Psychedelic fish good community fish?

[amanda_]

My friend has a 20-25 gallon saltwater tank and wants me to order her a psycheldelic fish from work. Are psychedelic fish a good choice for a small tank with only clownfish and live rock? How hardy are they and are they peaceful? What other fish could you put with them?

 

[WaterPond]

psycheldelic fish

LMAO, never heard of such a thing. Could we possibly get a sceintific name?

 

[Innovator]

Would you be speaking of the Psychedelic Mandarin, Synchiropus picturatus? If so, then no. They are difficult to ween onto prepared foods and for more experienced aquarists who are willing to dedicate more time to their needs.

 

[Lance M.]

I agree with Innovator. If your talking about the mandarin, they need a large established tank with lots of live rock to survive because they only eat live foods; however, some have been able to eat prepared foods, but these are hard to come by.

Same thing goes for the Spotted Green Mandarins and Scooter blennies.

One thing I noticed when I was at my lfs was they are so cheap. They were under $15, pretty much the cheapest sw fish you could buy but one of the harder ones to keep. And most of the people that buy them dont have the proper accommodations for one.

 

[amanda_]

Lol whenever I called it a mandarinfish or synchiropus picturatus no one knew what I was talking about. Personally I don't feel a 20 gallon tank is suitable for any saltwater fish, but are there any fish that would survive comfortably in one?

 

[Lance M.]

Dragonets should be in at least a 55 gallon established tank w/ plenty of lr and a refugium.

There are lots of gobies that would do good. A pair of young clownfish would work well, you'd have to upgrade later though. Check out this list

 

[melosu58]

Personally I don't feel a 20 gallon tank is suitable for any saltwater fish, but are there any fish that would survive comfortably in one?

It can be done but you`ll need to be dilligent on tank maintance. The smaller the tank the less forgiving it will be on mistakes and not doing your water changes. Here is a small list of some fish that would do OK in a 20 gallon tank.

 

[amanda_]

I know it can be done when you keep up with water changes and tank maintenance, but a 20 gallon tank doesn't give much space to replicate their ecosystem. I don't think she changes her water often so its a good thing I didn't order this fish for her before hand! Thank you for the suggestions. I'll let her know the psychedelic is not a good choice.

 

[Lance M.]

Just wondering do you work at a lfs?