What to do with a 55gal?

[jenjen]

Introducing Mr & Mrs Clarkii:

She's about 2" long, and he's about 1/2 her size.

I decided to add them to the DT today. I'm comfortable that the tank can process small amounts of ammonia, and it's kept the Pistol Shrimp alive overnight. I did a 25% water change, ran my water tests again, then added them.

Parameters after W/C:
ammonia - 0
nitrate - 0
calc - 360
SG - 1.026
temp - 80

I have enough mixed SW ready so I could do as much as a 100% W/C if needed, and have put in an 'ammonia alert'. I'll also be testing the water twice daily for the first week, just to make sure things are ok in there.

Mrs gave me a good scare when I was moving her. I netted them both into a bucket with water from their QT tank - they both netted really easily. As soon as she got in the bucket, Mrs started ramming the side of the bucket repeatedly. She kept this up for a good couple of minutes, so since the water all came from the same systems and parameters are reading the same everywhere I moved her straight into the tank w/out any further acclimating. She immediately swam down to the bottom and went into one of the pistol shrimp caves.

Once I added Mr, it took him a minute to find her but then he joined her in the cave - he's a very loyal little man! They stayed in there about 20 mins until I couldn't stand it anymore. I moved the rock they were under and thankfully they both swam out. It's been about 1/2 an hour since then and they're slowly exploring the tank together. I only have the actinics on for now. The pics are far away, but it's the closest I can get to the tank without startling them. More pics later as they settle into their new home.

 

[jenjen]

So just out of curiosity, does anyone know whether the male or female clown select the 'nest'?

Mrs is swimming all over the tank, apparently staking her claim to every square inch. Mr follows her a little, but basically stays put in the right hand corner for now. Is he waiting for her to pick a home, or waiting for her to come home???

 

[sltloser]

well the tank is looking good. Sounds like an eventful day with the pistol shrimp going in, along with the clowns. How's the YWG doing? The only problem i've found with clarkii's is that they can be pretty territorial, IMO i think adding the YWG as soon as possible while they're still getting use to the tank would be a good idea. As far as predators for the sexy shrimp, i'm not too sure (besides the normal shrimp predators). At my LFS we have four of them in the coral tank with a large cleaner shrimp, a few chromis, and a diamond goby. nobody seems to bother them and they keep to themselves. My guess would be that the female picks the spot for the clowns, the males seem to just be a tag along lol. After my clowns paird the female hosted in my xenia and the male never left her side.

 

[jenjen]

Haven't found a YWG yet, but thanks for the advice. As soon as I find one I'll get him in there. And I'll definitely try some sexy shrimp... they're so fun to watch!

Glad to hear the female clown is the bossy boss... exactly how it should be!

 

[jenjen]

Quick question about feeding a lightly stocked tank with no skimmer, for anyone who has a minute. I only have the 2 clowns and no CUC so far (unless you count the Pistol Shrimp). I feed my other tank frozen and nori, but I think feeding frozen to this tank will add too much to the water. I like to feed twice a day, so need to be able to do this without junking up the water too much.

I just tried the clowns with sinking pellets and they gobbled them up. So I'm thinking pellets twice a day and frozen a couple of times a week. but will this be nutritious enough for them?

While I'm here, quick tank update.

Both the ammonia alert & the test say 0 ammonia today.
No detectable nitrates so far.
Temp is stable at 80 degrees.
I haven't seen the pistol shrimp, but unless the clowns have learned to tunnel under rocks he's still in there somewhere!
The clowns dive for shelter every time they're startled, but hopefully they'll settle down since the tank is in a very active part of the house. They came out of hiding as soon as food appeared, so I stood in front of the tank while they ate and fed them in very small doses - hopefully they'll soon associate people with food.
The tank seems to evaporate less than a gallon a week, so top-offs should be far less painful than I expected.

Any feedback appreciated!

