Ten Gallon Stocking, help, and advice!!

[Annelise]

Hi all. I've had my 10g set up for three weeks now. I'm newer to the salt water hobby, but I'm very confident in my ability to maintain a nano tank. I currently have live rock, sand and my clean up crew in the tank. They consist of two blue legged hermits, one scarlet hermit, a trochus snail, a nassarius snail, and two astrea snails. Hope I spelled all that right, lol. I plan on this being a nice little reef tank that I can enjoined look at in detail, hence why I wanted a smaller one. So, my fish stocking thought were a clown goby and a single occ. clown. I'm also open to different fish like the fire goby, yellow watchman goby, tailspot blenny, royal gramma, and others. I keep changing my mind on which ones I want and which ones I would want to put in the tank together. Any advise on this? Also, for corals I plan on keeping it a softy tank. Gsp, pulsing xenia, kenya tree all will have their own island, then a toadstool and zoas on my main rock work. I'm open for suggestions though! I wanted to create this because I really love learning all I can about things and other things I might could get instead of them before I own them, lol. Thanks in advance!

 

[James M]

Welcome to reef2reef!!
I think your original stocking list is the only thing that’s going to work . Pretty much anything in the goby family will work and 1 clown

 

[Annelise]

Welcome to reef2reef!!
I think your original stocking list is the only thing that’s going to work . Pretty much anything in the goby family will work and 1 clown

awesome, thanks. So no gramma? also what about a yellow tailed damsel? You think the boiled would be too heavy with the original stocking list plus a ywg?

 

[Annelise]

bio load* oops haha

 

[James M]

awesome, thanks. So no gramma? also what about a yellow tailed damsel? You think the boiled would be too heavy with the original stocking list plus a ywg?

Tank is too small for a gramma and the damsel will be very aggressive Towards the other inhabitants. Max fish IMO is two

 

[Coastie Reefer]

10g is too small for a gramma. They can be mean and territorial. My standard 10g had a pair of clowns and a purple firefish.

 

[Annelise]

can i put a starfish in a 10g? if yes what species?

 

[Coastie Reefer]

can i put a starfish in a 10g? if yes what species?

None that I know of...

 

[Joshua2598]

My stocking in my 10 is
1 oc. Clown
1 purple firefish
2 astrea snails
1 bumblebee snail
1 emerald crab
2 scarlet hermits.

And corals. I'm still looking for my last and final fish and will be adding a skimmer before I do that. Btw my tank is a fluval evo xxii so I have a sump with space for all that

 

[RyaNn Van'Coral]

can i put a starfish in a 10g? if yes what species?

If you were going to do any star, look at the red knobby starfish, or the Red Sea Star, i have kept both in reefs under 30 gallons and have rarely seen them get very large at all. Very hardy and have never actually lost one (and its been awhile). Will upload pics in another post.

 

[RyaNn Van'Coral]

Note: on the knobby, i have read here and there about them being coral eaters, but having them in now 2 mixed reefs with clams, etc, I have had no issue since my one of LFS's showed them to me.

 

[Annelise]

Note: on the knobby, i have read here and there about them being coral eaters, but having them in now 2 mixed reefs with clams, etc, I have had no issue since my one of LFS's showed them to me.

thanks!

 

[Coralreefer1]

Hi and welcome to R2R first of all!
As for your tank inhabitants, do you plan on having a cover? The reason why I’m asking is that Goby’s and Gramma’s like to jump. Also, damsels, Clowns and Gramma’s become very territorial, especially in a small tank. Be sure to add different size empty snail shells in your tank for your hermits to grow. If not, Blue Legs, especially, will kill your snails for their shell. For Sea Stars, the best bet for a beginner would be a Serpent or Brittle Star. I would avoid the Fromia and Linkia sp. being a beginner and with such a new aquarium.
Might I suggest housing a Clownfish, Yellow Watchman Goby or similar small Goby/Pistol Shrimp pair. Pajama or Bangaii Cardinal fish make a wonderful addition to all small tank. Clown, Rainfords, Shrimp Goby’s and Six-Line wrasses are equally as nice. Their are a number of beautiful fish that would be perfect for that size tank. Chrysiptera species of Damsel fish are the least boisterous in the Damsel Family and best bet if you would like to go that route. A lot has to do with when you add the fish to your tank. It is best to add the more aggressive fish last to your bioload.
Good luck....this is just a small sampling of what you could successfully maintain in a small aquarium such as yours.

 

[Daniel91]

You are pretty good with most blennies and gobies in a 10gal - clowns too ofc. I would personally start out with 2 fish and if your biofilter allows it, you can add a third one later. Compatiblity and potentially terrortorial issues must be takin into account here of course.

 

[uhgster1]

I had a ten gallon Nuvo. I moved to a bigger tank. IMO, your stock list is good except my experience with clowns has been that they get very unpredictable and aggressive with time in small tanks. I only kept three fish in mine, a pajama cardinal, a tail spot blennie, and a watchman gobie. They gave me what I was looking for,(I still have them), and they didn’t affect my bio load greatly. I put an occilaris in there for a week and it bullied my watchman until it disappeared, ( found it in the sump later, months later) and then it went after the blennie, so I took him back to the store. I think that ten gallons would work just for a clown pair as the sole fish.