frogspawn growth help

[greatgman001]

just in case that no one knows or cares
i had a big problem with my branching frogspawn that i won at the last meeting
several heads died off
so i contacted a fellow member to see if they could help bring it back from the brink of death

well real soon i will get the 90 up
and would like to know if ne1 knows how to get the froggie to grow (quickly if possible)
what do i have to keep the calcium levels at ?
target feed?
what additives?
how much light?
or ne thing else i need to know
thanks
i got it off of vinstr

 

[raynist]

I have a pretty large frogspawn that I bought 1.5 years ago with 5 heads. It probably has 35 heads now.

I keep the calcium at 400 - 450; Alkalinity around 10.0 dkh and ph around 8.1. I use 14 - 39w T-5 bulbs with individual reflectors on this tank (180). I had halides on it for a while also and it thrived.

From my experience, the more light the better with these.

I dose my tank every day with the homemade 2-part additive you will find in the reef chemistry forum. Stability is the key with most all corals.

I think the reason you had such a problem with it was the high ammonia levels in the from too many fish in a small tank. When you move to the 90, I would not add any more fish for a while.

 

[greatgman001]

well somehow i lost my yellow tang
i couldnt find it newhere and my clownfish got sucked into a power head

 

[raynist]

So what fish do you now have in this tank and what was in there before?

How big was the yellow tang?

 

[greatgman001]

just a blue tang about 5 inches nose to tail
and 2 blue devil damsels each about 2 1/2 inches
the yellow tang was a juvenile maybe 3 inches
i looked every where when i did my 50 percent water change i even ran my fingers through the sand thinking it died then got covered up
no such luck
strange

 

[Ghumbee]

I hate to pull a "Tang Police" But did you really have a 5" Blue Tang and a 3" Yellow Tang along with the others in a 20 gallon tank?

:eek1:

 

[raynist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8381860#post8381860 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greatgman001
just a blue tang about 5 inches nose to tail
and 2 blue devil damsels each about 2 1/2 inches
the yellow tang was a juvenile maybe 3 inches
i looked every where when i did my 50 percent water change i even ran my fingers through the sand thinking it died then got covered up
no such luck
strange

For a tank that size (20g), the 2 damsels and 1 clownfish is enough. To keep the 2 tangs in there also is cruel.

From what I remember, you are supposed to have 1 inch of fish per 5 gallons of water, so in a 20g tank that is 4 inches of fish which would be just the 2 damsels. I am sure we all overstock a tank to some degree, but you had 15 inches of fish in a 20g tank and that is why the ammonia levels were so high. This fish load would be ok for a 75g tank until they were full grown. Hopefully the rest of the fish survive long enough to make it to your 90g tank.

When you do move to the 90, I would not add any more fish than you have right now for several months, and then you can probably only add one more, two if they are fish that are small.

When you do the 1 inch of fish per 5 gallon rule, you are supposed to take into account the full adult size of the fish. So if you have a 90g tank and say 20g in your sump, that would be 22 inches of fish. Of course if you keep up on water changes and have a good skimmer and don't overfeed you can get away with a higher fish load, but you don't want to push it too much.

--Ray