 

[iceman79]

Ok good to hear your clowns will be fine just make sure your pistol is eating you might wanna put some food near its burrow or get a turkey baster and give the shrimp a blast of mysis i had one before and lost it cause i thought it would eat on its own so just look out for that. Your clowns will get warmed up to ya and most gobys will host with your shrimp

 

[jenjen]

Thanks iceman, appreciate the comments!

Does anyone know if pistol shrimp might eat pellets?

 

[sltloser]

I agree with iceman about feeding the pistol shrimp. I don't think that he will eat pellets, your best bet is to lightly spot feed the openings to his tunnels with mysis or brine shrimp. Initially i would feed him every other day or so, but only lightly, untill he gets use to the tank and starts eating the shrimp. IMO pellets aren't a great way to feed fish and they release a lot of N and P, so i would thaw out mysis in tank water and just spot feed the clowns with a syringe or turkey baster (once they get use to it they'll come up to the syringe/baster and eat out of it, or at least that's what all my fish do lol). I use a turkey baster so that i'm able to spot feed my LPS at the same time. (I make my own fish food and coral food, so i try to get a good variety of stuff to them. I use squid, fresh shrimp (from the asian market), krill, mysis, brine, ground up nori, and spirulina enriched brine i then put it all into a blender and blend it up into small chunks so they're not too big for the fish.) Hope this helps! P.S. any progress on the fuge? do u see any pods in the tank?

 

[jenjen]

Good to know about the pellets - I never use them in my other tank unless I run out of frozen, so I'll switch to frozen for this tank as well. I was worried about adding nutrients, but I guess since I rinse the food anyway I shouldn't have to worry as long as I don't overfeed.

No word on the fuge yet. My husband ended up working all weekend, so I never got the tools to put it together. I may get to it through the week, if not then Saturday. Haven't seen any pods yet, but there's a light scattering of diatoms on the sand and rocks. I have seen 2 bristle worms. I haven't bought a CUC for this tank yet and am considering moving a snail or two over from the other tank.

The clowns have definitely taken over the tank - they're zipping in and out and all over the place today. They seem to have a 'base camp' between the two center rocks, and have dug out what looks like a little nest at the base of one of them. Hopefully they're ok when I add the rest of the fish!

I'm starting to think about what corals I want in this tank. For the most part I think I'll stick with 'easy' softies, but I'd like an LPS or two. I'm wanting something that will provide some movement and would be a possible host for the clowns. Suggestions for a couple of corals that would work would be appreciated, keeping in mind I'm running PC lighting.

I did put a small clove polyp frag in a couple of days ago, and it's been open every day. I've got a couple of little zoa frags I think I'll pop in over the next few days as well. Assuming these all settle in ok, I'll look to stock some small softie frags for now and then add some LPS in a couple of months.

 

[iceman79]

Frog spawn fuzzy mushrooms toad stool anything that resembles a anemone will work my clowns love my ducan coral and my BTA they try to host my candy canes also.

 

[sltloser]

Those are all great suggestions iceman, only thing to add would be a hammer coral. Clarkiis are very good at hosting so i think that anything you get they'll host in. Whenever we get them in at the store they dive straight into anything that even looks like an anemone lol. Personally i would try to get a toadstool one of my favorites and they grow very well under PC's. We need more tank shots!

 

[jenjen]

Toadstool... that's a fantastic idea, I like it! That's what I'll put in next.

Seriously you guys think I can do a frogspawn or hammer coral with PC lighting?! Huh, maybe that's why I keep killing them in my other tank... too much light.

Tank shots on their way.

 

[sltloser]

that could be, i think you'll be able to do them as long as they're fairly close to the top. If it shows any sign of deterioration i would just put it into your large tank towards the bottom for additional lighting.

 

[jenjen]

Diatoms... they're pretty exciting when they first start aren't they? Here's day 2:

FTS from just now, pretty much the same as before:

Did you notice the clowns are nowhere to be seen???

