Waterbox cube livestock getting ready to add fish!

commanderwho

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Hello!

I finally finished running my tank fallow over 85 days with no fish in my waterbox cube 20.
I currently just added a small banggai cardinal fish I had in a 5 gallon qt tank.

I plan to add 2 clown fish.
I was wondering if I can add anymore fish?
I seen many people have 6 or more fish in a waterbox 20...
I was thinking of a royal gramma and yellow watchman goby to finish off the tank. Just want to see if that’s really pushing my limits? Thank you
 

Dark_Knightt

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I probably wouldn't do more than 3-4 fish in a 20g.
Clownfish can get quite big and I think some may even say no more fish after two clowns.
I dont have a cube but my 20g high has 2 clowns and a bicolor blenny and theres plenty of space, but they like to share as well.

Lets see what others say.
What other fish would you like to add?
 

elorablue

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I have the same tank and currently have 2 clowns and a firefish. I plan to add one more fish (if it ever becomes available again) and that's it. While I would love to have a great number of fish the shrimps and inverts are fascinating as well and I really enjoy the peaceful nature of my tank.
If you want to add up to 5 fish I would say just make sure they aren't all trying to occupy the same area of the tank.
 

CoralB

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It’s possible you might want to add them one at a time maybe a week or so apart to make sure the filter and substrate can handle the bio load . Watch out for territorial fish . The clowns I would had both at once so that their not aggressive toward each other . But in such a small tank it is important to keep perimeters tight , no big swings . And make sure you have enough media ie: rock , sand , cubes , other filter material to handle the bio load
 
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commanderwho

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Hello, what’s the fish you are waiting for?
what clean up crew do you have?
I have the same tank and currently have 2 clowns and a firefish. I plan to add one more fish (if it ever becomes available again) and that's it. While I would love to have a great number of fish the shrimps and inverts are fascinating as well and I really enjoy the peaceful nature of my tank.
If you want to add up to 5 fish I would say just make sure they aren't all trying to occupy the same area of the tank.
 
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commanderwho

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I probably wouldn't do more than 3-4 fish in a 20g.
Clownfish can get quite big and I think some may even say no more fish after two clowns.
I dont have a cube but my 20g high has 2 clowns and a bicolor blenny and theres plenty of space, but they like to share as well.

Lets see what others say.
What other fish would you like to add?
The only other fish I’d like to add other then the cardinal and 2 clowns would be a royal gramma and yellow watchman goby. But yes I can see that 3 fish probably would be best.
 

Ghost25

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I'm in favor of more, smaller fish. I wouldn't say a watchman goby is out of the question, but it is quite a large fish when fully grown.

I have a tailspot blenny, clownfish, yellow clown goby, Springer's Damsel, two neon gobies, a Mandarin Dragonet, and a Rainfords goby in my Waterbox 20.
 
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commanderwho

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I'm in favor of more, smaller fish. I wouldn't say a watchman goby is out of the question, but it is quite a large fish when fully grown.

I have a tailspot blenny, clownfish, yellow clown goby, Springer's Damsel, two neon gobies, a Mandarin Dragonet, and a Rainfords goby in my Waterbox 20.
You have 8 fish in there! Wow. How often did you add a fish to your tank?
how hard is it to have a mandarin dragonet in there? I would choose that as my 4th fish but read it’s for experts. Not sure how long you have been in the hobby.
 

Ghost25

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You have 8 fish in there! Wow. How often did you add a fish to your tank?
how hard is it to have a mandarin dragonet in there? I would choose that as my 4th fish but read it’s for experts. Not sure how long you have been in the hobby.
Tank had been up since this February. I bought my Mandarin as an adult (1bout 1.5 or 2 inches, presumably wild). He eats frozen bloodworms and occasionally stuff from LRS Reef Frenzy.

There are a lot of people on the internet who are overly conservative on some things I think. In my mind there are three considerations when stocking a tank with fish. Nutrients, aggression, and fish size/behavior.

I feed heavy, I could probably support twice as many fish with the amount of food I feed so that's not an issue. Most of my fish are very peaceful, gobies so I have seen virtually no aggression, having plenty of holes and more than enough food probably helps with this. Lastly is considerations about keeping large fish or fish that need lots of space to swim or a deep sand bed. Again I don't have any fish that need a lot of space to swim such as tangs and I don't have any fish that need deep sand beds such as jawfish.

Check my build thread for the latest build. I also have a link there to my previous build. I have an updated my most recent build thread really at all because no one was paying attention to it but at least you can see what I set up with. I don't run the skimmer anymore literally just a filter sock and activated carbon with kalk in the ATO.
 

elorablue

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Hello, what’s the fish you are waiting for?
what clean up crew do you have?

The one fish I'm waiting for is a captive bred Pygmy Filefish. They come from ORA but they haven't been shipping up to Canada since this covid thing started so most of the good suppliers of captive bred fish up here are basically sold out of everything.
As far as inverts go , I have a Blood red fire shrimp, and about 12 snails of various sorts. No hermits or emerald crabs because I don't like their attitude. ;)
I do plan on adding 1 possibly 2 porcelain crabs and 2 or 3 Sexy shrimp.
 

Dark_Knightt

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The one fish I'm waiting for is a captive bred Pygmy Filefish. They come from ORA but they haven't been shipping up to Canada since this covid thing started so most of the good suppliers of captive bred fish up here are basically sold out of everything.
As far as inverts go , I have a Blood red fire shrimp, and about 12 snails of various sorts. No hermits or emerald crabs because I don't like their attitude. ;)
I do plan on adding 1 possibly 2 porcelain crabs and 2 or 3 Sexy shrimp.
Try fragbox.ca thats who I buy from. (I'm in Ontario and I have the same livestock supply issues as you) Fragbox occasionally gets some ORA fish, even during the pandemic. I bought an ORA mandarin from them a few months ago.
 

elorablue

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Try fragbox.ca thats who I buy from. (I'm in Ontario and I have the same livestock supply issues as you) Fragbox occasionally gets some ORA fish, even during the pandemic. I bought an ORA mandarin from them a few months ago.
Yes, I check on FragBox every few days. However, once you weed through pages and pages of "sold out" or "out of stock" fish corals and inverts you see that they actually have almost no stock. In fact I just checked and they have a selection of clowns and a couple of Gobies, that's it. @Fragbox Corals it would be good if you cleaned that up because it's a pita. Thanks!
Best selection of fish I've seen currently is Candy Corals in Mississauga, they have quite a good variety but no Pygmy Filefish :(
 

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