Fish Suggestions for a 20 gallon nano

LordNecro

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So I have a 2 and a half month old tank with a pair of clowns and a fire fish. The tank is a 20 gallon Red Sea Max Nano. I want to add 2 more fish for 5 in total. I’m looking for a bottom dwelling fish and a swimming fish. For the bottom dwelling I tried 2 yellow watchmans and a yasha goby which all died. Now I’m looking into maybe a jawfish or a twin spot (two spot) goby which my LFS currently has one in their store. For the swimming one I wanted a pink streaked wrasse but can not find any in stock at all. Are there any other suggestions for my tank?
 

PR_nano

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Here is a list I put together while researching fish for my 20. I plan to go with 4 and currently have a Purple Firefish and a Pink-Streaked Wrasse. I want to get a yellow watchman goby w/ candy pistol shrimp as my 3rd

Purple Firefish
Pink-Streaked Wrasse or White banded possum wrasse
Yellow Assesor, Randall Assesor, Royal Gamma
Tailspot or Blackline Blenny
Geometric Pygmy hawkfish or Longnose Hawkfish
Dracula, Hector, or Yasha Goby
Sunshine or Vanderbuilt Chromis
 
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LordNecro

LordNecro

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Yeah similar to you those two wrasses were on my list. I wasn’t sure on assessors as I heard basslets dont play well with fire fish? Maybe not assessors since they are more peaceful. I’ll have to do more research on hawk fish since I thought they were too big. Just wondering, where did you find your pink streaked wrasse?
 

footgal

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I highly recommend a Pygmy angel. I have a 20 gallon peninsula and he’s a great swimming around fish. Here’s a pic of him with my scoly
EC23A636-494D-4D78-9994-AE43492A456C.jpeg
He’s got a perfect record with my coral (Scolies, gonis, sps, acan, zoas, you name it) Hes a great swimming around fish, very active and out all the time. Also easy to find and still cheap during covid, I paid $16 two months ago.

As for a kind of bottom dwelling or stationary fish, I love hawk fish and recently found a geometric hawk. My father has been in the hobby for a very long time (30+ years) and this is one of his favorite perching fish. Small enough to not bother your cuc or inverts (I currently keep mine with sexy shrimp, no issues). Very cool little fish and nice, bright colors. Also one of the cheapest hawk fish, I found mine during the pandemic and it was still only $26. However, they can be tricky to find, I had my LFS order me one. Here’s a stock picture for now off google, I’ll try to snap a picture of him today but he likes to perch in my GSP.
976F4B56-6D4A-4853-BBD4-74635285D7AB.jpeg
 

PR_nano

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The yellow and Randell assessor are peaceful but like to stay on caves/overhangs. The hawk are listed as semi aggressive and can go after smaller inverts. As much as I like them I will skip them on my tank since I want a candy pistol and really like inverts. For my 4th I'm considering the the tailspot blenny, one of those basslets or the white banded possum.

I bought the Pink wrasse from WWC back in March.
 
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LordNecro

LordNecro

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I highly recommend a Pygmy angel. I have a 20 gallon peninsula and he’s a great swimming around fish. Here’s a pic of him with my scoly
EC23A636-494D-4D78-9994-AE43492A456C.jpeg
He’s got a perfect record with my coral (Scolies, gonis, sps, acan, zoas, you name it) Hes a great swimming around fish, very active and out all the time. Also easy to find and still cheap during covid, I paid $16 two months ago.

As for a kind of bottom dwelling or stationary fish, I love hawk fish and recently found a geometric hawk. My father has been in the hobby for a very long time (30+ years) and this is one of his favorite perching fish. Small enough to not bother your cuc or inverts (I currently keep mine with sexy shrimp, no issues). Very cool little fish and nice, bright colors. Also one of the cheapest hawk fish, I found mine during the pandemic and it was still only $26. However, they can be tricky to find, I had my LFS order me one. Here’s a stock picture for now off google, I’ll try to snap a picture of him today but he likes to perch in my GSP.
976F4B56-6D4A-4853-BBD4-74635285D7AB.jpeg
I have had the cherub angel recommended to me before. Only reason I didn’t consider it was it is listed as 55 gal on LiveAquaria and I read that angelfish is a hit or miss regarding nipping at coral. Yours looks amazing though! I’ll ask if my LFS might be able to get one
 
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LordNecro

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The yellow and Randell assessor are peaceful but like to stay on caves/overhangs. The hawk are listed as semi aggressive and can go after smaller inverts. As much as I like them I will skip them on my tank since I want a candy pistol and really like inverts. For my 4th I'm considering the the tailspot blenny, one of those basslets or the white banded possum.

I bought the Pink wrasse from WWC back in March.
Yeah I might get a Blenny. My LFS has some bicolor blennies but they won’t work with fire fish. They had some other species I need to look into
 

footgal

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I have had the cherub angel recommended to me before. Only reason I didn’t consider it was it is listed as 55 gal on LiveAquaria and I read that angelfish is a hit or miss regarding nipping at coral. Yours looks amazing though! I’ll ask if my LFS might be able to get one
Yeah they do, but their sizes are very generous. Max size for them is 2 1/2- 3” so if a 20 gallon is good enough for a percula clown which maxes out at around 4 1/2” then IMO it’s good enough for a cherub as long it’s aquascaped so the fish has ample swimming space. I achieved this with a peninsula tank aquascaped with a lot of arches to maximize both swimming space and coral room. Here’s my tank, currently stocked with a pair of perculas and the cherub for fish. Cheers!
C3EF3ECF-6599-44B3-9BD8-D7EDDE1ACAF9.jpeg
 

Evanbardiel

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I agree actually on the cherub. So long as your fultration is good and your tank can feed it cherubs are wonderful in the tank. Mine doesnt bother anything, she comes out to swim and peck on rocks. I have enough rock work she doesnt bother corals at all.
 

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I love love love teeny tiny gobies in a nano tank, it’s like a where’s Waldo sometimes until the food comes out. I really like masked gobies or clown gobies are my favorite
 

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I'd try to figure out why the others died, and fix that first ... I'm sure you've already looked into it, but I had to say it! For bottom-dwelling fish that are reef safe, and can live in a nano, my number one choice would be a tailspot blenny. You've got to be careful with blennies because they can nip at fleshy LPS corals and clams, but the tailspot doesn't usually exhibit that behavior, and its small size fully mature make it a perfect candidate. A second choice is the neon goby. Both of these are great bottom-dweller additions to a nano.
 
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LordNecro

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I'd try to figure out why the others died, and fix that first ... I'm sure you've already looked into it, but I had to say it! For bottom-dwelling fish that are reef safe, and can live in a nano, my number one choice would be a tailspot blenny. You've got to be careful with blennies because they can nip at fleshy LPS corals and clams, but the tailspot doesn't usually exhibit that behavior, and its small size fully mature make it a perfect candidate. A second choice is the neon goby. Both of these are great bottom-dweller additions to a nano.
Yup, the first one was due to stress, second new clue people said maybe just unlucky and the third one swam into the wave maker and injured itself :(
 

Mikedawg

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Two Spot goby (Signigobius biocellatus) is a great choice ime. Interesting shape and colors, great at keeping sand bed "dug up", no aggression as a single fish, etc. Really enjoy watching mine hover above the sand before digging in!
 
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LordNecro

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Two Spot goby (Signigobius biocellatus) is a great choice ime. Interesting shape and colors, great at keeping sand bed "dug up", no aggression as a single fish, etc. Really enjoy watching mine hover above the sand before digging in!
Yeah I really love how it looks. But I’ve done research and it seems like they are hard to keep in an aquarium. How long have you had yours for and what do you feed it?
 

Mikedawg

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Had about six months; eats any frozen or pellets. I turn off pumps and make sure some food gets to the bottom for him - small effort for a big reward.
 

Mikedawg

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Yeah I really love how it looks. But I’ve done research and it seems like they are hard to keep in an aquarium. How long have you had yours for and what do you feed it?
Depending on the author's experience, everything is hard to keep, lol.

I ask my lfs to show me that a fish is eating before I decide to buy it.
 
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LordNecro

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Depending on the author's experience, everything is hard to keep, lol.

I ask my lfs to show me that a fish is eating before I decide to buy it.
Thanks! Yeah I’ll ask the LFS to feed frozen again so I can see if it eats it. It looks healthy and has been decorating the sand but they have pods and a more mature sandbed in my opinion. Turning off pumps so it can get food is definitely okay with me! Hopefully it would eat frozen/pellets though
 
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