First tank!

[Slakker]

Well...it's day 10 for my tank...hoorah!

Yesterday I went to the LFS and picked up ~4 lbs. of Live Rock, three Blue-Legged Hermit Crabs and two Turbo Snails. I was planning on getting a few more snails, but the Turbo's are enormous.

The water is sparkling clean, and keeping the old sandbed seems to have been a good idea, as even after adding a few bits of food ammonia levels haven't gone up at all, so it looks like any cycle I'm gonna have is going to be very minor.

I'll hopefully be getting ~10lbs of LR from a local reefer in the next few days...which will be much better than the $7/lb i spent on this rock...though it does have some nice coralline on it. Oh...and one aiptasia (that i can see), but nothing a peppermint shrimp can't handle.

I'm still working on getting that dead algae off of the sand, but the hermits are helping a big. Still siphoning/scooping it out from time to time though...it's nearly gone at this point though.

Once the rest of the LR goes in I'll start looking into what fish I want to get.

I was thinking a pair of Ocellaris or Percula, and depending on how well the filtration keeps up, maybe a Flame Angel or a Goby of some sort. The angel/goby would probably go in a few months after the clowns.

Anyways...the part that everyone actually wants to see...the pictures.


The aiptasia...soon to be pep food

 

[GSMguy]

goby is a good idea but i think a flame angel would be very sad in a 12

my potters angel uses every inch of space in my 50g and i think when i upgrade it will be even more happy

 

[GSMguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9628521#post9628521 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
goby is a good idea but i think a flame angel would be very sad in a 12

my potters angel uses every inch of space in my 50g and i think when i upgrade it will be even more happy

petco had some awsome black and white ocellaris when i was there yesterday i have thought about buying them all day

 

[Slakker]

Noted on the angel...I thought they preferred more swimming space, but Scott Michael's "Marine Fishes" book recommends a 20g tank for the flame angel, so I thought it might do okay. The last thing I want is an unhappy fish in my aquarium, and Gobies are cool little guys.


Are all gobies sand sifters, or is there a specific species that does it?

Also, do you think adding the goby before the clowns would be a good idea? Seems like the goby is more mild mannered and could use a chance to get established.

 

[Kengaroo131]

if you can try to find the clowns young, this will help them pair up better and try to find one that is a little smaller/larger than the other this will also help in the long run. also keep in mind that there should really only be about one inch of fish per every five gallons they like there space,that will also help you out by cutting down your bio-load. if you can try to get the clowns a host, sometimes they like anemones sometimes they like power heads haha.hopfully this will help you out a little bit. have fun!!

 

[Slakker]

Thanks for the advice

I had planned on getting the smallest clowns I could find with a difference in size to try to have the best chance of pairing. I would also love to have an anemone, but my tank doesn't have anywhere near the lighting/filtration required to keep a nem.

I was thinking the goby and the clowns would have plenty of room, as they often occupy different areas of the water column, and I think the filtration can handle the load from the three fish.

Does anyone know which goby is best for aerating the sandbed?

 

[Slakker]

Eesh...I didn't know how stressful it would be to finally have critters. I find myself checking my tank every couple minutes going "One...two....where's the other hermit?" or "Hey...I didn't pay for that snail!" LOL

Anyways, I think things are going well, it looks like I've got the tiniest bit of coralline algae growing in my filter inlet and the return.

Also, I've seen this little guy crawling around a few times, but have no idea what he is...it's some type of snail, seems to be just cleanin up some gunk on the inlet, so I'm not too worried, but if anyone knows what it is I'm not opposed to having an ID