New Fish for 20 Cube

[Dulcolaxiom]

Hello! Looking for ideas for what to do next for a new fish for my Waterbox 20 Cube.

Currently, it has only a Rainford’s Goby that’s about 2.5” long and sleeps in a cave underneath a rock at night.

Until this past Friday the tank also featured a Possum Wrasse. It sadly passed away this past Friday for reasons unknown. It had been in the tank for 1.5 months at that point. I will not be getting another fish until I’m sure that the Rainford’s Goby is not diseased - so I’ll be waiting 3-4 weeks at least.

Anyway - I’m wondering if anyone could tell me how these fish might fare in a 20 Cube? I’m not interested in stocking heavily, but I’m also not interested in stocking extremely lightly either as I have a softie dominant system that does best with nutrients.

Here are my top candidates. Do you have any knowledge of them? How would they do? I’m looking for kind of a “featured” fish with personality. It doesn’t have to be active necessarily, but charismatic (whatever that means to you). Captive Bred a bonus.

1) Royal Gramma
2) Yellow Assessor
3) Radial Filefish/Whitespotted Filefish
4) Geometric Pygmy Perchlet
5) Firefish
6) Some sort of Blenny.

Thank you for any help!

 

[blaxsun]

1, 2, 4, 6 - and in terms of blennies stay away from a lawnmower and starry (just too much of a challenge with smaller tanks).

 

[i cant think]

Hello! Looking for ideas for what to do next for a new fish for my Waterbox 20 Cube.

Currently, it has only a Rainford’s Goby that’s about 2.5” long and sleeps in a cave underneath a rock at night.

Until this past Friday the tank also featured a Possum Wrasse. It sadly passed away this past Friday for reasons unknown. It had been in the tank for 1.5 months at that point. I will not be getting another fish until I’m sure that the Rainford’s Goby is not diseased - so I’ll be waiting 3-4 weeks at least.

Anyway - I’m wondering if anyone could tell me how these fish might fare in a 20 Cube? I’m not interested in stocking heavily, but I’m also not interested in stocking extremely lightly either as I have a softie dominant system that does best with nutrients.

Here are my top candidates. Do you have any knowledge of them? How would they do? I’m looking for kind of a “featured” fish with personality. It doesn’t have to be active necessarily, but charismatic (whatever that means to you). Captive Bred a bonus.

1) Royal Gramma
2) Yellow Assessor
3) Radial Filefish/Whitespotted Filefish
4) Geometric Pygmy Perchlet
5) Firefish
6) Some sort of Blenny.

Thank you for any help!

I’d go for an Escenius blenny, Yellow assessor over the RG, Perchlet and then the filefish.

 

[Dulcolaxiom]

I’d go for an Escenius blenny, Yellow assessor over the RG, Perchlet and then the filefish.

Hey thanks a ton! Any reason for the Assessor over the Gramma? I’m also interested in why you’d rank the filefish last, as I was more interested in it than my list communicates.

 

[Dulcolaxiom]

1, 2, 4, 6 - and in terms of blennies stay away from a lawnmower and starry (just too much of a challenge with smaller tanks).

What’s your experience with Grammas in this size tank? Do they do OK?

I’ve also heard that Pygmy Perchlets can be boring. Do you agree there?

 

[Sharkbait19]

The perchlet is like a scorpionfish. Fascinating but not too active.
I love royal grammas and firefish, colors go unmatched imo. Both get personable in time, but aren’t much of a centerpiece/interactive fish the way others are.

 

[blaxsun]

Grammas do fine - they just tend to spend a lot of time in the rocks.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Grammas do fine - they just tend to spend a lot of time in the rocks.

Mine did for a few days but now is out most of the time. Still will hide often though.

 

[Tchung23]

Helfrichi firefish!

 

[Dulcolaxiom]

Helfrichi firefish!

Tell me about their personality! I’ve always heard people describe firefish as dumb and kind of non-active. I have an open mind about them though! One person I remember saying about them “Screw firefish. Why is something called a fish so keen on jumping out of the water?”

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’ve only had the red ones, which seem to be the least skittish.
They are jumpers so covering all openings is a must…mine gave me a huge scare in qt yesterday, turned out to be hiding in a rock (even after I looked in all the rocks lol).
They are nervous and skittish to start and hide often. After a few days to weeks, they warm up and are almost always out. Most of their behavior involves just cruising the tank, or staying still. Similar to how tetras move. What’s best is just how graceful they look while doing it.

 

[i cant think]

Hey thanks a ton! Any reason for the Assessor over the Gramma? I’m also interested in why you’d rank the filefish last, as I was more interested in it than my list communicates.

Assessors swim differently (As in they swim upside down and vertically for long periods of time) and look way more interesting IMO. You can also get the splash of a golden/yellow fish in the tank.
I put the filefish last because they seem to be relatively hard to get but actually I’d rather have it first.

Tell me about their personality! I’ve always heard people describe firefish as dumb and kind of non-active. I have an open mind about them though! One person I remember saying about them “Screw firefish. Why is something called a fish so keen on jumping out of the water?”

Tilefish is how to describe them. They eat, they hover, they jump.
With these guys I just act like I’m planning to add a tilefish or wrasse to the tank, I like the helfrichi’s but at the price they go for with just a small fish makes me want to get a tilefish for less money and the same personality then outgrow it and put it into my 4’ tank.

 

[Tchung23]

Assessors swim differently (As in they swim upside down and vertically for long periods of time) and look way more interesting IMO. You can also get the splash of a golden/yellow fish in the tank.
I put the filefish last because they seem to be relatively hard to get but actually I’d rather have it first.

Tilefish is how to describe them. They eat, they hover, they jump.
With these guys I just act like I’m planning to add a tilefish or wrasse to the tank, I like the helfrichi’s but at the price they go for with just a small fish makes me want to get a tilefish for less money and the same personality then outgrow it and put it into my 4’ tank.

I’ve had both. Tile fish was an awesome fish but it kept hiding in my jawfish Burrow. So o had to get rid of him. Cool fish. I still love the way the Helfrichi looks. Amazing looking fish. Colours are amazing.

 

[i cant think]

I’ve had both. Tile fish was an awesome fish but it kept hiding in my jawfish Burrow. So o had to get rid of him. Cool fish. I still love the way the Helfrichi looks. Amazing looking fish. Colours are amazing.

To me that’s stress, usually tilefish are out in the water column unless they’re stressed. They also take a while to adjust to captivity.

 

[Tchung23]

To me that’s stress, usually tilefish are out in the water column unless they’re stressed. They also take a while to adjust to captivity.

Yes. He was swimming freely but when he got spooked he would go head first into the jawfishs home. Also he was much bigger than my jawfish and one time broke I. Of my jawfishs fins. Still a great looking fish and I liked that he was always swimming around.