5.5 Gallon Stocking?

[Tori]

A few masked gobies, or a possum or pink streaked wrasse would be cool.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+31+2261&pcatid=2261
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2124+3041&pcatid=3041
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1378+2908&pcatid=2908

 

[Elementalj]

A single tiny tiny sixline and a couple of snails. The wrasse is a temporary tenant and will reside in the 40 long soon.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I love the shrimp goby and shrimp pairing. Just make sure to get the smallest of the bunch. Or, you can get the small gobies like the masked and in the Trimma family. They are super cute. Sexy shrimp and a rock nem for them. Nerites, cerith, small nassarius, pompom crab.

 

[Baby Ray]

If the light is strong enough, a tank full of Rock nems would be awesome!!!

 

[sa6hir]

If the light is strong enough, a tank full of Rock nems would be awesome!!!

Ohhh yeahhhh that would be totally awesome!!!

 

[sa6hir]

What are prices of Rock nems? I've just seen 1 local to me which about the size of a small finger nail for £115?! Is that how expensive they are?

 

[Frop]

Fill it with chaeto and buy a 10 gallon! Jk (that's what I did).

 

[DeniseAndy]

What are prices of Rock nems? I've just seen 1 local to me which about the size of a small finger nail for £115?! Is that how expensive they are?

pricey.

 

[trevorspencer94]

i'm a fan of the yasha goby (Stonogobiops yasha) with a pistol shrimp of your choice, or if you plan on keeping no other fish/inverts, a neon dottyback (Pseudochromis aldabraensis).

 

[KVYA]

You could also get a maxi mini nem. About $20

 

[sbash]

Yeah, rock anemonies are $80-120 where I am, so I am not doing that. I really worry about putting fish into a tank that size. I think for my first one nano/pico, I will just keep corals and inverts. A pompom crab would be super neat as well...

Maxi mini nems look good. I will see if my LFS has any when I am there this weekend.

 

[Baby Ray]

Yeah, rock anemonies are $80-120 where I am, so I am not doing that. I really worry about putting fish into a tank that size. I think for my first one nano/pico, I will just keep corals and inverts. A pompom crab would be super neat as well...

Maxi mini nems look good. I will see if my LFS has any when I am there this weekend.

You can find Rock Nems online for $30 or so a pop. @AquaSD sells them in packs for a great deal. They can be pretty pricey though.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Pompom crabs are fun, but very cryptic. I have two, but rarely see them. One in a 6g and one in a 40g.

 

[sbash]

I still have not decided on inverts, but the tank itself is coming along nicely. I do have a small hermit and an astrea snail in it right now. I also have a peppermint shrimp in m frag tank that I want to move in. Although I may just end up getting a new one; they a tricky little guys to catch!

The ATO is set up and tied into my main reservoir. I am thinking I could just tie it into an old (and modified) water cooler as an easy way to keep things topped up when I decide to move this little thing. It would be super simple to just refill a 5 gallon jug and plop it down.

I also built the light fixture based on a friend's design (which needed to be prototyped). The colours and spectrum need to be adjusted slightly, and I think I will split the blue and white channels. However, it is sufficient for the montiporas and the LPS, likely the birds nest too (hard to say, I just added it this week). About a month ago I also put in a couple acropora frags I accidentally broke off from my large display tank, they are slightly polypous; however, I suspect they need more flow.

There was also a crazy algae bloom, which is now cleared up. It was some sort of hair algae that grew about an inch long and looked almost wheaty on the tips. The Astrea was not doing much, so I put in a turbo and it was all gone in about a week (maybe two).

Here is a full shot of the tank:

I put the fox coral in on a whim, it was a small piece that fell off one of my larger ones. It looks fantastic!

In the lower left, there is a very tiny RBTA I found in my sump. it must have split from one of the ones in my frag tank. It has tripled in size since I added it in September: