I'm New to Saltwater. How Should I Stock a 30 Gallon?

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joemonkaquat

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Revised stocking list I've been complementating:
- green coral goby
- striped blenny
- occelaris clown pair

Potential late term additions:
- rainford's goby (unsure if this is a good decision given so many claims of its finicky nature, hopefully a more mature tank will be able to help sustain them? )
- pygmy coral groucher (given its reliance on sps might not be viable either)

I'm pretty confident this livestock will lend to a sweet tank. From the corals I've been able to read up on, I'm hoping to add GSP, zoas, hammers, frogspawn, leather corals, blastomussa wellsi... Plate corals for the sand bed definitely interest me. Hope to be able to keep sps like birdnest in the future too.

Definitely keen to keep researching any other 'oddball' fish I might be able to squeeze in
 

Zionas

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I don’t really like the idea of having a bunch of tiny fish you barely see, but that’s just me. It would make me nervous. It seems as though you’ve done your research, though, which is good.

Rainford’s are tricky when wild caught. See if Biota has any for sale. You could also consider a small but colorful fish like a Royal Gramma, Blackcap Basslet, or an Assessor.

Shrimp and Goby pairs would also work, you have some options there. They’re a bit bigger than the Coral Croucher.
 

Rtaylor

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So I hesitate to suggest it, but if you can find a healthy (already eating prepared food) orange spotted filefish, they are stunning. Many people consider them one of the most difficult fish to keep due to their very specialized natural diet (mucus from millepora polyps). I have purchased 8 all online, site unseen. 1 was doa, 1 only survived a few days, the other 6 were surprisingly easy for me to get eating. I made 3 separate orders and all the fish were quite thin on arrival, so I’m pretty certain the vendor didn’t do any work to wean them. The 6 survivors all started eating Masstick within seconds of it being offered on the day of arrival. If you want to consider this fish, I’d make it a later addition so you have time to build up your experience. I also wouldn’t attempt it without having Masstick on hand and a few SPS sticks available just in case.
9FA08F95-CDD9-4583-885B-4829F2923EC3.jpeg
 

Rtaylor

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They’re very pretty indeed. Do they mate in pairs or harems? How long do they live? Grats for keeping this species.
Pairs, not sure on how long they live. There’s not a ton of info on them as they haven’t been kept successfully in huge numbers like clowns etc.
 

Tamberav

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Revised stocking list I've been complementating:
- green coral goby
- striped blenny
- occelaris clown pair

Potential late term additions:
- rainford's goby (unsure if this is a good decision given so many claims of its finicky nature, hopefully a more mature tank will be able to help sustain them? )
- pygmy coral groucher (given its reliance on sps might not be viable either)

I'm pretty confident this livestock will lend to a sweet tank. From the corals I've been able to read up on, I'm hoping to add GSP, zoas, hammers, frogspawn, leather corals, blastomussa wellsi... Plate corals for the sand bed definitely interest me. Hope to be able to keep sps like birdnest in the future too.

Definitely keen to keep researching any other 'oddball' fish I might be able to squeeze in

A captive bred rainfords will work.

Stock list looks good.

Just want to point out “low maintenance” means different things to different people. For some a water change a week and cleaning sand bed and skimmer and filters is low maintenance. To others it might just be a water change a month or every few months and others seek a tank with zero water changes.

Consider your goals and stock carefully and remember what other people see as suitable number or type of fish may be different than your goals/time commitment.
 

ReefNewbie12

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Hmm, I guess I’ll had suggest something, since you went on the note of obscure… maybe a circus goby would catch your eye?
9014203A-8F3A-4127-8869-43EACBB3E59C.jpeg

You don’t hear of them much but last I checked they don’t particularly require anything outright special (though they like to have a ledge to sit under), plus they seem to be fairly frequently recommended for nano-reefs!
 
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joemonkaquat

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Hmm, I guess I’ll had suggest something, since you went on the note of obscure… maybe a circus goby would catch your eye?
9014203A-8F3A-4127-8869-43EACBB3E59C.jpeg

You don’t hear of them much but last I checked they don’t particularly require anything outright special (though they like to have a ledge to sit under), plus they seem to be fairly frequently recommended for nano-reefs!
Looks awesome, although I'm not certain its even available in Australia. Finding that to be the case for a lot of fish (e.g. shrimp goby pairs are practically non-existent, or cost 100's to 1000's of dollars. Yikes)
 

ReefNewbie12

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Looks awesome, although I'm not certain its even available in Australia. Finding that to be the case for a lot of fish (e.g. shrimp goby pairs are practically non-existent, or cost 100's to 1000's of dollars. Yikes)
Ah, sorry to hear of that, I suppose I’d recommend some form of cardinalfish in that instance (though I wouldn’t know if you can get any there), they’re not really ‘mainstream’ in terms of popularity but I wouldn’t call them flat out obscure. If I had to take any guesses you could probably get a banggai or pajama, those two are the popular cardinals. Though who knows, maybe you can find a more obscure one. As far as I know none of them are particularly eccentric in their demands either, and quite a few of them will school as well!
(Seale’s cardinalfish )
1628582855254.jpeg

(Banggai Cardinalfish)
1628582975229.jpeg
 

Zionas

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Australia seems to be not as good for the hobby as one would expect, considering its geographical position covering both the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. I hope this doesn’t offend OP but your country’s incredibly stuck up and petty when it comes to a lot of things related to our hobby (and Covid for that matter). The people in charge have an island mentality.

It’s pushing it a bit but I might even suggest the smallest dwarf angels. Maybe something like a Fisher’s, Pacific Pygmy or African Flameback. :)
 

linkedsilas

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Kind of late to the party...but. My experience:
Bicolor is a fantastic fish with tons of personality and has never bothered any of my fish.
Banghai cardinal is nice but doesnt do much. still pretty to look at
Love clowns
Rainford gobies...i love
firefish, i like them but only lasted a few months
also...dont underestimate some beautiful inverts like shrimp
 

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My striped blenny is a true pleasure in my tank. Disturbs nobody really and is very active in the water column at all times. No perching, in fact he doesn't even have the fins for it. And then puts himself to bed in a hole in the rockwork at night, and when scared (though quickly comes out if all is okay in the tank - ie usually does it while I am cleaning the tank). I think he's a great fish.
 
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joemonkaquat

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My striped blenny is a true pleasure in my tank. Disturbs nobody really and is very active in the water column at all times. No perching, in fact he doesn't even have the fins for it. And then puts himself to bed in a hole in the rockwork at night, and when scared (though quickly comes out if all is okay in the tank - ie usually does it while I am cleaning the tank). I think he's a great fish.
That's definitely encouraged me, cheers for the insight. Mind if I ask what size tank you keep them in/if you think a 30 gallon is appropriate
 
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