undrtkr_00 Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Well, having a 110 at home wasn't enough saltwater in my life, so I decided to convert my standard 29g FW planted tank (at my office) to a simple reef setup, and I am trying to decide what kind of fish and inverts to stock it with. (scratch) I am thinking of doing something different - perhaps something that wouldn't work in my big tank. Possibly aggresive. Or possibly something like a pistol shrimp/goby combination, or even maybe a peacock mantis (saw a nice specimen at Rose City this weekend - huge!). Let's have some suggestions of unusual fish or inverts (or combinations) to keep in a tank that size. Here are the specs and requirements: 29g standard glass tank with no sump or fuge Lighting will be low/moderate with a cheap T5 fixture (2 bulbs). Flow will be low Corals will be softies, probably a mushroom garden, including smoothies, rics, and probably some zoos, etc. Due to not having a sump or fuge, I am thinking I will grow some ornamental algae in the display, for minor nutrient export, possibly xenia for the same reason. Planning on having a couple of inches of sand, but not married to the idea Filtration, at least initially, will just be live rock and a simple HOB filter with some carbon and possibly phoslock. I think I already have enough established live rock that I can move from the sump of my big tank, so the cycle shouldn't be too long. Must be low maintenance. No weekend feedings or live food requirements. Water changes of about about 20% once/month. This is part of the reason for going with hardy corals like mushrooms. I do travel for a week at a time now and again, so either an auto feeder or a coworker dropping some frozen in every few days will have to do while I'm out. I could even see doing something like no fish but a few different kinds of shrimp or a big colony of crabs or something. Anyway, let me know what you have done yourselves, or maybe something you've wanted to try but never got around to. I just got my FW stuff out last week. Still need to clean everything up, paint the back, etc. so it will be at least a month or so before I start adding any kind of livestock. Thanks in advance for your feedback. (rock2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I like the idea of a few gobies and a few shrimp. Should created enough movement to enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 So I could do more than one pair in a tank that size? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Do you want something that's pretty to just have there, or something that the viewer needs to peer at for a while to appreciate? Pistol Shrimp & Goby pairs, and mantis shrimp are cool but they aren't the most obvious critters IME. To really appreciate them, the viewer needs to camp out and watch for a while. Keeping nitrates down in a small, skimmerless mantis tank might be a problem too -- they're pretty messy eaters, aren't they? I think Blennies would be cool in a softies tank, I love watching them hop around from spot to spot. Maybe a couple of orchid dottybacks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 Do you want something that's pretty to just have there, or something that the viewer needs to peer at for a while to appreciate? Pistol Shrimp & Goby pairs, and mantis shrimp are cool but they aren't the most obvious critters IME. To really appreciate them, the viewer needs to camp out and watch for a while. Keeping nitrates down in a small, skimmerless mantis tank might be a problem too -- they're pretty messy eaters, aren't they? I think Blennies would be cool in a softies tank, I love watching them hop around from spot to spot. Maybe a couple of orchid dottybacks? Well... the tank is right next to my desk, so the primary viewer (and camper) is me. However, I do regularly have guests sitting down with me. For them, something like a blenny would be cool. Yeah, I kinda figured that a mantis might be messy, and so would a lot of aggressive animals if I feed a lot of meaty foods, but I thought I would see if anyone had experience with any that they thought might work. 29g is still a fair bit of volume if you only have 1 or 2 smaller animals in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilmca Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 i've had a mantis shrimp before and they are messy, i would go with the goby and pistol shrimp or I would also recommend a blue spotted jawfish because they have great personalities. back east there was a reef store that had blue spotted jawfish in a small display tank and that fish was so beautiful and a lot more active than i thought it would be. never had one but i know they are expensive. might need more sand than a few inches, from what i remember that tank had atleast 4" of sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Get a bottlenose dolphin. That would be cool, you would be different from everyone else on this site. J\k. I would think that gobies, blennies, small damsels, and such would work just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 i've had a mantis shrimp before and they are messy' date=' i would go with the goby and pistol shrimp or I would also recommend a blue spotted jawfish because they have great personalities. back east there was a reef store that had blue spotted jawfish in a small display tank and that fish was so beautiful and a lot more active than i thought it would be. never had one but i know they are expensive. might need more sand than a few inches, from what i remember that tank had atleast 4" of sand.[/quote'] Yeah, I have seen these and liked them really well. How expensive are they? I've seen your tank, and you have some deluxe fish, so I'm guessing they must be pretty darn spendy for you to make that comment! Speaking of your tank, you have something similar to a lawnmower, but if I recall it was kinda black, white and red. What was that again? Is it a pod-eater only, or does it take prepared foods? That is a pretty cool lookin' fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefin' Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I have a tiger pistol shrimp with an orange spotted shrimp goby in a 6 gal cube....with about an 1"+ of sand with a coiple rocks in the middle...they live below in the center... the tiger shrimp is changing stuff up day or so.....I really don't pay attention to it really but I still notice the changes...i drop in some" big marine pellet" that nobody else eats about two or three times a week and might wait for a minute and watch the shrimp come out and grab it and skoot back in.... Not much attention needed with them but I still get a kick out of the shrimp that gotta always improve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilmca Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Yeah, I have seen these and liked them really well. How expensive are they? I've seen your tank, and you have some deluxe fish, so I'm guessing they must be pretty darn spendy for you to make that comment! Speaking of your tank, you have something similar to a lawnmower, but if I recall it was kinda black, white and red. What was that again? Is it a pod-eater only, or does it take prepared foods? That is a pretty cool lookin' fish. I believe i've seen the blue spotted jawfish for over $100 so that's about twice as much as my most expensive fish(Potters Angel) I do have a red spotted blenny, I think that's what you are talking about. basically the same thing as lawnmower blenny just different coloration and not as thick. it eats algae plus flake and frozen too. currently in the refugium because i haven't taken the time to take all the live rock out to catch it. old pic but looks the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 I believe i've seen the blue spotted jawfish for over $100 so that's about twice as much as my most expensive fish(Potters Angel) Really? That's your most expensive? You have such nice colorful ones I figured they must have been spendy. Even those big tangs for under $50, huh? I don't think that blenny is the one I was thinking of. Do you have a dragonet like what I described? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilmca Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 I also have a Scooter Blenny, similar to a dragonet(pic below). It's a nice fish but it only eats frozen brine or mysis plus any pods in the tank. It has to compete with the Melanurus and Sixline Wrasses who also eat pods so I have to make sure it gets frozen on a regular basis. The Blue Tang was pretty expensive at around $50 but the Clown and Sailfin Tangs were around $30. They were also a lot smaller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 OK How about a Lion Fish. They have them at the Coast Aquarium. Beautiful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr S Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 I would go with couple of cleaner shrimp and a midas blennie. I like cleaner shrimp because they crawl around alot. Just my 2 bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 26, 2009 Author Share Posted March 26, 2009 Have you had experience with a lion fish? I'll have to read up on their requirements. I know they'll go after smaller fish, etc. I just wonder if they are too messy. They are sweet looking. I have also been looking into various kinds of shrimps (cleaners, included, Mr. S). I think nanoreefer's harlequin shrimp are sweet looking, so I have looked into them a bit. I didn't realize that they primarily eat starfish, so people just drop a new starfish in every once in a while (1-2 times/month). Crazy. So it sounds like the cheapest way to feed them is with chocolate chip starfish. Thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming! I just got the sand in the tank last night. No water or rock yet, so I have a bit of a wait ahead of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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