Evo 13.5 Stocking help

[Xero_ID]

I'm Just about to add water and start the cycle, just waiting on some rock to come in from my uncle. Anyway I want to start this tank with a few fish, Green star polyps and Xenia for this year. I have been away from tanks since 2018 where I had a 20g hexagonal reef build and am so excited to get back in. I obviously dont want to overload this or go wild but would like it to be mesmerizing so I need some help on inhabitants.

I'm looking at these (not including CuC) hope bioload wont be maxed

1 Ruby red dragonet
1 Yasha Goby
1 Blue/green Chromis
1 Orchid Dottyback
1 Yellow striped Cardinalfish

Other considerations to swap with

Blackline Blenny
Orange spotted Goby
Firefish
Coral Beauty

Looking like
Yasha, Chromis, Orchid Dottyback and some Gsp and Xenia

 

[Bribo12]

To many fish for a 13.5 gallon. The dragonet is a pod eater and needs a huge supply of pods to survive. I’d pick 2 and maybe the yasha. Definitely no coral beauty either. Needs a lot more room

 

[PR_nano]

I wouldn't put 5 fish in a 13 gallon. I have a 20 gallon with 3 fish and there is a lot of chasing.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I wouldn’t do more than 4 fish assuming most are gobies, as they produce little waste.
Coral beauty gets way to big, so do all angels.
Dragonette simply cannot be fed in such a small tank.
Firefish is a good fish for the tank, they are very peaceful and low waste.
Good fish to consider are cardinals, tailspot (and related) blennies, royal gramma, occy or percula clownfish, neon goby, shrimp goby, firefish, or clown gobies.
In mine I have a clown, aurora goby, and royal gramma. I had a firefish too but the clown killed it.

 

[Xero_ID]

To many fish for a 13.5 gallon. The dragonet is a pod eater and needs a huge supply of pods to survive. I’d pick 2 and maybe the yasha. Definitely no coral beauty either. Needs a lot more room

Thank you, maybe Blackline instead of Dragonet and drop the Cardinalfish? or just Yasha, Dotty and 1 other

 

[Bribo12]

I’d pick 3 not including the dragonet or angel. That’s still pushing the stocking limit but I feel like 3 should be fine

 

[BanjoBandito]

I have a 12 gallon with 1 fish and corals, some snails. It'll be the royal rumble in there if you slam all those fish in. I would aim for 2-3 fish and look for where they hang out, meaning don't get 3 bottom dwelling gobys! Good luck!

 

[Xero_ID]

I’d pick 3 not including the dragonet or angel. That’s still pushing the stocking limit but I feel like 3 should be fine

Ok thank you all, It's looking like I will try for Yasha, Dotty and Blackline or Chromis. I will be adding each very slowly over months and keep track of parameters after each of course. I'm thinking Chromis, Yasha then Gsp coral and look at Dotty last.

 

[Xero_ID]

would Blackline over Chromis be better? Chromis is peaceful but gets kinda big correct?

 

[muzikalmatt]

I would avoid the dottyback unless it's the only inhabitant as they can be quite aggressive and there's not a lot of real estate in that size tank. You might get away with the yasha and the dottyback as they don't inhabit the same habitat space, but that's still pushing it. I think that's something most people don't always consider when choosing their livestock. It's not just about bioload, it's also about habitat space and making sure each fish has enough room for the particular area they like to inhabit.

If you're wanting more fish (3+), I'd go with one goby, one blenny and either a firefish or a cardinal. All relatively peaceful fish that inhabit different areas of the tank. (Goby in the sandbed under the rock work, blenny within the rockwork and firefish/cardinal typically in the water column. Although firefish like to sleep in the rockwork if they can find the space.)

A couple of other things to keep in mind is you shouldn't add all of the fish at once so you don't overload your biofiltration, and you typically want to add fish in the order of least aggressive to most aggressive. Put the most passive fish in first (firefish, cardinal) so they can get comfortable, then move towards the more aggressive fish.

Hope this helps! Best of luck!

 

[3429810]

To many fish for a 13.5 gallon. The dragonet is a pod eater and needs a huge supply of pods to survive. I’d pick 2 and maybe the yasha. Definitely no coral beauty either. Needs a lot more room

A captive bred Mandarin would be an option possibly as it should eat prepared food from day one but I struggled to keep nutrients down in my evo when I had a Mandarin qt in there because I had to feed so much every day and it was hard to get him to eat a lot at a time.

 

[Xero_ID]

I would avoid the dottyback unless it's the only inhabitant as they can be quite aggressive and there's not a lot of real estate in that size tank. You might get away with the yasha and the dottyback as they don't inhabit the same habitat space, but that's still pushing it. I think that's something most people don't always consider when choosing their livestock. It's not just about bioload, it's also about habitat space and making sure each fish has enough room for the particular area they like to inhabit.

If you're wanting more fish (3+), I'd go with one goby, one blenny and either a firefish or a cardinal. All relatively peaceful fish that inhabit different areas of the tank. (Goby in the sandbed under the rock work, blenny within the rockwork and firefish/cardinal typically in the water column. Although firefish like to sleep in the rockwork if they can find the space.)

A couple of other things to keep in mind is you shouldn't add all of the fish at once so you don't overload your biofiltration, and you typically want to add fish in the order of least aggressive to most aggressive. Put the most passive fish in first (firefish, cardinal) so they can get comfortable, then move towards the more aggressive fish.

Hope this helps! Best of luck!

I'm trying to keep them as happy in their space as possible and am starting to look at a court jester gobie over yasha for now and a firefish. I really think like the chromis but think it needs more room and I was given a dotty that was aggressive in the past so I'm iffy on him. I just love the look of the orchid dotty.

I guess I also have to wait on my rock and plan that to see space and areas for them but I guess I'm just getting a consensus today on fish I like so I don't screw up and hurt/kill them. I will be spreading out probably every 2 or 3 months before each purchase also.

 

[Xero_ID]

A captive bred Mandarin would be an option possibly as it should eat prepared food from day one but I struggled to keep nutrients down in my evo when I had a Mandarin qt in there because I had to feed so much every day and it was hard to get him to eat a lot at a time.

love the mandarin but not ready for the possible hardship yet. I thought I read dragonet was much easier but sounds like I should hold off on him for a while also, so their out. I will be doing a 55gal next year though.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Royal Gramma has a similar looks and behavior to the royal dottyback (better looking imo) and much less aggressive.
I’d definitely go with a Yasha and pistol shrimp pair, lots of fun.
Would most likely get along with a rainfords goby.

 

[3429810]

love the mandarin but not ready for the possible hardship yet. I thought I read dragonet was much easier but sounds like I should hold off on him for a while also, so their out. I will be doing a 55gal next year though.

Ya I get that. I was so nervous to get mine the fish store held it for a month for me and tried to get it eating frozen but they couldn’t so I decided to give it a try and honestly think I got lucky. I had plenty of pods in the qt for him but tried frozen day 3 and he went for it straight away. Had to target feed him small shrimp and lrs nano until he got comfortable grabbing and eating big chunks.