How many gobies/blennies can I get away with in a 25g?

[207Meg]

I have a 20 gallon with 1- yellow clown goby, 1-yasha goby and pistol shrimp, 1- purple firefish, 8- barnacle blennies, and yes they do live in a barnacle cluster. All fish have their own hiding holes/territory. I have no aggression issues. The purple firefish cruises the whole tank looking for food. The barnacle blennies are so funny to watch and my favorite at feeding time. I do heavy feeding and heavy water change, 10 gallons every week. Also, all my corals are just softies, zoa's and ricordias, and mushrooms. I do have about 10 rock flower anemones, and they are doing great. But I also stocked all the fish in slowly, which I think helped.

 

[ZoWhat]

How many gobies/blennies can I get away with in a 25g?​

Hundreds if you use a blender

 

[charles7]

I have a decent sized midas blenny in my 20 long and honestly that to me feels like it’s pushing it. The poo waves he floods my tank with is hilarious but seems like a lot. I guess it depends on what you’re comfortable with and your filtration can handle. As for me, I had him with 2 small clowns and I went ahead and moved the clowns to a bigger one before I move the Midas to a bigger home.

also my filtration is literally budget budget. So I’m not sure what you have but mine is 2 wave pumps and a 50 gallon HOB filter with bulk reef carbon, bio balls, and poly fill

 

[adyinsta]

Which Blennies are really reef safe? I bought a bicolor blennie and had to return it because started to nip my brain coral...

 

[jazzfisher]

My tail spot has never touched anything but algae and food.

 

[Wasabiroot]

I'd be interested in some of the lesser known species. Could even do temperate and do Catalina gobies

 

[Wasabiroot]

Which Blennies are really reef safe? I bought a bicolor blennie and had to return it because started to nip my brain coral...

Fanged blennies, aka combtooth are the type you want. Most of genus Escenius is risky except the Midas. I would say Midas or another fang blenny. Or, barnacle blenny.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

So I'm forming a list of ones I'd like to get. Here are some of my candidates in no particular order:

• eviota gobies
• barnacle blennies
• yasha goby
• flaming prawn goby
• watchman or diamond goby
• midas blenny
• yellow clown goby
• helfrichi firefish

And of course, my clown pair.

Now, I'm still trying to sort out which of these should be in the final stock list and which ones shouldn't go together in a 25g tank with the clown pair. I'm also still open to other suggestions.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I always think that many small fish is better than several large ones. Of course, this is limited in a 20 gallon but you could always try like 3/4 small gobies or blennies along with the clown pair.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Ok...how about this list?

3x - Eviota atriventris - Black Belly Gobies
3x - Eviota lachdeberei - Cosmic Nano Gobies
3x - Barnacle Blennies
1 - Flaming Prawn Goby (or a Yasha Goby)
1 - Midas Blenny

And the clown pair.

What do you guys think? The eviotas and barnacles are tiny, so that's why I was thinking multiples on those.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

The clowns could eat the eviotas. As full adults, the gobies are too big for them to eat, but they come from BIOTA at about 1/2 inches. I cannot overstate how small they are. Imagine two grains of rice. That is how big they come in as. A large clownfish would eat them before they reached the bottom. I wouldn't trust my 2.5 inch Darwin ocellaris to not eat one in a case of mistaken identity or extreme hunger. Other than that, it looks good.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

The clowns could eat the eviotas. As full adults, the gobies are too big for them to eat, but they come from BIOTA at about 1/2 inches. I cannot overstate how small they are. Imagine two grains of rice. That is how big they come in as. A large clownfish would eat them before they reached the bottom. I wouldn't trust my 2.5 inch Darwin ocellaris to not eat one in a case of mistaken identity or extreme hunger. Other than that, it looks good.

I could wait to add the clowns until last and give the eviotas time to grow.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

That should work. I'm looking forward to seeing this tank.

 

[vlangel]

I love my Midas blenny. He likes to perch on ledges and just watch tank happenings from there. I have had striped fanged blennies too and they pretty much swim in the open water. Barnacle blennies spend their whole lives in a hole except when they dart out to eat. Bi-color blennies are a little bigger than barnacle blennies but they also look for a hole. They will come out more than the barnacle blennies do but both species like to peek their head out.

Fire fish gobies are actually in the dartfish family and are not true gobies. I like citrin gobies although they are hard on sps and lps coral. If you are only having nems that won't be a problem. I have had masked gobies which are tiny and although they hide they do come out in the sandbed sometimes. I adore my yellow watchman goby but out of 3 that I have had, this is the first one to thrive. I have had it a year so far.

 

[adyinsta]

Fanged blennies, aka combtooth are the type you want. Most of genus Escenius is risky except the Midas. I would say Midas or another fang blenny. Or, barnacle blenny.

Thanks, I’ll try

 

[Clowning around]

Great informative line of thought, THANK YOU VERY MUCH