New to salt water.. what fish?

[Daniel475]

hey guys im setting up a 30 gallon saltwater tank.. what our some unique salt water fish i can put in there? ive never delt with salt water before

[ickmagnet]

I was ill-informed when I set up my system and learned the hard way. I just threw in fish there without really knowing anything about them.

The fish that did the best when my tank was new were clowns and damsels. I would maybe get one of each as too many damsels will get crazy aggressive. Also, my coral brand shrimp has been around since my tank started 3 yrs ago.

I wouldn't put anything in there right away. Add some live rock and wait a month or two.

[imcosmokramer]

what else is going in the tank?
________
Magic flight (http://vaporizer.org/reviews/magic-flight-launch-box)

[edikpok]

my livestock in a 29g biocube:

mated pair of black clownfish
yellow wrasse
mated pair of bangaii cardinal
mated pair of shrimps

I wouldn't recommned more than this in a 30g tank. Many people here will claim that I am over-stocked too..... I would start with clowns and damsels as the Magent suggested

[Myka]

The trouble with Damsels is that they will usually become very aggressive when they get bigger. Some beginner fish for a tank your size I would suggest Clownfish, Orchid Dottyback (others get aggressive, this one is good), Gobies, Pajama or Bluestreak Cardinals, Jawfish. I could probably think of others. :lol:

[TheKid]

Mandarin gobies are a great option as well if you get them onto frozen food, i have personally got 2 in my tank both eating frozen.

[ponokareefer]

For that size of tank, you can never go wrong with true percula clownfish, skunk clownfish, or ocellaris clownfish. There are different color variations of each that are really nice as well. If you are looking at other types of clownfish, they can get bigger and more aggressive, so you would be less likely to get other smaller/timid fish. As for damsels, they can be great as starter fish, but you will find that they become very aggressive.
For your size of tank, and age, I would stay well clear of mandarins. They recommend much larger mature systems so they can munch on live foods, even if they are taking some frozen foods.

[ReefJunkie]

Hey Dan,
I have some extra equipment lying around here if you need anything, also you can come by and check out our reef tanks to get an idea of what you're getting into. I am in the process of building a 30 gal frag tank also so by the time you're ready I might have a few frags available for trade or sale. I also have diamond hole saws if you need holes drilled in your tank. Give me a PM and I'll shoot you my #

[Eyford01]

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74703



Check out this link, lots of ideas for a smaller tank

[Bloodasp]

Mandarin gobies are a great option as well if you get them onto frozen food, i have personally got 2 in my tank both eating frozen.

Careful with this one though. They are hard to train to eat frozen food. Unless you have a really established copepod population this guys will starve to death. If you do want them make sure you ask the lfs where you are buying it to see if it will accept frozen food.

[globaldesigns]

Mandarin gobies are a great option as well if you get them onto frozen food, i have personally got 2 in my tank both eating frozen.

Personally I would go not with a madarin. Reason is that the chances of you getting to take frozen or pellet food is very slim, and a Nano just doesn't give it enough space to feed. It would soon run out of pods and such, then starve. These fish are meant more for larger systems with lots of rock and refuges to populate its food supply.

[globaldesigns]

my livestock in a 29g biocube:

mated pair of black clownfish
yellow wrasse
mated pair of bangaii cardinal
mated pair of shrimps

I wouldn't recommned more than this in a 30g tank. Many people here will claim that I am over-stocked too..... I would start with clowns and damsels as the Magent suggested

I agree with you, size is a restriction to what you can have for species, but also for numbers. I started with a 28 JBJ, and did everything possible to maximize my fish population, but again size just has restrictions. For a healthy tank and happy fish, keep the numbers down, but have some nice fish.

Maybe look at:
- six line wrasse
- coris wrasse
- flame angel (very nice and would work in this tank, but if you have coral, you do take a chance of it nipping at it)
- 2 purple firefish
- 2 bangaii cardinals

having all of the above again will push things, but should be fine if you keep on top of things. If you were to remove some, I would maybe go with the above without the purpe firefish.

Six line wrasses are beautiful, they have crazy eyes that show alot of personality. I loved mine, but he got sucked into a skimmer when moved to my bigger tank. Poor guy, he was one of my favorites.

[Starry]

Cant go wrong with 3-4 blue/green chromises...not only are they pretty fish, they school. That, and a pair of clowns should give your tank lots of activity.

[SmallFry]

Hi,

I've got a coral beauty, a royal gramma, a cleaner shrimp and a tomato clown in my 27 gallon FOWLR. I reckon I'm probably on the limit of what I can keep in there now.

As someone mentioned before the coral beauty may nip at corals if you have them, but she's good to watch - great colours and always on the move. She also does quite a good job on algae control, always nibbling at it.

The royal gramma is pretty entertaining - always hanging around at crazy angles.. He was a little shy at first but now he's out and about most of the time..

The tomato clown is full of character and I've become quite attached to him. However, in hindsight I'd maybe not go for the tomato clown again as he's really territorial and goes for the others occasionally (except the shrimp oddly enough). The coral beauty gets the brunt of it because he can't even get close to catching the gramma. He'll also go for my hand when I do tank maintenance - usually just makes you jump, but he's drawn blood once or twice!

Hope this helps you out.
Rob.