stocking ten gallon

[nanomo]

hey i want to get something differnt then the usual clowns, jawfish or firefish, is there anything else i can put in a tank this size thats fun to watch?

[ACBlinky]

Clown gobies are loads of fun in a teeny package and come in a few different colours. Mine is surprisingly agressive, he drives fish much larger than himself away from the fox coral he's hosting like a little pitbull but he's all bark and no bite :) The only caution with these guys is to make sure they're eating in the store -- many starve to death because they don't adjust to prepared foods. It took me months of spot feeding tiny meals, rotating different foods to pique his interest, to get my ycg eating reliably. Now he's a little piggy, but it was definitely an uphill battle.

If you're only keeping one fish, damsels can also be a lot of fun. I have a fourstripe Dascyllus in my 21g. He's MEAN, but has so much personality and an absolutely adorable face. Talbot's damsels are pretty (mauve and yellow) and much less agressive than most, and stay small enough for a 10g. South Seas, yellow tail and blue devil damsels are stunning and stay fairly small, but like a three or fourstripe I'd make it the only fish in the tank.

A dottyback might work, again they can be very agressive but they're just beautiful. They don't venture into open water much, mine spends lots of time snaking through the rockwork hunting for pods. If you want to keep shrimp or crabs (other than hermits) I'd choose something else -- not all dottys will bother crustaceans, but my neon is vicious. I had him in the same tank as my 2"+ pistol shrimp for a week, and he managed to rip off both antennae, two back legs and one front claw during a midnight raid on the poor shrimp's cave (the shrimp is fine, BTW). He's killed cleaner shrimp, emerald crabs and chewed up fish much larger than himself, but then again this little guy had a lousy start in life (lived in a neglected 3g pico until I adopted him) so he may just have a chip on his shoulder. Now he's living with the Dascyllus and a hawkfish, both of which were also too nasty to stay in the big reef. They all get along like three bad-tempered little peas in a pod :D