Starting A Tank

[EDGRAY]

Hi Aquai,

What kind of Hermit Crabs are you thinking of getting?

Eric

i was just ganna say that but anyways yeah cause they are alot of hermits but some are not great cleaners like the scarlet , blue legs & electric blue legs.

what kind of goby are you gonna put with the clown and also if you want a clown to be a good mate for other fish get a false clown cause they are peacefull unlike other kind of clowns are semi to agressive and might pick on the goby... so what are your plans in choosing a clown.

eddy :cool1:

 

[EDGRAY]

and also is not recommended alot of fish but if you introduce one and wake lets say 1-2 weeks and then add the other one so the tank gets used to and also keeping your water changes weekle and you're gonna be find just everything at it's time not rushing or will follow to dissaster....

what corals are you gonna keep???

another thing a great advice that was given to me leave space around the live rock so you have enough space to clean the glass of your tank and space begind it too so you have a good circulation of water so there is no dead spots in your time (less nitrate production). HTH

eddy

 

[Aquai]

Erm, ok, what hermits are good cleaners then?

Goby i was looking for a sand shifting one, maybe a yellow watchman but i also considered a catalina, a hi-fin red banded goby or a griessingei goby. The clown, erm i want it gonna go for a Amphiprion ocellaris which i think is the false? Correct? And yes i'm aware that i should only add one fish initially then the other a week or so after...

Corals, maybe some mushrooms and generally soft corals. I was also thinking about getting a clam (maybe) and some feather dusters..So what are these gonna be like in the high current (i've looked at the tank this morning and all the sand has stacked in the middle), i've been told they'll be ok?

 

[Aquai]

Erm, ok, what hermits are good cleaners then?

Goby i was looking for a sand shifting one, maybe a yellow watchman but i also considered a catalina, a hi-fin red banded goby or a griessingei goby. The clown, erm i want it gonna go for a Amphiprion ocellaris which i think is the false? Correct? And yes i'm aware that i should only add one fish initially then the other a week or so after...

Corals, maybe some mushrooms and generally soft corals. I was also thinking about getting a clam (maybe) and some feather dusters..So what are these gonna be like in the high current (i've looked at the tank this morning and all the sand has stacked in the middle), i've been told they'll be ok?

And about the live rock, it's going to be in the back right corner/side so i'm not too bothered abotu being able to clean behind it...

Thanks once again

 

[EDGRAY]

Hi again your choises of gobies are great love them all but beware that those kind of gobies tend to be jumper so you will need top...dont know if you already have one ...and also the only one that ill say no is the catalina why?? cause requires cold temperatures around 68 - 75 F but is up to you and you're right with the clown thats a false good job....

corals idea sounds great except for the clam needs alot of light.

and i mentioned the spaces in the sides and front for you to clean and the back (only like 1 -2 inch of space thats all you need) was only to have flow in the back so there are not dead spots that will accumulate nitrates but like i say is up to you and even if you dont leave space you will do just fine just try to add some flow in the back.

eddy :lol:

 

[Aquai]

I have a tight fitting lid so it's all good, they won't be getting out. Yuh i think i'll try and get a hi-fin red banded goby if i can, but does this sift the sand much? (And thanks for the info on the catalina, wasn't aware of that) BTW, can you get black false clowns?

Well, eventually, there will be like 56W worth of lighting in there, which is 7W/Gal (if i have them all on) which is more than enough for a clam i believe? Although the timings of the lights are gonna be so there's 6 hours 24W (white light), 3 hours of 48W(white light and moonlight blue), 3 hours of 56W (white light, moonlight blue and red enhance light), 3 hours of 24W (moonlight blue), 3 hours of no light but i still feel this should be adequate.

Well one of my inputs goes down in the back right corner so i think flow is going to be pretty consistent there anyhow...

Pictures attached show; live rock and hitch hiker >_<, surface flow (is this too much do you think?)

 

[NemoNano]

Hi Aquai,


That looks like a aptasia, they are bad. can you get a better picture of it?

Here is a some info on aptasia's.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inver ... ptasia.htm

I have all blue legged and Zebra Hermit Crabs. The blues seem to work harder.

Eric

 

[Aquai]

Yuh i think it is, as i saw some in the LFS tank, i'll see if it makes it through the cycle, if it does i'll let the hermits get it, unless it starts multiplying...

 

[EDGRAY]

prevent and just take it out with the piece of LR and then remove it and brush the area so there is no part lefts or might come back or nuke it with joe's juice.......any of the gobies that you choise and even more the red banded will be cool to have and even more if you can get him a pistol shrimp they make the perfect couple and is fun seen then interact.... and in the back of the rock seems that there is space to water to flow so gooooood.

eddy :cool1:

 

[Aquai]

Hmmm, joe's juice, i don't think i can get that here (UK based) so i'll have to remove it manually then. What other shrimp options are there? What about these "sexy shrimps". Yus i left a space for flow, but was already with the rocks structure tbh...

