Stocking 60 gallon cube

[aviationreef]

Currently i have a 60gallon cube, i bought it used so it is an established system over a year. Currently it has a diamond back goby, a firefish and a pair of snowflake clowns. Also a rounded clean up crew, a Cleaner shrimp, a emerald crab, several Hermit crabs, several different types of snails.

I have several corals Torch, frogspawn, zoas, palythoas, Chalace, leathers, Acans, blastos, duncan, and Lobo.

Fish i am thinking about getting, and my guide/goals on keeping them.
Mandarin Goby
I know this is a hard to keep fish but it is my dream fish, i will take concerns and advice on proper care of this fish or if i need to do more to take care of it in my system, considering making a pod farm, but i will likely ignore "don't keep this fish it is hard"
Step negative two, Seed 60G cube tank with pods
Step negative one, Wait 2 months
Step one, Set up a 20-30 Gallon Display Refugium for my tank.
Step two, seed both the display refugium and the tank with 2-3 different types of pods.
Step three, Wait, wait and wait some more. 6 months is my minimum now.
Step four, Place the beautiful goby i purchased into my Display refugium for a period of time(undecided so far, from my understanding quarantining these fish is a horrible idea.
Step five, move the goby to the main tank.

Royal Gamma or Purple Dottyback
From my understanding i can only have one of the two, i have also heard they could be an issue with my firefish?

Cardinal fish
From my understanding one of the easiest fish to keep in this hobby

Dwarf Angel Fish
Would i be able to get any of these in my aquarium size? or that would leave my corals alone?

Wrasse- Flasher, 6 line
Only have heard good things

Chromis- blue/green, lemon, blue reef, black axil, black & white
I have heard they are very easy to keep, can you keep more then one?

Goby- Clown, Neon, Yellow Priolepis, Dracula
Just kind of a general list of what me and my gf find interesting.

Blennies- Midas, Tail spot, Green canary

If any of these mess with my plans of having my beautiful mandarin, let me know. If any of these will not work please let me know. I know it is way to many fish i am in a very early narrowing down process.

And again I know mandarins are hard, I am going to work to keeping one, and am making steps in that direction now. if you have advice please feel free to give it. I know a lot of people take poor care of this fish and most people try to prevent people from getting it for this reason. I have full plans of doing what I need to take care of this fish. So if there is no way I can reasonably keep this fish please let me know, and let me know why. I have seen a lot of the in aquariums this size or smaller without the large refugium or pod farm i am considering adding/creating. Sorry i am not trying to be stubborn, but like I said I really want this fish, am willing to put the care into it, and know the care requirements for it.
Remember I am trying to put a mandarin in a 60 cube, not a blue Hippo.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[aviationreef]

Forgot here is the aquascape of my aquarium.



Here is my cleaner shrimp cave.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Currently i have a 60gallon cube, i bought it used so it is an established system over a year. Currently it has a diamond back goby, a firefish and a pair of snowflake clowns. Also a rounded clean up crew, a Cleaner shrimp, a emerald crab, several Hermit crabs, several different types of snails.

I have several corals Torch, frogspawn, zoas, palythoas, Chalace, leathers, Acans, blastos, duncan, and Lobo.

Fish i am thinking about getting, and my guide/goals on keeping them.
Mandarin Goby
I know this is a hard to keep fish but it is my dream fish, i will take concerns and advice on proper care of this fish or if i need to do more to take care of it in my system, considering making a pod farm, but i will likely ignore "don't keep this fish it is hard"
Step negative two, Seed 60G cube tank with pods
Step negative one, Wait 2 months
Step one, Set up a 20-30 Gallon Display Refugium for my tank.
Step two, seed both the display refugium and the tank with 2-3 different types of pods.
Step three, Wait, wait and wait some more. 6 months is my minimum now.
Step four, Place the beautiful goby i purchased into my Display refugium for a period of time(undecided so far, from my understanding quarantining these fish is a horrible idea.
Step five, move the goby to the main tank.

Royal Gamma or Purple Dottyback
From my understanding i can only have one of the two, i have also heard they could be an issue with my firefish?

Cardinal fish
From my understanding one of the easiest fish to keep in this hobby

Dwarf Angel Fish
Would i be able to get any of these in my aquarium size? or that would leave my corals alone?

Wrasse- Flasher, 6 line
Only have heard good things

Chromis- blue/green, lemon, blue reef, black axil, black & white
I have heard they are very easy to keep, can you keep more then one?

Goby- Clown, Neon, Yellow Priolepis, Dracula
Just kind of a general list of what me and my gf find interesting.

