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3rd fish for a 20g?

IOnceWasLegend

IOnceWasLegend

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Looking for suggestions for a 3rd fish for our IM Nuvo 20. We currently have a ~1.5" percula clown and a ~3.5" bar goby (who has a burrow under some of our rockwork), and trying to figure out a compromise between my wife and I.

Ideally we'd get something that has some 'pop' of color (my wife loves purple and yellow, and was deeply disappointed when she found out bicolor/diadem dottybacks were a bad idea...and doesn't like royal grammas, for some reason), or something that's striking (we love the coloration of the blue velvet damsel). Additionally, as much as I love firefish, the bar goby harassed and killed our last one, so firefish/dartfish would likely be out.

We both liked the orange-spotted goby, but she doesn't want to pair it with a pistol shrimp. We're also considering a springer's dottyback, since that seems to be slightly less aggressive than other dottybacks, but I'm not sure where that falls on the 'bad-idea-o-meter'. Blue chromis are also beautiful, but they seem to need to be in a group, and I don't want more than three fish in our nano.

Thanks for the input!
 
svreef said:
Flame hawk fish? They are really striking and have a cool personality
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I do like the way they look. That's definitely on the list!

Coral reefer said:
Maybe a mandarin if you add pods every so often.
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I would love to keep a mandarin, but I'm terrified of accidentally starving the poor thing. I won't be able to add a pod-breeding refugium for a while, and my understanding is that one would chew through a bottle of pods in the span of a few days (which would get expensive pretty quick).
 
I just pulled a yellow tail damsel out of my tank because he was getting picked on... You're welcome to him!

I'm in the minority, but I really like most chrysiptera damsels - I have a pair of springer's and a pair of azure's (different tanks) that are great fish and low in the pecking order. IME, you do need to be careful adding things once they've been established though. A lot like keeping African cichlids.
 
No damsels. How about a Pink Streaked / Cryptic Wrasse?

Other nominees:
Tailspot Blenny
Gold Assessor
Blackcap Basslet

Would probably avoid the Mandarin as smaller tanks are unlikely to have enough pods for longer term success.
 
IOnceWasLegend said:
I do like the way they look. That's definitely on the list!



I would love to keep a mandarin, but I'm terrified of accidentally starving the poor thing. I won't be able to add a pod-breeding refugium for a while, and my understanding is that one would chew through a bottle of pods in the span of a few days (which would get expensive pretty quick).
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You could maybe do a hang on back “Refugium” with some rubble and maybe a pod hotel? Or even use a canister filter for the express purpose of cultivating pods.
 
I think some mandarins eat pellets, I assume ORA ones are. There’s also stores you can check out to find mardarins that are eating pellets. Since you only have a couple fish, I think there would be enough food sinking to the bottom for the mandarin to scavenge.
 
Completely different direction than beauty - Sail Fin Molly to tirelessly clean your rock-work and glass.

I have only had mine a short couple/few weeks... I have already made a new rule (for myself)- If I can't fit a tang in the tank, molly it is.
 
Corallus said:
I just pulled a yellow tail damsel out of my tank because he was getting picked on... You're welcome to him!

I'm in the minority, but I really like most chrysiptera damsels - I have a pair of springer's and a pair of azure's (different tanks) that are great fish and low in the pecking order. IME, you do need to be careful adding things once they've been established though. A lot like keeping African cichlids.
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I'll take it up with my wife, but we may take you up on that (since he'd be the likely-final addition to the tank)!

Coral reefer said:
You could maybe do a hang on back “Refugium” with some rubble and maybe a pod hotel? Or even use a canister filter for the express purpose of cultivating pods.
Click to expand...

This is something I've considered doing for a while (since I know pods can eat dinos, and it'd be nice having the variety of food in there), but I'll probably hold off till the future; so not an immediate option.

bfirecat said:
I think some mandarins eat pellets, I assume ORA ones are. There’s also stores you can check out to find mardarins that are eating pellets. Since you only have a couple fish, I think there would be enough food sinking to the bottom for the mandarin to scavenge.
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Oh, interesting. So, dumb question time: I know ORA has a website. How do you know if a fish is from ORA or not? Is there a specific source you can order them from?
 
Places that carry ORA fish will state they are ORA.
I believe most fish stores in the bay area have them, feel free to give the popular ones a call.
Liveaquaria is another place I know that stocks them.
They do carry a premium price tag though, and I plan on getting a mandarin for my tank after another couple of months.

www.orafarm.com

Blue Mandarin | Synchiropus splendidus | ORA | Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums

ORA Aquacultured Blue Mandarin Gobies eat frozen and pellet foods and are easier to care for than their wild counterparts.
www.orafarm.com
 
bfirecat said:
Places that carry ORA fish will state they are ORA.
I believe most fish stores in the bay area have them, feel free to give the popular ones a call.
Liveaquaria is another place I know that stocks them.
They do carry a premium price tag though, and I plan on getting a mandarin for my tank after another couple of months.

www.orafarm.com

Blue Mandarin | Synchiropus splendidus | ORA | Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums

ORA Aquacultured Blue Mandarin Gobies eat frozen and pellet foods and are easier to care for than their wild counterparts.
www.orafarm.com
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Oh awesome, thank you! I'm going to look into these.

The_Lazy_Reefer said:
Got a decent sandbed? If so a small yellow corris wrasse is a beautiful flash of color to beat.
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Funnily enough, a yellow wrasse was one of the first fish we were looking at. Our sandbed is 1.5-2" deep, so I'm not sure if that'd be deep enough.
 
IOnceWasLegend said:
Oh awesome, thank you! I'm going to look into these.



Funnily enough, a yellow wrasse was one of the first fish we were looking at. Our sandbed is 1.5-2" deep, so I'm not sure if that'd be deep enough.
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That’s good enough. It will most likely move some to a spot and build a mound if it isn’t content in 2”.
 
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