Stocking options for a 20 gallon saltwater tank?

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I always used an inch of fish per gallon as a guideline. There’s some other variables but that worked for me.

Look into clown gobies, two spot gobies, neon gobies, six line wrasse, bicolor blenny, firefish, pygmy angels, percula clowns and many more. They will all stay small but its really hard for me to say you can have 3 fish or 6 fish because it really depends on what fish you decide to get. The inch per gallon thing is an ok guidline but I rarely go by it because some fish are really dirty and others actually help keep the tank clean. It really depends on what you get.

I suggest you look into a pistol shrimp/watchmen goby pair. The pistol shrimp is essentially blind but s the name sugguests has a claw that can pack a punch. The watchmen goby on the other hand has great site but is pretty defenseless. They form a really cool symbiotic pair and never leave each others side.

Depending on which shrimp/goby you go with you could probably do two/three more fish.

I think my tank was about a 20 and I only kept about 6 fish in it. I had a clown and one of those pretty yellow that looks like an angel but isn’t. Anyhow, I found with fewer fish it needed cleaning less often. It was very well balanced. Then I moved and gave it to a friend. I often think about getting one again but it was so much work getting it set up. Send pics when you get it going. I love to see nice aquariums.

@uberbatman – do you have any pics of yours online to view?

Some old pictures on my flickr in my profile. Dont have a tank right now though, I’m in Honduras.

Seems i took the link down, here it is

Wow, some beautiful stuff there, I thought I was back snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. It was hard to see though, were all those pics close ups of what was in your tank? If so, you really had variety! I didn’t have nearly that much coral etc.

Have checked out your blog, you are having an excellent adventure!

Most of it was my tank but some was from the store I worked at. Yea it really has been great down here havent been able to update lately since no batteries for my camera. Ive been getting scuba certified this week so thats been a blast.

I like the percula clowns (1), six line wrasse (1), and the watchman goby/pistol shrimp combo. Would that work?

What do pistol shrimp eat?

Or, instead of the six line wrasse, maybe, the pygmy angel. Could you provide me a link of the one that you’re talking about?

Also, uber, would you recommend any online seller? Thanks!

There are a few good ones but I would really try and go to a store. You really want to be able to visually inspect the fish for any wounds/sickness before buying and most importantly you want to see that fish eat. Most stores will have no problem feeding the fish for you, if they dont eat while your there, it doesnt matter how good the deal is, i wouldnt get that fish.

And yes that would work fine. Pistol shrimp will eat same food as your fish. The pygmy angels im talking about are the atlantic or pacific pygmy angels. I believe one also goes by royal blue pygmy angel