLikesFish]

if the 3” small mouthed sharp nose puffer is fed well will it eat shrimp?

 

[Tamberav]

The 3” puffer seems fine imo. I might do 2 clarkii a bottom or rock dweller micropredator and a leopard Toby. IME puffers aren’t that messy if you don’t overfeed. I kept a pea puff in a tiny nano tank for a friend a while ago while he was moving and it did well even though people say they are messy, i Fed it only what it ate and it thrived. the tank had 0 wc and 0 nitrate

Clarkii clowns should be put in a nano tank with other fish. They get very mean as adults. When spawning, they can downright kill other fish. I feel like this has been said before.

 

[Bribo12]

So let me get this straight you want 2 clarkii clowns (Get 4-5" and aggressive), a rock dweller like a basslett (Fine), a micropredator (Will starve/ expert care level) and a toby puffer. Seems like you're gonna add whatever fish you want to me...

 

[NoahLikesFish]

my reef friends say it works

 

[NoahLikesFish]

if the tank was FOWLR would I be able to stock more? Becsuse the only corals I want are Xenia and Kenya tree and maybe leather and cheap brown ones that would just exist in the tank. I’m not making some ricordea hammer tank that costs like 1000$

 

[KingTideCorals]

alright so I have been thinking about stocking for a long time and did chatting with my friends. They said that I am stressing a lot about stocking and if I keep it super under stocked it could be detrimental to the macros ans they told me not to stress about xenias which are the main coral I want. They said I should go for a couple schoolers a pair of clowns a blenny, a hawk fish then a basslet And a small goby Or a group of schooling gobies. They said if I did water changes and used good filtration it could work well. by schooler I mean like small chromis or blue line cardinal.

With a twenty gallon I would limit yourself to two to three fish and that will be great nutrient wise (feeding included) for the macroalgae and the soft corals! I run a macroalgae system and love it! Liking this idea!

 

[tautog83]

Corals or not it's the same water volume .. lol

 

[NoahLikesFish]

I think what I will do is just forgo clowns altogether and I think what I will do is a puffer a fuzzy lion and a scorp or small hawk, all smallish and not super active and with large filter should work out

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Why come on here and ask for advice if you're just going to ignore them? Your last thread was 14 pages of people asking you not to do it, but here you are starting another one trying to pitch the same fish.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

because apex predator fish do best in this kind of setup anyway. I might trade the fish when they grow too

 

[Tamberav]

if the tank was FOWLR would I be able to stock more? Becsuse the only corals I want are Xenia and Kenya tree and maybe leather and cheap brown ones that would just exist in the tank. I’m not making some ricordea hammer tank that costs like 1000$

No. it is about aggression and not nutrients.

my reef friends say it works

Your friends are wrong.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

This time it’s just 3 small fish. And I just watched a vid of someone doing it successfully In a 20 high and I’m doing a 20 long. It looks fine to me, the puffer isn’t that active and the lion isn’t super active either.