i am FINALLY about to set up my marine tank in a couple of weeks and want to get a few things sorted before i jump in with both feet. what can i have in a 15 gal? what im after really is a nice colourful tank. would a few clowns and a mandarin fish be ok together? do mandarins prefer company? sorry, i know nothing about them yet. also, when i put the livestock in and the petshop sg is slightly different to mine, how would i transfur them without shocking them too much? thanks for any help.

I don't know about compatability but I do know that mandarins are very very hard to keep. Most of them don't eat anything other than tiny organsims that grow in live rock etc. This means that even though the fish aren't big you need a big well matured tank to support enough food for them.

Jsrtist keeps some I think, you should read through her threads on her saltwater set up.

How about a clown goby?

They're small and can live in a 10-gal. They're also peaceful and have many different vibrant colors.

They also don't take too big of a bite out of your wallet.

thats a good idea
hyperthetically, could you actually get 2 clowns in a 15gal?

According to a link I just read, Mandarins also need at least a 55 gal tank.

thats what i was suspecting. i have reads elsewhere that clowns need quite alot of room.

i read on the nano-reef site that theyre ideal for even a 10 gal nano. why do these sites always seem to contradict each other? so annoying

So much saltwater info seems to contradict itself! I usually ignore what I read and go with what the guys at the store, who have been in this for years, tell me has worked for them. Yes, a 15 is too small for a mandarin really. That is to say its not impossible. I have one in a 30 though she is one of few fish in that tank and the tank is tailored to her needs.

I would say a clown goby would be great in that size tank and they come in all sorts of interesting colors. I had a yellow clown in mine. But wait till your live rock is very mature, because same as with mandarins they will only feed on the live copepods in the rock. I had mine completely clean the glass of pods in just a day!! I would also only put one clown goby in that size tank.

Two clownfish should be okay temporarily as long as you get them small and dont try to keep other fish in the tank with them. Clowns are a type of damsel and damsels as a group are very aggressive and territorial. I have been bitten on the hand by clowns, believe it or not!

When you do get clowns get them very small and get them at the same time. If you cycle the tank with live rock first you shouldnt have to worry about the spikes like in freshwater. And you dont have to have an anemone for them to host in either, as anemones are very difficult to keep. I have actually even seen them host in the artificial rubber anemones!

Good luck and keep us posted!

thanks hun. some great stuff there