Nano stocking

valley · Feb 19, 2024

Hello, I’m looking to stock my Fluval evo 13.5. I saw someone on here that stocked theirs with a pair of ocellaris, a yasha shrimp goby, and a six line wrasse. I’m suprised how many fish they have in the tank since I see most people saying the maximum would be a pair of clowns. Can I stock mine similar to theirs? I guess a big problem would be the wrasse’s aggression; the person claimed to have put the wrasse in when it was small and after they put in the other fish. I’ll be buying my fish pre quarantined and so they will not be small; more like medium sized. I’m keen on the wrasse because I’ve been seeing a lot of pests in my tank (bristle worms, spionid worms, brown flatworms w/ 2 tails) and ive heard that the six line will eat them all. I’m also not sure if the wrasse would eat my inverts (small hermit crabs, small trochus snails, small emerald crab, small tuxedo urchin). Those inverts are already in the tank so I would think not right?

Cthulukelele · Feb 19, 2024

That will be quite full but I think it's doable with good husbandry as all fish fill different niche. Will need to be on top of nutrient export, and yes sixline should be fine with inverts but can get mean especially at that tank size

officialreefbros · Feb 19, 2024

I'd be worried about squishing a 6 line in that.

WalkerLovesTheOcean · Feb 19, 2024

It is possible, but not recommended. Me personally would never do that. The bioload is just way to high. If you want to put that much fish in, you have to commit to decent sized water changes weekly, or maybe more than weekly.

lil sumpin · Feb 19, 2024

Not all sixlines will key in on pests and eat them, not all will be aggressive little twerps. You could probably do 3 or 4 fish in a evo but with too many aggressive candidates you're asking for trouble

WalkerLovesTheOcean · Feb 19, 2024

lil sumpin said:
Not all sixlines will key in on pests and eat them, not all will be aggressive little twerps. You could probably do 3 or 4 fish in a evo but with too many aggressive candidates you're asking for trouble

Good point, to pull off having 3 or 4 fish, you need peaceful species, because if one fish is bullying another fish, there really isn't any place for it to go because the tank is so small. Just keep that in mind.

valley · Feb 19, 2024

I’m seeing online that ocellaris clownfish and six line wrasses play nice if the wrasse is small and introduced after the clownfish. However, since I’m buying the fish pre quarantined; the wrasse will not be small. I’m just not sure how that would play out in a small tank like this. I’m okay with losing the goby but that probably won’t make much of a difference. It’s probably not worth buying a predator for those pests since they aren’t bothering coral but they’re not a good sight especially since they’re coming out in the day. Are there any other predators I could add? I want to stick to having clownfish in here whether it’s a single maroon or a ocellaris pair.