Here's a question for you, if my live rock is already cured (been in LFS store for about a month) do i need to cycle still? I mean i'll take readings tomorrow, but surely because it's cured it should all be fine? (I plan to get at least 2 more pieces tomorrow)

 

[EDGRAY]

if cant find joe's juice ... i heard that you can use boiling water or lemon juiece and works the same even better boiling water with drops of lemon... double attack :lol: :lol:

and even if you got cure LR you still gonna have a small cycle and even if your cycle is done you should wait between 1 to 2 weeks more just in case and talking about invertebrates well the ones i like and own are cleaner shrimp, sexy shrimp, anemone crab and coming soon 2 randall's pistol shirmp...and invertebrates dont do a big bioload they even help with left over and in cleaning parasites.....i think my sexy is a hard worker just like the hermits...... :lol:

eddy. :cool1:

 

[Aquai]

Hmm, ok, so maybe instead of a skunk cleaner i'll get a sexy (just abit more interesting to look at) or maybe even one of each...
Ok, i won't add fish till next weekend earliest anyhow, it just suddenly occured to me that all the bacteria etc is already in it (twas in a tank with two damsels, hermits, snails, corals and a goby)...

Stock list so far then is;
1 False Percula Clown
1 Goby (Preferably Hi-fin Red-Banded if it's available in UK)
1 Sexy Shrimp
3 Hermit Crabs (1 Red-Legged and 2 Electric Blue)
3 Turbo Snails
Various corals (such as mushrooms and zoos)
Unlikely additional stock - Depending on water quality;
1 Firefish
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

 

[EDGRAY]

becareful if your planing on putting a firefish and redbanded cuase they are the same shape and they might :matrixf :gen9: and you dont one that ......but at the same time you could have luck with them....

and well everything is posible if you keep a prestine water quality and regular water changes but wait a long time lets say 3 months until putting 3 fish .... keep with 1 or 2 for know.....but not recommended 2 are more than enough.... maybe a small fish like other goby family some are like 1 to 2 inches big.....

eddy :cool1:

 

[reefman23]

I wouldnt suggest the turbos...too big and knowck stuff over...go with astreas instead.

Jesse

 

[Aquai]

Hmm, well i'm not sure i can get those, most the suppliers near me only stock turbos but i'll see what i can find...

Well i found i can get the hi-finned but it's got a different name (yellow rose goby) but one thing has occured to me... Will it be good at shifting sand etc. like other gobies would be (i.e. watchman's)? The other thing is i love mandarins (hey, who doesn't?!?!) and i was asking my LFS owner and he said that he could get me a juvenille one and trade it in at a later date if i choose to take one of those instead... I know they generally require live food, and i do intend to have a brine shrimp hatchery so this wouldn't be a problem. But what would you say compatibility is like with this fish?

Yuh i didn't plan to put them in initially but maybe after 2/3 months providing everything is going well...

BTW - I got 1kg more of live rock today, lots of purple and green on it

 

[reefman23]

I would say a big fat NO to the mandarin...sorry. First off, their main diet is pods....large tanks over 55 gallons or so with mature LR are necessary to produce a constant population of these creatures. Secondly, brine has little nutritional value...it is merely a supplement to and variation to a diet. There are others on this site that will share their experiences with adding mandarins to their nanos...

If you plan on having any sort of sand-dwelling gobies, do make sure that your sand bed is at least 2"-3" of varying size sand grains...mainly the sugar-sixed grains.

 

[sadielynn]

I agree SKIP the mandarin they will starve in a new tank . They will also desimate the pods in a matter of days ....there by a painful death sentence

 

[EDGRAY]

ok, yeah i was one of the ones that kept the mandarine's in a cube and i didnt even have one i had 2 in a 12g. i know reallly crazy haaa.... but at that time i was a little stubborn :lol: :lol: but anyways i was like i can keep this fish alive so i try everything brine shrimp, zyclop eeze and even got some pods on bottles.... and well they eventually died one in 1 month and the other in 2 months and created nothing but bad things like high amonia & nitrate because of the constantly feeding that they required.. and well what i can say is beuty but painful...you will enjoy having other fish but not mandy's they will cause you alot of stress and other thing is that even if you had the requirements there always hidding and going all around the caves and once in a while the show each other.... i YELLOW WATCH MAN will be better for you.... and also like sady said they will exterminate your pods ... now i wish they would come back (pods).

eddy :cool1:

 

[Aquai]

Hmm yeh i didn't think it would be compatible as they are hard to feed so this is a no go until i upgrade my tank (i.e. move out of rents house)...

There's now about 4kg of Live rock in my tank. pretty much all with purple/red/green growth on. I've also fitted one of my 24W bulbs today into the hood and after close studying of the live rock spotted a couple of brittle stars and some centipede like creatures...

Just a note to say thank you to all again.

 

[reefman23]

The centipede looking creatures are probably bistleworm which are no big deal(usually). They are detrivores. They can become quite large and their population can grow pretty large (in rare occasions)...thats when they become a problem as they can become an irritant to certain corals.

Jesse