Here's where they go to hide. Can you see her? Mr is actually behind/under her:

I'll try not to put my hand in the tank for a bit and maybe I'll manage a FTS with them actually in it.

 

[iceman79]

Clowning around i have a mated pair of tomatos there awesome the female sleeps in my bubbletip since your clowns are still skittish they should host right away they go to the coral for protection and a hiding spot

 

[jenjen]

I'm looking forward to getting something into the tank that the clowns might host with - planning to spend Saturday trolling the LFS's trying to find a toadstool. I'm also going to pick up a bunch of inverts. And I'm on the lookout for a YWG for the now-empty QT tank.

I think I am slowly talking myself out of getting a mandarin. My goal for the tank is to have it be 'low maintenance' and 'worry free', and to only add livestock that can thrive in this system. I'm not sure a mandarin fits this criteria, even with a fuge area in the back of the tank.

So instead I'm thinking, add a blennie and a wrasse. The wrasse will appreciate the pods from the fuge and will add movement in the tank, and I had been toying with the idea of a blennie as the last fish anyway.

So the final stock list would be:

2x clarkii's
YWG
blennie
wrasse
lots of inverts
squamosa clam

And my questions are:

1. anyone have any ideas for interesting blennie & wrasse? I have a sixline & a bi-colour in my large tank so don't want those. And I want 'less prone to jumping' fish as the tank is uncovered
2. could I possibly add a pair of either, rather than a single?

As always, looking forward to everyone's ideas!

 

[sltloser]

well it sounds like everything is going well with the tank . I like the new stock list, i think that a year or more down the road you would be able to add a mandrin with no problems but i would defenetly wait untill the tank is mature. One of my favorite blennies is the midas blenny, they add movement to the tank and have an awsome personality i would for sure look at them. As far as wrasses go, there's such a long list idk where to begin lol. I would take any of the fair wrasses as they are all reef safe and aren't usually agressive towards other fish. A pair of either would be great, they're hard to come by and i'm not too sure how to sex them in all honesty. But if your LFS can help you there that would be awsome. Make sure you don't get too many inverts, i'm guessing you're talking about getting a CUC? If so make sure you only get a few snails becuase without enough algae they'll die in the tank.

 

[jenjen]

I'd like to get a basic CUC, but I really like shrimp and hermits so would like to add a good number of them. I don't mind if I have to feed them. I'm not a huge snail fan, and will only add what the tank needs. Basically if I can feed it rather than rely on algae, I'd like to give it a go in this tank. I love inverts.

I've checked a few of the local sites and it looks like I may have a productive weekend. My priority is a YWG if I can find one as well as a toadstool, but we'll see. Thank goodness I have several empty tanks I can use as holding tanks if need be. And my husband was kind enough to point out that we still have one or two walls that don't have a fish tank on them, so I guess we have space for more tanks if need be!

sltloser - do you have a pic of your 75?

 

[sltloser]

Yep i have a few, i'm currently in hawai'i for college (for one semester). These pictures were sent to me by my mom (All picures exept the fuge are taken w/ a canon D80, the fuge was w/ a digital camera haha). There is one acro in the tank right now, i had a friend hold the rest of my sps and fragile coral while i'm gone so my parents wouldn't kill them :rollface: The brain on the bottom is one that i took from another friend who was having problems keeping it. It's made a great comeback from what it did look like :dance:. Hope you enjoy!

Left side:

Middle:

Right:

Duncan:

Deresa Clam: (if you see the lighter discoloration on the shell, that's about 3-4 months worth of growth, it's probobly a half inch or so)

Fuge: (only picture i have and it's from last year. The cheto has taken over the sump and i have to prune every few weeks, and the date isn't right on the camera lol)

 

[jenjen]

Wow!!! Teriffic looking tank... thanks for sharing! I especially love the clam. Is the red on the middle/right zoanthid? Great colour. I love your rock work - really creative, especially given the amount of front-to-back space in a 75gal. Nice!