Stocking a 20 gallon

[xnik87]

I currently have a 20 gallon SW that has been set up for about 6 months. I have 25 lbs of branch live rock and an eclipse all in one with a bio-wheel on the top for filtration. I do a 10% water change every week. The current inhabitants are:
1 flame angel
1 clownfish
1 sixline wrasse
1 cleaner shrimp
1 small peice of leather finger coral
I was wondering if it would be possible to get a Royal Gramma as far as tank capacity and compatibility with the other fish. If not is there any other small fish i could get such as a goby? Thanks in advance.

 

[fishieness]

many types of gobies will fit. it depends what you are looking for. however, that tank is much too small for a flame angle. And since you have the eclipse tank, i would recomend getting a small powerhead for some more flow, and also getting better ligthing to be able to keep that finger leather healthy.
as far as fish suggestions: firefish
cromis.
ect

 

[dougai]

Originally Posted by fishieness
many types of gobies will fit. it depends what you are looking for. however, that tank is much too small for a flame angle. And since you have the eclipse tank, i would recomend getting a small powerhead for some more flow, and also getting better ligthing to be able to keep that finger leather healthy.
as far as fish suggestions: firefish
cromis.
ect
yah thats a good suggestion^

 

[xnik87]

thanks for the replies. as far as the flame angel, he has been in there for 4 months and doing pretty well. im in the process of saving money to change my 75 gallon cichlid tank into a SW but i still need more money(having a cousin owning a fish store helps). however i plan on keeping this 20 gal running and concerning the lighting situation i have 2 coralife bulbs on the tank now and the leather coral seems to be growing fast. what are the benefits of a powerhead and where should i put it, like with the direction of the current thats flowing now or against it? there seems to be alot of current though because the clownfish has trouble fighting the current though. thanks again.

 

[fishieness]

i am not familiar with the 20 gallon one, so you might not need a powerhead at all. I have the 29 gallon model as one of my tanks. i had to add a powerhead in there because the filter i have only put out 250 gallons per hour. That is only 25/3 gallons per hour. The recomended GPH for a fowlr (fish only with live rock) is between 15-18 while a reef recomends 18-22. I has a small spike, and i didnt haveenough oxygen in there because of lack of current and gas exchangemy pH went down to 7.2!!!!! i almost lost my baby snowflake eel (he will be moving to my larger tank soon). I was informed that it oculd be lack of current, checkedonline to see how much flow i had, realied it wasnt enough, put in a powerhead, and a few days later, everything was back to normal again. The eel is now doing great.
Since you have the eclipse tank, those two coralife bublbs are NO (normal output). Leathers are some of the corals taht require a lot less light, and could be kept in that situation temperarily. However, eventualy, the lightingmay lead to their demise as well as they would look a heck of a lot better under better lighting. Once you get your 75, i would recomend you get some better lighting like some PC (power compacts).
The flame angle will do very nicely in a 75. they need a lot of room for swimming. i recomend upgrading as soon as possible.
back to the powerhead. point it so that there is a continuos current going in the tank. you want the water to be moving.
is your tank a 20-long? or a 20-tall? You may want to put the powerhead right on the top if you get one so that it ripples on the surface. this willmake the surface area of the tank larger and therefore, increasing gas exchange. the bio-wheel helps with this but it can never hurt.
hope this helps and if anything is confusing jsut ask. anyone who knows me here knows i tend to ramble. haha

 

[mirandaj]

i have a 15 gallon and I noticed only a fish for every 5 gallons works well but they have to smaller fish or they get over crowded and almost paranoid cause they cant have thier own space, think they are suppost to be in the ocean so make them think they are and the goby I have doesnt count cause he is so small and he just chills on the bottom or hides as the other guy said the gobies are nice. The filter I use is a whisper cause of how small the tank is. I use the 25 gallon whisper too. I have A colwn, a damsil, and a Strawberry. I know I havnt lost anything but two snails the whole time I have had this tank.

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by MirandaJ
i have a 15 gallon and I noticed only a fish for every 5 gallons works well but they have to smaller fish or they get over crowded and almost paranoid cause they cant have thier own space, think they are suppost to be in the ocean so make them think they are and the goby I have doesnt count cause he is so small and he just chills on the bottom or hides as the other guy said the gobies are nice. The filter I use is a whisper cause of how small the tank is. I use the 25 gallon whisper too. I have A colwn, a damsil, and a Strawberry. I know I havnt lost anything but two snails the whole time I have had this tank.
1 fish per 5 gallons isnt always the best. It usualy goes by 1 inch of fish when it is full grown per 5 gallons. but once again, this is very very inaccurate depending on the species of fish. My snowflake eel will live comfortably in a 55 gallon tank at its full length of 2 feet. If That rule alawys applyed, a snowflake would need an aquarium of 120 gallons!!! They dont even need a 55 for space to swim because they dont move around to much. it is a bio-load issue. an anthias that is around 3 inches will need a tank around 125 gallons because of how much it swims. yet if this rule always applied it would be perfectly find in your aquarium with room to spare.
The moral here, dont go by general rules in this hobby. go by the species of fish you are looking at and how well it is suitible for your tank.

 

[mirandaj]

Originally Posted by MirandaJ
i have a 15 gallon and I noticed only a fish for every 5 gallons works well but they have to smaller fish or they get over crowded
I said they have to be smaller fish, I actually was explaining to my boyfriend that I give each one of my fish 5 gallons due to thier length. They are small but they all have thier own space. I think my tank is stocked well at this point.
I mentioned the type of fish I chose too. Giveing the guy ideas on what type and sizes of fish he could try....
Originally Posted by MirandaJ
I have A colwn, a damsil, and a Strawberry

 

[fishieness]

i was mearly stating.... cause ive see a lot of people on here wanting to put a tang in a 29 gallon and stuff....
and also i just wanted to inform whoever may be looking that not all smaller fish are suitible for a tank that size.

 

[mirandaj]

well I understand but you made it look like I was a dumbass and thats not nice, next time just maybe read my whole statement and do not direct the criticism twords me and maybe mention a few fish he could add. Like help him and not attack me.

 

[fishieness]

sorry. i wasnt attacking you at all or saying that you were wrong. now that i look back it seems like i was a little bit. I was just trying to expand the amount of information in this post, not shut yours down. :happyfish so im sorry if i looked like an -$$. no harm done?

:happyfish

 

[mirandaj]

its ok. Since I just woke up its a new day now.

 

[fishieness]

thanks. i should have made my intentions more clear.