first fish

jish · Oct 21, 2014

my mom and i started a 30 gallon tank on saturday with live rock, live and, and live water from the lfs. we are planning to have a coral beauty, a pair of clowns, a fire fish, a valentini puffer, and a green mandarin. we will be raising copopods for the mandarin, and we are not planning to get a fish till the chemistry has settled. my question is could we start with the fire fish, because my mom wants that one first rather than the clowns. the other reason i ask this is because a pair of clowns would probably be way too much of a bioload jump to start with, and we don't want to get a fish like a damsel to start and then get rid of it the next month. please help, any advice is appreciated. thanks in advance.:smile:

Jimbo662 · Oct 21, 2014

The fire fish should be fine for the first one. In a 30 gal I'd keep it to only 3 or 4 fish. You should have at least 30 lbs of rock which is going to take up some swimming room. Too many fish could start a turf war...especially if the clowns eventually pair up and try spawning.

jish · Oct 21, 2014

we have about 38 lbs of liverock, ok we were not on set on getting a pair 1 would be just fine. thanks for the advise.

Pete polyp · Oct 21, 2014

You can't put all of that in a 30. Maybe the clown pair and the firefish.

newatsalt · Oct 21, 2014

I am a novice to Saltwater, but it seems to me like that would be a lot of fish for a 30 gallon tank. I am interested to see what the experts on this forum say, but 2 to 3 fish would probably be the recommended for your tank size. Remember I am a newbie so don't listen to me.