Stocking Questions!

[Fish2014]

HI! I have a 32 gallon Coralife nano tank. I’m looking for some suggestions on stocking.

Currently we have:
1 firefish
1 Royal Gramma
1 Tail Spot Blenny
1 Neon Goby
2 Turbo Snails
2 Nassarius snails
1 itty bitty hitchiker brittle sea star
1 mushroom
1 candy cane
1 favia
1 green stary polyp
1 small container of copepods

We do weekly water changes of 5 gallons.

Here are my questions:

1. Can we add 2 small clown fish, 1 yellow watchman goby and 1 pistol shrimp or will this overload the system?
2. If above will overload the system - can we do option a: 2 clown fish and a cleaner shrimp Option b: YWG and pistol
3. We want to add a few more coral - hammer and Duncan probably.
4. Should we add any other microscopic critters to have a healthy ecosystem? We did one bottle of copepods - should we add more? Phytoplankton? Anything else?


This is definitely our first tank and we would love to get a larger tank in 2 years. This 32 gal is “get our feet wet” tank.

Would love any other opinions.

Thanks

 

[Millimylilly]

I would say you should be fine with two small clowns added to the system. Probably not the watchman and pistol shrimp but you could gamble. If you add a lot at once, like say three fish or more, you could induce another cycle. You should add a bottled bacteria in this case to promote more beneficial bacterial growth. My favorite is microbacter7 by Brightwell.

 

[Specific Ocean]

you could get away with having two clowns. But you may be done after that as far as adding fish goes.

Test your water parameters before adding the fish, and test everyday for a few days after. Don't want to overload the system

 

[DeniseAndy]

A pair of ocellaris or pink skunk clownfish pair would be fine. I would say you can even add a small goby shrimp pair too. Not the bigger watchman, but maybe a yashi or similar size. They fish you currently have stay nice and small and are not an issue when it comes to space. Should be room for those I mentioned. Good luck. We would love to see some pictures.

 

[Fish2014]

A pair of ocellaris or pink skunk clownfish pair would be fine. I would say you can even add a small goby shrimp pair too. Not the bigger watchman, but maybe a yashi or similar size. They fish you currently have stay nice and small and are not an issue when it comes to space. Should be room for those I mentioned. Good luck. We would love to see some pictures.

Thank you. My son just found the hiFin Red Banded Goby. Do you know if this guy will get along with the neon goby?

 

[Fish2014]

I would say you should be fine with two small clowns added to the system. Probably not the watchman and pistol shrimp but you could gamble. If you add a lot at once, like say three fish or more, you could induce another cycle. You should add a bottled bacteria in this case to promote more beneficial bacterial growth. My favorite is microbacter7 by Brightwell.

Thank you. Were planning on adding very slowly. I told my son we can’t add anything else for a month just to be on the safe side! Then we will add slowly at that point!

 

[Fish2014]

you could get away with having two clowns. But you may be done after that as far as adding fish goes.

Test your water parameters before adding the fish, and test everyday for a few days after. Don't want to overload the system

Thank you! We were taking our water in to the store to have it tested, but ordered testing supplies for us yesterday!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Those two gobies do not hang out in same area, so should be fine. I have had neons and really like their personalities. Love the shrimp/gobie interactions too. Hi fins are good. Had one a long time ago. Great little fish.