IM25 Lagoon Stocking Advice

[TheTexasReefer]

Looking for stocking advice for a IM25 Lagoon build. Asked my LSF but they didn't really offer the best advice about it, other than they know someone who has 12+ fish in a 13.5 gallon no problem (yikes). Starting this as a peaceful fowler build, probably will transition to a reef tank after I move in about 2 years.

Looking to stock(rough order of adding):
-2 clowns
-1 midas blenny
-1 watchman goby
-some CUC (going to try to keep the CUC to bigger stuff so the hawk doesn't get carried away)
-1 longnose hawk


Hawk is going to go in last for sure because I know they can have problems with blennies and CUC, but there seems to be a lots of proof online this could definitely work. I'm seeing vastly different answers about the 25G Lagoon where some are saying 3-4 fish and some are saying 7-8 fish. Would this thrive on paper and what is the max fish I could get away with?

I appreciate all advice. I'm a long time lurker of this site and happy to finally make a post!

 

[blaxsun]

I've had 8-9 fish in a IM 25 Lagoon (not recommended) as a temporary interim solution while my larger tank was on order. 6 small fish is plenty (you may need a skimmer at some point to help with excess nutrient levels). I have a flame hawkfish and he's been great with the 60 or so odd fish that have adorned my tank over the past few years.