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Biggest Fish For a Little Tank

ThatGuy

ThatGuy

What would be the biggest fish I could put in a tank with a 18"x20"x28" foot print (40pillar)? I don't seem to have luck keeping little fish so I was thinking one fish that would stay in the column. The only fish in there now is 2 ywg. I've lost cardinals, clown gobies, dart fish, ect. Thanks for the help in advance. (I'd do seahorses but I have a nem and other stinging corals)
 
jgraz

jgraz

That footprint is tough for larger fish. If you are having a hard time with the smaller guys the larger guys are not gonna be any easier. You could try a wrasse, maybe a six line but they don't get real large and will pretty much use the entire tank. I would question why you can't keep small fish before adding any more first.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

jgraz said:
That footprint is tough for larger fish. If you are having a hard time with the smaller guys the larger guys are not gonna be any easier. You could try a wrasse, maybe a six line but they don't get real large and will pretty much use the entire tank. I would question why you can't keep small fish before adding any more first.
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They never seem to eat. One of the 2 YWG go back to when I had a 135gal. I've never really had trouble with keeping fish alive until I tried keeping "nano" fish. I'm nervous with wrasse because I have 3 shrimps, 2 pompom crabs, and 2 porcelain crabs.
 
A

Alcohol120

you can really only keep the *nano* fish in that aquarium. nothing that requires a lot of swimming room and nothing that gets too large. the largest fish would probably be 6-7" max. a midas blenny might get that large as well as some other fish. other than a wrasse, a clownfish is another smaller option along with gobies.
 
F

fsarmien

There are reef safe safe wrasses. My carpenter's wrasse has been with porcelain crabs, sexy shrimp, hermits, peppermints, fire shrimp. He hasn't bothered them. Do you check your parameters? What are they?
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

fsarmien said:
There are reef safe safe wrasses. My carpenter's wrasse has been with porcelain crabs, sexy shrimp, hermits, peppermints, fire shrimp. He hasn't bothered them. Do you check your parameters? What are they?
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Parameters are all in line. The little fish don't just die out of no where. I watch them slowly get skinny then just die(no carcasses as I have an oversized CC for the tank). They just don't want to eat so I've given up on them for a while. I've only had the 2 YWG for the past month or so as I've given up on adding fish.

Phos-0
rates&rites-0
Amonia-0
Sal 1.026
Cal-460
Alk-8
pH-8.0
Temp-78
 
F

fsarmien

thats crazy. I've had a cardinal fish and it eats EVERYTHING. You could try a couple of chromis. The biggest? I would put a carpenter's wrasse in it, but it's pushing it a bit. I have one in my tank lol.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

fsarmien said:
thats crazy. I've had a cardinal fish and it eats EVERYTHING. You could try a couple of chromis. The biggest? I would put a carpenter's wrasse in it, but it's pushing it a bit. I have one in my tank lol.
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I don't know if it was the move or not, but the cardinal was from when I had the 75 and was doing fine until the move. Maybe stress? Idk. Its just a really empty looking tank as the one goby hides all the time and the other only pops its head out from time to time. The most I get as far as movement goes is the peppermint shrimp moving back and forth like a praying mantis.
 
F

fsarmien

ThatGuy said:
I don't know if it was the move or not, but the cardinal was from when I had the 75 and was doing fine until the move. Maybe stress? Idk. Its just a really empty looking tank as the one goby hides all the time and the other only pops its head out from time to time. The most I get as far as movement goes is the peppermint shrimp moving back and forth like a praying mantis.
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Oh yeah, stress could definitely be it. I had some experiences where the fish had a really rough move, and they ended up not surviving. When I was moving my fish from college back to home. They wouldn't eat anymore. So, that could possibly be it.
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
How about dwarf Angels; Coral Beauty, Flame, etc? Also, a pygmy angel might be okay.
 
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