stocking help

Moonstream

Moonstream

New member
Hello all! I need some help with my 2 new SW. Both are currently in cycle, and I need a plan as far as stocking. The first is an eclipse system 6, with 1/2" crushed coral, several small peices of live rock, and a 25 to 50 watt heater. I think its 25 watts. So, I was thinking for coral, yellow polyps, spotted mushrooms, and maybe xenia. For inverts 4 blue leg hermits, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood shrimp, and 2 astrea snails. I was thinking of putting 2 or 3 dwarf colored feather dusters, and 1 or 2 small fish(1 yellow tail damsel, or 1 firefish, or 1-3 neon gobies). Is there room? I would be doing water changes every 1-2 weeks.
The other tank is a 30"L X 12"D X 18"H (29 gallons) aquarium. I will be getting a 65 watt coralife light, over a open tank, or a glass strip (no hood). There is 2" of sand at the bottom and like 15 or so pounds of live rock, as well as tufa rock peices, and fake coral. I really like the long nose hawkfish, percula and oclaris clowns, yellow tailed damsel, yellow tang, regal blue tang, mandarin fish (am aware of feeding issues), blue green chromis, firefish, and royal gramma. I know the tangs need a larger tank, and would return the regal at around 6", but with every other week water changes could I keep the yellow (remember someone keeping one in 29 gal.)? Could both clowns live together, I saw that some were on a site, same size tank. For inverts 11 blue leg hermits, 2 turbo snails, 1 sea fan, 1 finger gongrgian, mushrooms, polyps and maybe a BTA or LTA Anemones? What about 2 hawian feather dusters and 2 dwarfs? Any cleaners I missed? Would this work?
Also can swordtails be aclimated to saltwater, and could they live in this system?. Any other fish that could live in here? Could a clown gobie be added to either system?
 
I would not put in any tangs in a 29 gallon. I have one tang in a 90g and it swims constantly. Sometimes I think my 90g is too small. 29g is way too small for any tang.
I also would not go with a mandarin until your tank is up and running for at least 1 full year. There are extremely hard to take care of, even in an established tank.
You won't need 11 hermits yet, give it a few more weeks. There won't be enough food to support 11.
You have alot of livestock on your list, for both tanks, I would add fish slowly, like maybe 1-2 a month. Wait a few months before attempting an anemone, gorgonian, or sea fan. Mushrooms and polyps are good corals to start with.
I know it sucks adding fish and corals slowly, but trust me it will pay off. It may also prevent a tank crash or massive die off.
Patience will equal healthier livestock and a healthier & happier hobbyist.
 
My 02

Nano tanks are more difficult to run than std sized tanks .. not something that I would recommend to a new SW aquarist.

Eclipse tanks are nice looking popular FW tanks ... however reef tanks usually require skimmers etc that require you to rip up that nice housing ... something to consider.

Nano tanks setup up as "reef only" are easier to run that those that have fish. If your set on Nano I suggest you stay away from fish in that tank until you have the reef thing down pat .. and then only add one small firefish.

A 29 gallon tank has about 24 gallons of water when you take into acct water displacement of rock/substrate. Even 3-4 small fish easily break the SW stocking norms using inch/per gallon.

Forget the tangs ... tanks too small and there are a zillion posts on the subject. Unless you train your Mandarin to eat something other than Pods take that one off your list as well .. your tanks too small to have sufficient pod production to sustain a Mandarin.

Good luck.
 
I have decided against the mandarin, but if I placed a small tang into the tank ( the tang about 2" for a regal and 4" for a yellow) could I keep it for a while until it grew to about 6"? I will be doing weekly water changes because of the lack of skimming. Also the 6 gallon idea was from a web page, on http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/saltwater/Blumhagen_First_Reef.html I thought it was a cool idea as I already had the eclipse, and thought why not try it. mr_096, I didn't mean I was putting all those fish into the tank! Sorry if it sounded that way! I was wondering wich was best? Also, I wanted to add snowflake moray to that list. I would buy it as a very small baby, and raise it to a resonable size before placing it in my tank. :)
 
Sorry, meant i would raise it to a resonable size, and once it outgrew the tank i would return it. Also are they fast growers?
 
I cannot comment on the eels because I do not have experience with them. I would definetly stay away from tangs in a 29g. Look on RC for threads about keeping tangs in a 30g and you will find that majority of members on this sight are extremely oppose to the idea. Tangs grow fast. It is not fair to the fish to be stressed from constant moving. It is also not fair to provide a living space that is way too small.
 
Frequent water changes will help the water quality issues of overstocking ... however water quality is just one of many concerns associated with overstocking.

More water changes is somewhat akin to thinking its OK to have 12 people live in one room if you vacuum the floor everyday ... may help but it doesn't address the big picture.

The concept of buying tangs and getting rid of them or upgrading when they grow is common on this board .. easier said than done.
 
I know how you feel I wanted a tang too and the tang police killed me seriuosly they wanted to come to my house and fight:mad2:

Stay away from tangs trust me:(

This is what i have in 30G... Not for everyone but it should give you some ideas

30lbs of live rock
40lbs of live sand
Rio Power Head 260GPH (left side)
Rio Power Head 180GPH (Right side)
CPR Back Pack Skimmer
JBJ compact Lighting
2 96W 10,000K
2 96W 03 Anitic
1 Moonlight


Cleaning Crew

1 Cleaner Shrimp
4 hermit crabs
1 Turbo snail
3 Sand nails
15 Bumble bee snails
1 perpmint

Frags

Gorrilla Nipples
Candy Coral
green mushroom
green Star polyps
Joker Polyp
Hammer head
Frog spawn
Red Mushroom
And two or three frags I dont know the name of.
Xenia (Palm Palm pink)



Fish and other Live stock

1 6 line wrasse
1 Bartlett Anthais (Female) (I was told tank was too small) but she is doing great three months so far.
2 Clarky Clowns
1 Purple Tip anemone
1 Claim
1 very small sand star less than 1" (Newiest addition)
 
the first one is a definite no, too many fish especially with 1-3 clowns the second one is iffy. like i said on your other thread the SFE will outgrow your aquarium. it is really tough to keep a meat eating fish in such a small aquarium. your water quality will be really hard to keep in check and you will need to do some serious skimming. you really need to start with a few fish and work your way up....
 
go to Marinedepotlive. com or Liveaquaria.com for info on saltwater fish/inverts, tank requirements, etc.
 
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