Restarting 20 gallon, need advice for stocking

[LukeSivyer45]

I was wondering because it was a minimal scape, what would be some good animals to keep in this?

 

[blaxsun]

Pair of clownfish, goby, small blenny...

 

[LukeSivyer45]

Pair of clownfish, goby, small blenny...

What kind of blenny? I thought about midas but I think they get a bit too big. I also thought about any open water swimmers like cardinals but wasn’t sure

 

[Cheezle]

What kind of blenny? I thought about midas but I think they get a bit too big. I also thought about any open water swimmers like cardinals but wasn’t sure

My vote is a flame tail blenny! Mine hangs out with my clowns, citron goby and swims with my mandarin. The only one that doesn't care for him is my watchman.. but that's kind of expected. Super cool to watch him peck at the rocks and swim around like a tiny eel

 

[Sharkbait19]

In so small a tank, clowns will probably wind up attacking any other open water fish. I’d go for sand or rock dwellers to go with them.
Tailspot blenny and shrimpgoby + pistol shrimp gets my vote.
I’d get a bit more rock in there, the more hiding spots + coral real estate the better.

 

[LukeSivyer45]

My vote is a flame tail blenny! Mine hangs out with my clowns, citron goby and swims with my mandarin. The only one that doesn't care for him is my watchman.. but that's kind of expected. Super cool to watch him peck at the rocks and swim around like a tiny eel

Are they herbivores or carnivores? If so what should i feed them?

 

[LukeSivyer45]

In so small a tank, clowns will probably wind up attacking any other open water fish. I’d go for sand or rock dwellers to go with them.
Tailspot blenny and shrimpgoby + pistol shrimp gets my vote.
I’d get a bit more rock in there, the more hiding spots + coral real estate the better.

Yea what would you feed these herbivorous blenny’s?

 

[Andresnyc93]

+1 on a pair of clowns and a small blenny, either tailspot or bicolor would be great additions

 

[Sharkbait19]

Yea what would you feed these herbivorous blenny’s?

They will graze on the algae that grows in the tank. Otherwise, offer some nori (dried seaweed) and whatever else you feed your fish. Blennies aren’t usually too picky.

 

[blaxsun]

What kind of blenny? I thought about midas but I think they get a bit too big. I also thought about any open water swimmers like cardinals but wasn’t sure

Midas will probably get a tad big - but a cardinal would be a good choice.

 

[i cant think]

I disagree with the goby recommendations. Even if you go for coral, don’t get gobies first. They will be too stressed without enough coverage - I learnt the hard way with a Yasha goby which jumped several times until I got my rocks into this cave formation instead of just “Lying around” on the sand. Now I have that same goby constantly hiding in the rock and sometimes throughout coral. Same with my Hectors Goby and Acicularis Clown Goby. My Griessinger Goby remains close to the sand bed and loves to crawl around on it.

Blennies I disagree on having in nano tanks unless they’re a 2” or less species. After my Linear passes I’ll stick to the small species such as E. bimaculatus as they’re much less aggressive and less likely to actively eat SPS coral.

The other thing you may want are fish that actually patch throughout the branches of coral (especially if you go the SPS route). So you may want to take perching fish into account - I know I love watching when I catch one of my fish swimming between my corals. So I’d recommend a Gobiodon species but also you’d need to wait till you get more coverage in terms of coral.