Suggestions for my 5 gallon nano reef tank?
I am creating a new nano reef tank that will be in a 5 gallon mini bow tank….
I would like suggestions on what types of things to put in it….
Type or brand of:
Live sand
Live rock
Hard coral
soft coral
fish
inverts
anything else?
A five-gallon tank is too small for most of the things you mention here.
You could have a small piece or two of live rock, and a few very small invertebrates in that tank. That’s about all.
Of all the popular kinds of aquaria, the nano-reef is the most difficult to maintain in a healthy state.
February 5th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
A five-gallon tank is too small for most of the things you mention here.
You could have a small piece or two of live rock, and a few very small invertebrates in that tank. That’s about all.
Of all the popular kinds of aquaria, the nano-reef is the most difficult to maintain in a healthy state.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:37 pmReferences :
No problem, here’s a few to try:
-Live sand: the finer the better. My scooter dragonet hated the hard sand he was on and barely moved at the pet store, and now he can’t stop "scooting" around on the really fine Caribbean sand I have in my 10g. I don’t remember the brand it was though.
-Live rock: Fiji live rock always seems, and by my experience, has been the best live rock. It works well when it comes to filtration and has a lot of interesting little critters, and you never know which one you’ll get next. I got a peppermint shrimp and a turbo snail once!
-Hard coral+Soft coral: some easy ones that are easy and pretty are candy cane coral, birdsnest corals, some types of brain coral, polyp colonies, lemon tree coral, and trumpet coral
-Fish: A 5g is somewhat limited since a lot of fish grow big, but here’s a few suggestions that could work: any Damsel or Chromis (extremely hardy, perfect for beginners, and stay pretty small), Ocellaris clownfish (very hardy and stay about 2"), many species of goby, firefish, a few blenny species, The Scooter blenny would be good, but there’s a little catch. They’re really in a family called dragonets and will need pods to survive. They’re not very expensive and easy to grow
-inverts: Starfish are really cute, but are no good for a coral tank (they love to eat corals) All shrimp are cute and good cleaners, but not the harlequin shrimp (eat only starfish) The blood red fire shrimp is a good one since it would look absolutely stunning in a 5g, but they can be expensive. I’ve never liked snails since they didn’t do much work, but for tanks with algae, they’re a good candidate, and hermit crabs which are adorable, but need lots of shells for new homes.
That’s pretty much it, but here’s a link to pictures, care sheets, and everything else on fish, inverts, etc that will help you make a decision on what you want. Hope this helps!
http://www.liveaquaria.com/
February 5th, 2010 at 11:27 pmReferences :
10 gallon nano reef keeper
http://www.liveaquaria.com/