Reefer 170 stocking

[BCollins]

Hey guys,

Looking for some suggestions for stocking my 34 gallon display reefer 170. Plenty of live rock and corals. No fish at the moment. Just a red banded shrimp. Considering a mandarin as I am currently building a pod population.

Thanks!

 

[BCollins]

 

[SashimiTurtle]

While the Reefer 170 is enough room for a mandarin to be comfortable, it might be enough room to feed it comfortably without adding pods. They can decimate a pod population in days... It can be done, just be prepared to buy bottles of pods. Other fish that you could get would be a watchman goby and pistol shrimp pair, ocelaris clownfish pair, firefish, pygmy angels(but only one), blue or green chromis(they make pretty schools, but usually end up killing each other slowly until there is only one)...

 

[BCollins]

While the Reefer 170 is enough room for a mandarin to be comfortable, it might be enough room to feed it comfortably without adding pods. They can decimate a pod population in days... It can be done, just be prepared to buy bottles of pods. Other fish that you could get would be a watchman goby and pistol shrimp pair, ocelaris clownfish pair, firefish, pygmy angels(but only one), blue or green chromis(they make pretty schools, but usually end up killing each other slowly until there is only one)...

Yeah I bet a mandarin could go through my pods really fast so I might try to find one that eats other things. What kind of angels would you suggest?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Centropyge argi, the pygmy angelfish, can be slightly aggressive and as with all angels, it may nip at LPS. But if it's the last fish added to the tank it should be ok with the aggression. Coral nipping is hit or miss. You might could get away with one of the Biota coral beauty, Centropyge bispinosa... if their bonsai truly stay 2" in size one of those would be perfect. Just make sure what you are getting is the Biota bonsai and not the regular. The bonsai are rare but are supposed to stay very small.

If you're not dead set on a mandarin, scooter dragonets are similar, but will take frozen easier. The ruby red scooter dragonets are really pretty.