Putter's first tank

[Doc]

you have a lot to look forward to. I am excited to see what you end up with. your tank can support a yellow tang or regal tang easily. if you got both, that would eat up too much space and you would not have room for other fish. you already have great yellow with the foxface.

fairy wrasses are beautiful and would look great in your tank. I think gobys are overrated, but anthias are popular now, bicolor anthias are wonderful and three would look great in your tank. neon dottybacks are great fish as well. start researching what you want now so you can add with confidence. nothing is worse that having a full tank and realizing there is the defining fish for your tank that you cannot add. good luck

-Doc

 

[putter]

Have been looking at fish since I added the water to the tank...just can't make up my mind...thanks for the suggestions, I have looked at the fish you suggest but I am still undecieded. I will try to do it one step at a time and look at the next purchase in a week. If I wait a week then order, so 10 days, put the fish in QT for a week, then add to the main tank, in the mean time order the next fishes....to arrive about the time the next one leaves the QT tank.....so much to consider LOL. What do you think of the green blue chromis doc? would you go with a school type anthias instead?

 

[Bifferwine]

Chromis are super hardy and nice looking. For a new tank, I'd pick a school of chromis over a school of anthias any day. Anthias are challenging and don't usually do well in new tanks.

The food you have will be fine for the fish you have. Clowns won't eat seaweed sheets, and the foxface will be fine with the algae in your tank and mysis too. You can start rotating in different types of foods eventually, but it's not urgent.

 

[fatman]

As far as your refugium. The algae you have will attach itself to almost anything such as gravel rocks or cracks and projections. Its an easy to grow algae but can dump a lot of dissolved organics if you have some die off. Even free floating the algae is OK. Lots of opinions about mud, fine sand, deep sand, shallow substrates. Myself I like fine and medium sand mixed in a deep bed. Mud can be in a thinner bed than fine sand and both should have worms and other stirrer type invertebrates/wrasses.

 

[reeffreak]

I've seen minnows that look better than Chromis.If you want a shoal then I would wait a little longer for your tank to mature.Then get a group of one male bartlett and two or more females.Lyretails anthias are pretty too and I find both of those anthias as hardy as Chromis.I've also heard small shoals of chromis usually finish each other off til there is only 2-3 left.

 

[putter]

Well the bartletts are a pretty fish indeed, I have discovered over the past few weeks that I am going to need a bigger tank :( if all I can get is about 21" of fish, I am going to run out of room QUICK!!!

 

[bobby]

You got good advice on the fish. You got any pics of them? BTW great job on the light. It looks awsome.

 

[LionFish]

Very nice.
Im loving what you did on the light.

 

[reeffreak]

Bartletts stays pretty small,about 3'' max.Three would only put you at 9'' so there's still plenty of room for other fish.Save enough room for at least one of the smaller tangs.What reef would be complete without one of them.One of the Kole,Tomini or better yet a Purple tang.

 

[putter]

Problem.....the foxface was stuck to the power head this morning, not sure how long he had been there but there he was...unpluged the power head, he floated around for a bit....swam near the surface over the power head, seemed to rest there a bit then slowly swam down behind the rocks...have not seen hide nor hair of him since....think he is dead? If he is, do I need to tear down the tank to find and remove him?

 

[putter]

The purple tang is a nice looking fish, and looking at the bartletts they look nice as well. Going to be hard to choose, thanks again for the suggestions, I have some direction to look now. Thanks as well for the kind words on the light, so far I am having no problems with the setup at all.

 

[reeffreak]

Yeah,remove the foxface if it dies.Its going to cause a massive ammonia spike if its body is allow to rot.Fish usually don't get stuck to a powerhead unless it was sick prior.Sorry,I hope he/she pulls through but it doesn't sound good.

 

[Doc]

that situation has always ended in death for my fish in my tanks. Sorry, I hope yours is different.

As for a school is fish, go with anthias, just wait a bit for them, about 6 months, and add them all at the same time. it is a bit of a wait, but SO worth it. get two or three fish now, then focus on getting all the corals you want and then, add the final showpiece fish.

purple tangs are pretty, but can get really territorial. I tried one and it killed three of my prize fish, a regal tang, radiata lionfish, and my blue angelfish. I personally will never own one again. Look at the atlantic blue tang as a possibility, beautiful fish. my LFS has a huge one for $60 right now

-Doc

 

[putter]

R.I.P.

and on a good note....

and just an update pic of the brains of the tank

 

[putter]

When adding fish to a tank, should I be leaving the power heads off for the first while? I am thinking not, but wanted to be sure. Also got this stuff...umm coral frenzy for the brains, hoping they would like it, has any one tried this stuff? Nemo is a cool fish, always darting back and forth, is easy to tell he is tank raised tho, as soon as I go near the tank he is following my moves, and if I open the tank up he is right there waiting for food!

 

[Doc]

leave your powerhead on. it won't do any harm. there was that one time I added a tiny 3-striped damsel that got too close to the overflow box and "zip" went inside, down the tubing and into the sump filter socks so fast I could not believe it. DOA. kinda funny now that I look at it. You won't have that problem tho.

Sorry about your foxface, they are such cool fish. I have been looking at one myself.

Your brains are looking great. I have never heard of that coral food before. I like liquid plankton and cyclopeeze for my corals.

-Doc

 

[reeffreak]

I have some coral frenzy,good stuff but I don't use it for brain corals.Its easier to feed them krill/mysis then using that small powder for them.I think they prefer larger foods but mine will eat it regardless of size.Great for fine feeders like goniopora and alveopora though.

Sad,sad,sad.Your foxface can meet my Bifferwine(Naso) in heaven.

 

[putter]

The fish store is going to replace the foxface, just have to wait until next week when he has more stock in, so next week I am looking at, a friend for nemo...nemo 2 I guess, a foxface and a couple emerald crabs. Going to have to research and purchase a cleaner or 20 for green slime algae. The fish I get from here in will spend at least a week in the QT tank! Going to do another water change on Sunday, just a small one so I have some of the water from the main tank for the QT I have some small chunks of rock in the sump now and more LS for the QT. I hope it is enough to avoid a cycle altogether.

 

[putter]

Oh and still no feeder tentacles on the brains...how long can they go with out food?

 

[bobby]

Sorry to hear it. Better luck with the next one.