Looking to stock a new Biocube 32
see build thread here for planned tank equipment specifics. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-biocube-32-setup.553236/
For fish, I am trying to aim for the higher end of stocking for a 32 gallon. I I have seen as many as 7 fish in a biocube 32 online, but I am shooting for about five. I have been trying to research minimum tank size for various types of peaceful colorful fish that are sociable and interesting. My scape has a few hiding spots but also an open area up from for swimming around.
Fish List: *bolded fish would be my favorite fish mainly picked for colors and temperament:
flasher wrasse (such as carpenter).
white possum wrasse (possibly a pair?!, these are tiny guys with reportedly a 10 gallon minimum tank size, and I heard they often do well as a pair. these things are so neat, I didn't even know about them until recently)
tailspot blenny
royal gramma
yellow watchman/shrimp combo
ORA orchid dottyback
zebra barred dartfish
yellow clown goby
yellow assessor
pinkbar goby/shrimp combo
exquisite firefish
pink streaked wrasse
Thoughts:
1. Supposedly flasher wrasses need slightly bigger tanks. I have been scouring the internet and I have seen plenty of threads where people claim to have kept them in very good health without signs of stress in aquariums the same size or even smaller than mine. I'm wondering if the tank size minimum recommendations may be outdated? or if perhaps I stock with all other peaceful fish that it would be just as good of an invironment as a larger tank with a more aggressive tankmate.
2. I REALLY like the looks of the ORA orchid dottyback, but supposedly it can be somewhat aggressive. I'm not sure I want any aggression in a cube tank.
3. If I get a wrasse, it would be only one species of wrasse in the tank.
Quarantining strategy:
I don't have any fish in my display tank now as it is only a few weeks in. snails and hermits only are in it with some cycled base rock and carib sea live sand. In the name of keeping my tank pest free, my intention is to let the tank sit without fish for some time and have a quarantine running with a bit of rock and PVC piping. That way, any ich or other baddies that came on the CUC can just lay fallow and go away before the fish arrive.
My intention is to buy all my fish at relatively the same time and QT them and possibly treat them all with hyposalinity and/or copper as needed at the same time and introduce them to the display at the same time. thoughts? I haven't QT'd really ever. I also haven't added a fish to my other tank in years (a biocube 16, which was transferred from a 14) which only has a single clown so QT is relatively new to me despite reefing for 10 years. Would that be okay or would it be best to QT 2-3 at a time and do it in two batches?
After QT'ing the fish, I plan to use the same tank to QT coral after the tank has been going for several months. (I know that Cu can be absorbed into porous things like rock, but I was thinking that the tank would still be okay for coral with a good cleaning, removal of any contaminated rock, and 100% water change/filter media change). That would be okay?
see build thread here for planned tank equipment specifics. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-biocube-32-setup.553236/
For fish, I am trying to aim for the higher end of stocking for a 32 gallon. I I have seen as many as 7 fish in a biocube 32 online, but I am shooting for about five. I have been trying to research minimum tank size for various types of peaceful colorful fish that are sociable and interesting. My scape has a few hiding spots but also an open area up from for swimming around.
Fish List: *bolded fish would be my favorite fish mainly picked for colors and temperament:
flasher wrasse (such as carpenter).
white possum wrasse (possibly a pair?!, these are tiny guys with reportedly a 10 gallon minimum tank size, and I heard they often do well as a pair. these things are so neat, I didn't even know about them until recently)
tailspot blenny
royal gramma
yellow watchman/shrimp combo
ORA orchid dottyback
zebra barred dartfish
yellow clown goby
yellow assessor
pinkbar goby/shrimp combo
exquisite firefish
pink streaked wrasse
Thoughts:
1. Supposedly flasher wrasses need slightly bigger tanks. I have been scouring the internet and I have seen plenty of threads where people claim to have kept them in very good health without signs of stress in aquariums the same size or even smaller than mine. I'm wondering if the tank size minimum recommendations may be outdated? or if perhaps I stock with all other peaceful fish that it would be just as good of an invironment as a larger tank with a more aggressive tankmate.
2. I REALLY like the looks of the ORA orchid dottyback, but supposedly it can be somewhat aggressive. I'm not sure I want any aggression in a cube tank.
3. If I get a wrasse, it would be only one species of wrasse in the tank.
Quarantining strategy:
I don't have any fish in my display tank now as it is only a few weeks in. snails and hermits only are in it with some cycled base rock and carib sea live sand. In the name of keeping my tank pest free, my intention is to let the tank sit without fish for some time and have a quarantine running with a bit of rock and PVC piping. That way, any ich or other baddies that came on the CUC can just lay fallow and go away before the fish arrive.
My intention is to buy all my fish at relatively the same time and QT them and possibly treat them all with hyposalinity and/or copper as needed at the same time and introduce them to the display at the same time. thoughts? I haven't QT'd really ever. I also haven't added a fish to my other tank in years (a biocube 16, which was transferred from a 14) which only has a single clown so QT is relatively new to me despite reefing for 10 years. Would that be okay or would it be best to QT 2-3 at a time and do it in two batches?
After QT'ing the fish, I plan to use the same tank to QT coral after the tank has been going for several months. (I know that Cu can be absorbed into porous things like rock, but I was thinking that the tank would still be okay for coral with a good cleaning, removal of any contaminated rock, and 100% water change/filter media change). That would be okay?
