Small Marine Fish

I was wondering how may smaller marine fish there are that can be kept in captivity. I know there are a few gobies that are small but I'm not sure what species are the smallest in that family.

I have a 210 gallon tank with an 80g sump/refugium. I know it's a large tank, but I just want to keep a good number of small fish with lower bio loads.

 

I would have to say the the Clown gobies, both the yellow and green would have to be the smallest. Thats a really neat concept, large tank with lots of small fish. Something I might have to try one day.

 

What size do you consider small?

 

Clown gobies swill be about 1.5" There's also clingfish, which are pretty interesting and only grow to be 2".

 

I think it would be hard to find a fish smaller then a neon goby or hector goby. Apogon cyanosoma is pretty small too though.

check out this nano fish section of liveaquaria Nano Fish

 

With a 210 gallon tank, we really need to know your definition of "small" lol

You could put fish up to 1 foot + in that tank, so I'm guessing smaller than that. Is your boundary 5 inches? Lower?

 

I have had 2, both for almost 2 years, one green and one yellow and they are lucky if there are 1" long, both of them. They both live in my Seahorse tank so they get way more than enough to eat.

Another really nice goby is the Catalina Goby Max 2", unfortunatly they do not do real well in a reef aquarium due to the fact that they require cooler water than most reefs are kept at.

Here are some more of my more favorite small fish some of which I have or have had over the years.

Yellow Stripe Clingfish Max 2" is another interesting fish.

Wheeler's Watchman Goby Max 3"

BlueStrip Pipefish Max 3"

Royal Gramma Basslet Max 3" can be a bit nasty depending on the fish.

Pygmy Yellowtail Angelfish Max 3" The jury is out as to weather these are reef safe, have had one for a year with absolutley no problems.

Macneill's Assessor Basslet Max 3" about my most favorite Basslet.

 

Under 3". The smaller, the better.

 

Small wrasses, gobies, basslets, clowns, some cardinal fish....

 

Really cool fish. What species are available?

The only one I could find on live aquaria was the yellow stripe clingfish.
Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Yellow Stripe Clingfish