Blennies- Midas, Tail spot, Green canary

If any of these mess with my plans of having my beautiful mandarin, let me know. If any of these will not work please let me know. I know it is way to many fish i am in a very early narrowing down process.

And again I know mandarins are hard, I am going to work to keeping one, and am making steps in that direction now. if you have advice please feel free to give it. I know a lot of people take poor care of this fish and most people try to prevent people from getting it for this reason. I have full plans of doing what I need to take care of this fish. So if there is no way I can reasonably keep this fish please let me know, and let me know why. I have seen a lot of the in aquariums this size or smaller without the large refugium or pod farm i am considering adding/creating. Sorry i am not trying to be stubborn, but like I said I really want this fish, am willing to put the care into it, and know the care requirements for it.
Remember I am trying to put a mandarin in a 60 cube, not a blue Hippo.

Thanks for any advice!

Your plans for the mandarin are sound, though there shouldn't be a need to put it in the refugium before the display.

A royal gramma or orchid dottyback will be fine with a firefish, a purple dottyback will not.

Any cardinal, except for the larger ones, such as compressiceps and fivelines, will be fine.

Dwarf angels of the genus Centropyge and subgenus Paracentropyge would work as far as temperament and size, but any may nip at corals.

Sixline wrasses can be jerks and will compete with the mandarin for pods. A flasher or small fairy would be fine.

In large tanks chromis will work as a group. In your size tank they slowly whittle the group down.

Any or all of the gobies and blennies you mentioned would work.

 

[aviationreef]

I figured it would be impossible to quarantine the Mandarin because of there feeding requirements, I guess i was just thinking of a safe way to make sure it is eating and healthy.

Just wondering how do you know about orchid Vs purple dottyback? It seems like based on descriptions they are pretty much the same fish.

For the Dwarf angels do you just have to put it in and hope it doesn't nip corals?

Eliminated Sixline Wrasse, As for chromis will one be happy by himself?

 

[eatbreakfast]

I figured it would be impossible to quarantine the Mandarin because of there feeding requirements, I guess i was just thinking of a safe way to make sure it is eating and healthy.

Just wondering how do you know about orchid Vs purple dottyback? It seems like based on descriptions they are pretty much the same fish.

For the Dwarf angels do you just have to put it in and hope it doesn't nip corals?

Eliminated Sixline Wrasse, As for chromis will one be happy by himself?

Orchid dottyback's eyes and tail are different and it is darker purple.

There really is no way of knowing if an angel will nip or not. Some do right away, some never do, and some are safe for a while and develop a taste for corals later.

One chromis will be fine by itself.

 

[aviationreef]

I more mean how do you know the orchid will behave compared to the purple? i couldn't find that info anywhere. Personal experience?

as for angel idk if it is worth it. When they "nip" coral i imagine they often kill several species of coral?

Back to the Mandarin and diamond goby, any pointers in that regard. I guess the best way to know would be to see if pods start to establish Themselves with my goby currently in there?

 

[eatbreakfast]

I more mean how do you know the orchid will behave compared to the purple? i couldn't find that info anywhere. Personal experience?

as for angel idk if it is worth it. When they "nip" coral i imagine they often kill several species of coral?

Back to the Mandarin and diamond goby, any pointers in that regard. I guess the best way to know would be to see if pods start to establish Themselves with my goby currently in there?

If you look for those that have had experience with them you will find the consesus that orchids are much more peaceful than the purple.

Some angels will pick here and there just causing the coral to close, others will completely annihilate certain corals overnight.

There will always be pods, it's a question of whether there are enough pods. Plus, mandarins eat copepods more than amphipods.

 

[aviationreef]

I know but you can see the general number and development of the pods. Also i have only seeded copepods no amphipods yet.

 

[aviationreef]

From my research it seems like dwarf Angels pick a coral and nip at that type. I don't want to be forced to not keep a coral so I will not be adding one to my system.

 

[Wills Gills]

I would suggest a cherub angel. They are said to be the most safe of the dwarf angels. Most people say that they only nip at clams but not so much with corals.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I would suggest a cherub angel. They are said to be the most safe of the dwarf angels. Most people say that they only nip at clams but not so much with corals.

Though they are considered the 'safest', I have had cherubs nip LPS corals.

 

[miyags]

Thats a large wish list for that sized tank. Step one set up a qt tank and treat fish if needed. It will be the best 75$ you will ever spend.

 

[aviationreef]

I have a large amount of LPS, also the fish list is not all the fish i will get i am just having trouble narrowing it down.