Help me stock my 20g!

[Pomatomus]

Hey MFK,

I have a 20 gallon SW reef tank that has no fish in it atm. I added 3 fish to start it (directly from the wholesaler) and I ended up with some sort of ich/velvet breakout. I lost my mandarin fish and my yellow-headed jawfish, but my ocellaris clown survived and has been in a hospital tank for over a month. In about 3 weeks I want to start adding fish again (treating them first this time).

Give me some suggestions! Here are some of my ideas:

ocellaris clown
royal gramma
green mandarin fish
yellow-headed jawfish
neon goby
red scooter blenny

Also, I have 2 peppermint shrimp and a pink-tipped anemone. As for corals, I have a mushroom, green star polyp, colt coral, zoanthids, and a pipe organ. Therefore, suggestions must be reef-safe.

 

[FLESHY]

You could do a pair of clowns in there for sure.

The mandarin is a no go however.

Jawfish is a maybe...best as a species tank probably...how deep is your sand bed?

The rest sound A-ok to me...minus individual attitude problems...might not mix well.

 

[Pomatomus]

I have a good bed for one of the smaller jawfishes. It's about 2-3" deep with large and small pieces. My live rock has lots of worms and things living on it, and I have seen mandarins do well in an overstocked 20g for years, but it's true: a lot of them just starve. Thanks for the input though.

I'm also looking for new suggestions! I would do a fire goby, but I have already owned one fairly recently (gave it to a friend). Maybe a purple one?

also, what about a six-line wrasse?

 

[FLESHY]

Six lines work well...wont mix with the gramma though.

Firefish are best kept in groups, and they, (and gramma's and six lines) should have lids on their tanks just incase they get stressed in such a small system. All of them are known jumpers.

 

[thisissimple]

If you are going to add mandarin, make sure you see it eat prepared food in the LFS. Most of them simply cannot make it in that small a tank, there are not enough little critters for them to eat in that much footprint. I had one make it for 2 years in a 125 before it jumped. Crap.

If you want a jawfish, you need more sand to keep them long term. 4-5 inches. 2 is not enough.

the rest of your list looks pretty responsible. don't mix the gramma and the six line, and which ever you choose should be the last fish you add. They both get very territorial.

 

[FLESHY]

I remember when I added a gramma into a tank with a 6 line. I assumed that the six line had killed it. It was actually just living behind the skimmer pump.

One day the six line had enough stress dealing with the presence (although unseen except briefly if food came near) of the gramma and jumped, then the gramma came out and behaved like any other fish.