Refugium fish

[CoralClasher]

Any suggestions on fish for a 55 gallon refugium with deep sand bed?

 

[geddavis]

cardinal fish

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm thinking a Melanurus Wrasse...they eat bad things.

 

[Alexreefer]

+1 for melanurus

 

[CoralClasher]

I'm using Oolite sand. I don't want anything that will eat the life out of the sand or make a mess out of it.

 

[CoralClasher]

No sand in 120 gallon DT and would like the sand to stay down in refugium.

 

[CoralClasher]

How about some kind of little minnows?

 

[Hermie]

How about some kind of little minnows?

Acclimated mollies can definitely survive in a refugium, they do pick at the surface of sand but they don't dig. they would definitely eat any swimming microfauna that they can see, like any pods over 1mm in size, but I believe they will not eat nauplii.

I'd be grateful to hear if others have recommendations on minnows as well.

 

[Jase4224]

Seahorses or pipefish maybe

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Any suggestions on fish for a 55 gallon refugium with deep sand bed?

Acclimated mollies can definitely survive in a refugium, they do pick at the surface of sand but they don't dig. they would definitely eat any swimming microfauna that they can see, like any pods over 1mm in size, but I believe they will not eat nauplii.

I'd be grateful to hear if others have recommendations on minnows as well.

Butterflyfish? Maybe a puffer or filefish? Your refugium is bigger than my DT and I don't consider my DT to be nano either lol.
What about a nem? Not too knowledgeable on refugiums loo.

 

[KrisReef]

+1 on the seahorse or pipefishes, or mandarin or scooter blenny. all these fish like pods,

 

[mattzang]

do u just want a pretty fish or do u want it to do something?

i'd say leave it empty so u can sump random fish from time to time.. i wish i had a large enough fuge to sump my female clown right now

 

[CoralClasher]

The biggest reason for fish in the refugium is to eat food that passes from DT because I'm not using any filters.

 

[mort]

If you add fish it's no longer a refugium as they are a refuge from predators. Saying that it's always fun to add things we couldn't keep in our reefs so non reef safe or predatory species are good.
Seeing as you want it to eat left over food but not your pods, you are limiting things quite a lot. Most small fish will eat pods and as you might get a lot of growth in the macro algaes I'd look at something more sedentary, so would suggest either a pistol shrimp goby pair, single goby or maybe even a hawkfish. Something like an orange spotted goby could work, they might eat a few pods but aren't massively active. They pair with a pistol shrimp for added interest as well. Hawkfish are true pet fish and one of the smaller members of the family like flame or falco could be fun but they'd need enough room left to swim and a few places to perch.

 

[CoralClasher]

Maybe just critters no fish?

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Make it an invert tank (Starfish,peppermint shrimp, etc..) that would be beneficial to being a cleanup crew. No fish.

 

[Jesterrace]

Acclimated mollies can definitely survive in a refugium, they do pick at the surface of sand but they don't dig. they would definitely eat any swimming microfauna that they can see, like any pods over 1mm in size, but I believe they will not eat nauplii.

I'd be grateful to hear if others have recommendations on minnows as well.

Yup, I used a couple of Saltwater Acclimated Black Mollies in my Sump/Refugium for a while: