Building a 5 Gallon Nano

[Mano]

Hi guys

I've had a lot of experience with freshwater aquariums along with three long years working at a pet store which sold fresh and salt water fish, after a lot of consideration (and a bit of saving) I am taking the leap into my first Marine Nano tank. I've read the (wonderful) guide here as well as a few others I've been able to dig up.

As of now I have a 5 Gallon tank, hexagon, more tall than wide, with five pounds of live sand and about 4 pounds of live rock. (pretty stuff too, lots of reds and purples!) I have a hood filter with a bio wheel which I have no filter in, just use it for the bio wheel and to move the water, an air stone/pump, a nano protein skimmer and a small heater. The salt levels are stabilized and I've got some nice currents going, even if they're not entirely haphazard as many seem to suggest doing.

I've only had the tank cycling for a few days now, so I know that the fishes are still a good ways off, but I wanted some opinions.

As it's such a small tank, my ultimate goal was only one small fish and a starfish. I'd really like a Chocolate Chip Starfish (not going to be adding any corals!) and have been looking at adding a Damsel as they are pretty attractive. The guy at the LFS recently tried to convince me that I could do, instead of a Damsel, two Clownfish or a Damsel/Clownfish and a Dragonet.

This immediately set off some warning bells in my head, as five gallons seems far too small for two fully grown Clownfish (thinking ahead, obviously), I am also a bit concerned about problems between a Dragonet and a Star, not to mention a Dragonet and a territorial Damsel.

So that leaves me with a few questions for you all to impart your wisdom on me!

1) Anything my tank is desperately missing?
2) I, personally, feel as if one fish and a starfish might be pushing it, is this correct or could I possibly place a Dragonet into the tank (after it is fully cycled)?
3) If the answer to 2 is yes, is there a serious compatibility risk involved in the various species?
4) since my tank is more tall than wide, would this be a problem for the Dragonet, as there is limited floorspace?

I've tried to use charts to check out compatibility between these, Damsels seem to be a bit iffy with Dragonets, but I could not find any charts to tell me if there would be issues between any of these species and the starfish.

Thank you all for any and all help

 

[Lotus]

Welcome to the site!

It sounds like your tank setup is OK, but you might want to remove the airstone and replace it with a nano powerhead to give you better water movement.

I don't think the chocolate chip starfish will work well in your tank. They generally have a poor chance of survival even in larger tanks. They do get to 5" across, which I think will be too big for your tank.

I wouldn't recommend a mandarin in the tank. They need a large amount of live rock to graze on pods (100lbs or more). If you can find one that eats prepared foods, it might work, but definitely not with another fish. Definitely don't put a mandarin (shy) with a damsel (aggressive).

Even a single clown would be too big for the tank. A pair would be a disaster.

I think the one-fish plan is a much better one. A damsel might work, or you could consider one of the smaller gobies.

 

[Mano]

So my instincts about the clowns were correct, thank you. I'll go searching for a small powerhead, I was hoping to 'cheat' with the airstone since the tank has such limited room after the live rock.

One fish plan it is, with the chocolate chip starfish out.
Lastly though, do you think another smaller, hardier starfish could be healthy/happy in the setup, or do you think I would do better keeping to a clean up crew such as crabs and snails? I'd quite like a star, but also want to make sure i don't leave a fish in a bad way.

Thank you very much!

 

[Lotus]

I think almost all of the commonly available starfish need large tanks (50 gallons to 100 gallons or more), mostly due to grazing habits. Basically, they'd starve to death in a smaller tank. You could try to find some hitchhiker types like asterina or mini brittle stars (both less than an inch). Your LFS may have some in their tanks that they don't usually sell. You might even have some on your live rock already.

You could probably have a shrimp in with the fish, such as a peppermint or a cleaner shrimp for some extra interest.

Another popular choice for small tanks is a pistol shrimp/goby combination. It's a symbiotic relationship that the goby and pistol shrimp form, which can be fun to watch.

 

[Mano]

Pistol Shrimp seem very interesting, and I've been looking at the Green Clown Gobies, they're very attractive. I think that could keep me quite amused.

Thank you once again for all your help, I'll be sure to update once the tank gets going more.

Edit:
While I'm here I may as well quickly ask about personality/shyness/hardyness of the the different kinds.
I'm most attracted to the Green Clowns and the Firefish Gobys, but the Firefish seem to grow far too large for my tank. I seem to see a lot of opinions saying that Green Clowns are more hardy than yellows but tend to be less visible. Anyone have experience to clarify if this is this fact, fiction or half fact?

 

[Mano]

Ok, so I'm doing some re-thinking here.

I really like the idea of having the symbiotic goby/shrimp pair. With my current tank I think this would be difficult to keep since there's really not much bottom room. I've also read that the shrimp need more coarse sand, mine isn't fine but it's not got the coral chunks I've seen in most photos of symbiotic pairs.

I limited myself to a five gallon due to a lack of live rock in my area. I literally cleaned 3 stores out and ended up paying up to $12.99 a pound for it (ouch). However, I'm going to have to make at least one trip into a major city shortly, and have been tracking down LFS stores there, far larger than what we have here.

My setup is at an early enough stage to where I'd not be too pained to upgrade to a 10 gallon setup, if I could locate some decently priced live rock. This would easily give me room to add more coarse sand for the shrimp and obviously give them a little more living room. I'd upgrade to two powerheads, which would leave me with 10 gallons, approximately 10 pounds of sand, a heater, a nano protien skimmer, and between 9-11 pounds of live rock (depending on availability). I would lose the bio wheel but I do not think that's anything to cry about.

With that fictional setup in mind, anything I'm missing? Anything I should be aware of?

Thank you again for all your information and help.

 

[Lotus]

I think upgrading would work. You definitely don't need the filter in there. Live rock, powerheads, a skimmer and water changes are plenty for a healthy environment.

I don't think there would be any significant changes in upgrading to a 10g in terms of your stocking. You could perhaps get a goby/shrimp pair and a larger clean up crew. I think it would still be too small for two full-grown fish of the clown/damsel size. I think you could get away with a shrimp/goby pair and a clown goby (or a neon goby).

 

[Mano]

Definitely not looking at a clown or damselfish!

I'll plan on doing the goby/shrimp pair first, and then wait to see how well I can handle the tank before adding any more fish before making a real decision. Just trying to get a statistical idea of what's more likely to work than not.