29 gal capacity

[Kasrift]

Just as an fyi, not critiquing you @blaxsun . You have lots of info and insightful posts, just wouldn't throw a number like 10 out there for new reefers. It's the exception, not the rule and could end up in failure.

 

[maxthisout]

I have a 26g system, 4 is where I am stopping.

There's some great basslets other than the Royal Gramma, that especially shine in smaller systems with peaceful tank mates ( though they are a little pricier- Gold Assessor, Swissguard, Cave, etc.). I have a Gold Assessor and he spends most of the day swimming out in the open as soon as it gets light in the room.

Cryptic Wrasse, similar in size to the Banded Possum mentioned above. Zooms around the tank looking for food. Super peaceful.

Yasha Goby/pistol shrimp combo.

Per above posts, Clownfish are generally aggressive (to cohabitants and likely you). They do have great personalities and if you are set on them, make sure they are the last fish in.

 

[blaxsun]

I think you mentioned two things that are important. Firstly, you mentioned they were over stocked. 10 is definitely way too many for that sized tank. Second, yours was a temporary housing until you got your larger tank. People often quarantine a few tangs in 20 gallons, doesn't mean they should be there long term. I had six in my 32 gallon, I had to move one recently to my extra quarantine tank because after 9 months of being together with no issues, the starry blenny started taking issues with my yellow watchman goby.

Yes. The "do as we say" and not as "you may think we do" applies here!

 

[blaxsun]

Just as an fyi, not critiquing you @blaxsun . You have lots of info and insightful posts, just wouldn't throw a number like 10 out there for new reefers. It's the exception, not the rule and could end up in failure.

Yes, I'm certainly not recommending 10 fish (I listed an estimate of between 4-8 fish, with various caveats, ie: rockscaping, filtration, size and type of fish, etc.) I added a clarification above (thanks for pointing this out @Kasrift).

 

[Kasrift]

I have a 26g system, 4 is where I am stopping.

There's some great basslets other than the Royal Gramma, that especially shine in smaller systems with peaceful tank mates ( though they are a little pricier- Gold Assessor, Swissguard, Cave, etc.). I have a Gold Assessor and he spends most of the day swimming out in the open as soon as it gets light in the room.

Cryptic Wrasse, similar in size to the Banded Possum mentioned above. Zooms around the tank looking for food. Super peaceful.

Yasha Goby/pistol shrimp combo.

Per above posts, Clownfish are generally aggressive (to cohabitants and likely you). They do have great personalities and if you are set on them, make sure they are the last fish in.

An assessor is on my list of future fish. I didn't learn about them until I was done stocking my tank.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

I would consider 6 fish to be the maximum for a mature 30 gallon. Clownfish, royal gramma, blennies, bangaiis, and gobies will be the best options.

 

[Kasrift]

And yeah, I'm guilty too of overstocking, but to be fair I need a higher bioload since I have a ton of corals and I don't want to dose anything I don't have to.

My 32 gallon Fluval has a pair of ocellaris clownfish, one Springeri Damsel, starry blenny, mandarin goby, and a sixline wrasse (which might be temporary, I just was worried about possible pests). And of course the watchman goby, but that has been in a separate tank for almost a month and moved out before the sixline went in. Six is high for this size, but mandarin gobies (dragonettes) might as well be ghosts for all the other fish care. It perches on the starry blenny as it moves about looking for copepods and doesn't seem like it knows other fish exist or vice versa.

 

[blaxsun]

There are lots of neat fish - the challenge is that once they start to grow you need to look at continuing upgrading to keep them happy and aggression at a minimum.

Generally-speaking, small fish (gobies, basslets and some blennies) do great in smaller tanks. Even clownfish and cardinalfish can reach a good size.

Right now I have fifty (50, not a typo) fish in my 160-gallon system. There's a lot of automation with respect to filtration, feeding and testing (if you're interested, check out my build thread for full details). Many would consider this overstocked, and if it weren't for some of the unique design aspects of the tank I would tend to agree. I can probably increase this to 60 fish and may do so next year with a larger skimmer upgrade and expanded dosing system.