Finding Nemo tank: not a good idea.

[Sk8r]

People readily 'get it' that the owner of said tank is not a sympathetic character and the little girl is a step worse.

But for some reason people do not get it that the tank is the worst possible tank the author could construe. The proportions are those of a 10 to 20 gallon tank. In it you have a clown. Ok. Not great, but ok. They're homebodies. But you also have a yellow tang---which grows to 8" and takes a 100 gallon tank. The tang is nutz. He's gone around the bend. You have a puffer: grows to 10", requires a 180 gallon tank and is a fin-nipper. A Moorish idol: grows to 7", requires a 120 gallon tank, and is one of the most difficult fish to feed--it eats living sponges and some algaes: I've heard of one guy keeping them in algae and sponges by regularly diving to scrape gunk off harbor piers. You have a damsel: grows to 4" and the chart may say 30 gallon, but if you want to have healthy damsels that don't fight everything in sight you need 100 gallons or more...there may be others, but I can't think of them.

Dory, thank goodness, is not IN that tank: Dory, aka a hippo or blue tang, is named for both the Egyptian Blue color and its size---Dory is a foot long at maturity, and takes a 180 gallon tank.

That tank is no place to imitate. It's not just the dirt.

If you want all those fish, get some scuba gear for your neighborhood wharf, and get a really big tank, large as the largest requirement plus some for the herd.

The tanks you can commonly buy at your fish store are sized for gobies and blennies or a pair of clowns; some of the smallest also do well as coral tanks and invertebrate tanks, if the lighting is ok. Larger tanks can be had, but they have to be special-ordered.

Just Nemo himself (a percula clown) and mate are a charming pair you can do in a 30 gallon tank. Don't get an anemone right off. Establish the tank at least half a year. If your clowns want someplace to be---get them a nice softie toadstool or a bit of xenia---any sort of soft coral. They don't care: they'll be very happy. You can add a couple of small gobies to keep them company. Just not Dory! And keeping that coral happy will be good training for herding an anemone, which can get up and move if annoyed, or stick its tentacle into a powerhead, etc.

 

[wild1]

I'm sure 99% of us in here agree with you, but it was just a cartoon

 

[Sk8r]

Doh. yes. BUT...it's a cartoon that kids want to imitate, and that has stores selling scores of pretty-well-doomed blue tang juvvies to go in the 30 gallon tanks they sell to people in there to fulfill their kids' fantasies. Beautiful fish. Personable fish. Not toys.

 

[m0nkie]

I admit that I originally wanted the finding nemo tank when I first started. went to the LFS and checked off 80% of the fish on the list thought my 100gal was big enough.

ones I am able to keep: clown, a cleaner shrimp, and a royal gramma soon

the puffer fish was cool too, but not reef safe

 

[Dapg8gt]

This post hits the nail on the head imo, Especially when it comes to some newbies. How many threads have you heard people refer to clowns as "nemo" and shoot it's even been the title to threads like "dory has ***" what do I do.

Although most real legitimate hobbiest know that tank will never really make it there are people who want to emulate it either for themselves on to give their kids a gift because they are fans of the movie.. Others just have a bio cube that they just set up and the movie brought them to recognize "Dory" and they shove it into the tank. Or the threads I read of people going into Petco and buying a goldfish bowl and a pair of clowns to take home. It's sad how some people in general feel it's just a fish so who cares.

I set my brother in law up with a 29g bio cube mixed reef and guess what his first purchase was? A medium sized regal tang =(. I tell him he needs to exchange it so he does...... For a small yellow tang. So now I realize I need to literally hold his hand and tell him what can and can't go into the tank fish wise vs just saying "no tangs".. It's obvious to me that he is interested in it to an extent but I'm thinking it's more of a want to have what I have at home vs actually wanting to do the research on proper maintenance and care and compatibility.. So he's on a short leash at this point lol with the decline in good Lfs in our area this tank just became my job to oversee and regulate =) .

This thread seems like it's common sense but it's something that is a pet peeve of mine when people refer to their fish with the Disney names and it struck home in my world when my 24 year old brother in law did the same exact thing. I almost think it's like a subconscious choice to new to the hobby people to instantly migrate towards those particular fish just because of the fantasy characters in finding Nemo..It's sad but soooo true.

 

[Sk8r]

People want to recreate what's familiar to them and has a good story. The fact the tank was satire or the fact the colorful label on the tank they bought is Photoshopped just does not occur to people who don't live with Photoshop. They see it: it embeds in their heads that this is the way a tank should look, or oh! I recognize that fish! I could have that in this tank! ---

Research. Go to Live Aquaria and look up the compatibility chart AND the growth info on the fish in its sale-page. Impulse buying and buying because you saw a picture is not a way to succeed in a hobby which has special lighting for types of corals and flow and size requirements for other critters. I've seen people buy corals who don't even know they're not flowers or that they have specific requirements for feeding and light. It is sincerely upsetting.

 

[Tradewinds]

I have a blue tang in a 180 and I wonder if it is getting too big for the tank. It has been the fastest growing fish I have had by far.

 

[amber3k]

I also have a blue tang, it's in 150 gal and by far the fastest growing fish in my tank. I was just talking to my husband last night about rehoming it if it out grows the tank.

 

[edinphilly]

So people decide to give in to their kid wanting a Nemo tank, and don't do their research because the freshwater tank they had as a kid was pretty easy. And their LFS was oh so happy to sell them the Nemo tank and livestock which they're probably doomed to fail.

Personally I think the thread would be helpful if you taught people to do an almost Nemo tank. i.e. What are a few fish from the cartoon that while not the exact same could match their counterparts in the movie.

There are plenty of successful tanks on RC that have more than a clown pair and a goby in a 30g.

 

[Nina51]

among others, i have 2 snowflake clowns and a kole tang in my 75g. i can't tell you how many people have looked at my tank and exclaimed "awwww you have 2 nemos and a dori!!!".

these are people i know will never have a tank so i just nod and smile.

 

[fearyaks]

How do you know that Nemo is a perc and not an occy?

 

[ichthyogeek]

Because "Nemo" has a black outline between his white and orange, and, from what I've seen, the normal amount of dorsal spines for a perc.

 

[Dapg8gt]

How do you know that Nemo is a perc and not an occy?

Who cares It's both imo.

I'd bet most people who refer to the fish as Nemo don't care either when they are buying it . I have pairs of both and they both are called Nemo by others who don't know . a
Anyone who doesn't know about the difference wouldn't notice it.

 

[fearyaks]

Thanks Icthyo!