Dos Ocho
Community Member
Hello all! To start, I’m not that into fish. I more into inverts, corals and macroalgae. However, I find myself wanting some more fish for my 40 gallon setup and want some advice from you all.
My setup is a macro dominant tank with mainly soft corals and rock anemones. The display is a 40 long with around 30 lbs of rock. The fuge is a 33 long with 8-ish lbs of rock, lots of algae and crabs. I estimate my total water volume to be roughly 60 gallons.
I only have 2 fish right now, a Chromis and a Rainford Goby. The Goby arrived a bit emaciated and not interested in frozen food. After several months in my system he is fat and happy, constantly grazing the sand, rock, and macros for food. The two fish get along very well and I have never seen aggression between the two. In fact, I find them often swimming together during the day. I also have a cleaner shrimp and two peppermint shrimp.
The fuge is literally crawling with pods. I don’t see as many in the display, but obviously there are enough live critters in the display to keep the Goby well fed.
So...on to my question. My 2 thoughts for fish are: 3 Pajama Cardinals or 1 Biota captive bred Blue Mandarin. I would really like the Mandarin, but know they need a ton of pods and worried I won’t have enough of a self sustaining population to keep the Goby and Mandarin well fed. I’d rather not have to add pods on a regular basis.
The Cardinals would fit in well and add some nice color and movement to my system. Plus I would have 3 of them, rather than just the one Mandarin. My concerns with them is adding 3 new fish may disrupt the peaceful harmony the Goby and Chromis have.
If someone has experience with one or both species, let me know what you think. Let me know if you need to know more about my system too. I love talking about it!!
As always, thanks for any advice you can give.
My setup is a macro dominant tank with mainly soft corals and rock anemones. The display is a 40 long with around 30 lbs of rock. The fuge is a 33 long with 8-ish lbs of rock, lots of algae and crabs. I estimate my total water volume to be roughly 60 gallons.
I only have 2 fish right now, a Chromis and a Rainford Goby. The Goby arrived a bit emaciated and not interested in frozen food. After several months in my system he is fat and happy, constantly grazing the sand, rock, and macros for food. The two fish get along very well and I have never seen aggression between the two. In fact, I find them often swimming together during the day. I also have a cleaner shrimp and two peppermint shrimp.
The fuge is literally crawling with pods. I don’t see as many in the display, but obviously there are enough live critters in the display to keep the Goby well fed.
So...on to my question. My 2 thoughts for fish are: 3 Pajama Cardinals or 1 Biota captive bred Blue Mandarin. I would really like the Mandarin, but know they need a ton of pods and worried I won’t have enough of a self sustaining population to keep the Goby and Mandarin well fed. I’d rather not have to add pods on a regular basis.
The Cardinals would fit in well and add some nice color and movement to my system. Plus I would have 3 of them, rather than just the one Mandarin. My concerns with them is adding 3 new fish may disrupt the peaceful harmony the Goby and Chromis have.
If someone has experience with one or both species, let me know what you think. Let me know if you need to know more about my system too. I love talking about it!!
As always, thanks for any advice you can give.
