small setup???

I would add about 15 lbs. of live rock and a couple of small damsels or clownfish.

eclipse systems are awful for saltwater....i should know i sell them and i always recommend against them for saltwater. as for fish damsels are agresive and turn ugly later a clown would do fine and gobies and blennies and other small fish. just check out the nano aquarium fish at www.liveaquaria.com

I would suggest an Ocellaris clown, a small goby, like a yellow watchman, add some mushroom corals and some polyps, maybe a leather coral....take a look at this site......

http://www.nano-reef.com/

Don't use any filter media in the built-in filter...just use it for circulation and add another pump in the tank.....10-15 pounds live rock, a couple inches of live sand....If you can retrofit/upgrade the light, do it.....I would avoid anemones. Have fun...I think your dad will appreciate it!

Just wanted to comment that... once you're involved with corals and anemone, it will not all that be simple and "easy" to take care of compared to fish only tank... Yes, there are easy corals out there like mushrooms and some polyps... but still, if you're looking for a real minimal maintenance work, fish only tank may be the way to go.

For the fish, I recommend a small percula clown or bi-color blenny which are pretty hardy and very peaceful. Damsels or dottybacks are hardy and small as well, but they can be pretty aggressive.

Anemone do NOT belong in anything that small. Nothing under 55G should ever have one

ive seen rose bulbs in nano cubes and aquapods that did great and still are. i personally can keep the local anemonies here in a fish bowl. it depends on how well the tank is maintained so if you want low maintenance jerzsky id recommend not getting one.ghost_knife is right that it wouldnt be a good idea, but saying that you should never keep one in a small tank is a drastic statement ive done it and succeeded and many of my customers have as well. the common notion that corals are hard to keep only comes from ignorance and lack of willingness to go the extra way for most people believe me i see it every day. corals need extra care so to keep it simple just fish and maybe some mushrooms but only if you get better lighting the floresent over a eclipse isnt close to enough and nether is the built in filter. and small aquariums need almost bi weekly care.
if you want something small and easy go with an aquapod they dont have the ballast problems the nano cubes have.

12 gallons.......how about a percula and a redhead goby ?



I've got a redhead goby in my 20long reef....really cool little fish, always darting around and has to know everything that's going on.

Another nice small fish would be the clown gobies...

As far as easy goes.....if you want the tank to do well....regular WEEKLY water changes are highly recommended. Doing a wc in a smaller tank isn't such a hassle, but you do need to keep up on them.



OH...I wouldn't recommend a watchman goby, they're a nice fish and everything online that I read said they only get 3 inches...........but......I saw 2-5 and 6 inch monster yellow watchman in a tank once. Granted, it was a large tank, but jeesh.....I just never knew they could get that big ! I bought one for my 20 reef....BEFORE..I saw those fish....lol..