What to put in tank

[Sunshine]

I'm going to be transferring my fish from my small tank to the 90 gal. as soon as it cycles. I have 9 Damsels that I'm cycling it with. The only fish I have in the small tank is a Strawberry Pseudochromis with an attitude. The rest are sand diggers, crabs, snails and a Sea Urchin, which I got too close to the other day and he poked me :shock: What can I put in with the Pseudochromis ?
And what do I put in the refugium ? So far, I have a deep sand bed, a rock and chaeto.
Thanks.....

 

[yote]

Its not the Pseudochromis that I'd be worried about.Those damsels are going to be your worst headache.
What direction do you plan to take with your tank? That will determine what fish will work and what wont.

 

[Smitty]

I agree with Yote...I would get rid of the damsels, and if you want some schooling fish, get a bunch of chromis...the pseudochromis is an aggressive fish, but only to fish like him, so most community fish should be ok with him...as far as your refugium, you have the right setup.

 

[Bifferwine]

Damsels will probably kill each other and any other fish. They are by far more aggressive than the pseudochromis. The pseudochromis will be aggressive towards other fish, but rarely towards fish that are bigger than it. Damsels will be mean to EVERYONE, including your cleaner crew and corals.

 

[Sunshine]

Its not the Pseudochromis that I'd be worried about.Those damsels are going to be your worst headache.
What direction do you plan to take with your tank? That will determine what fish will work and what wont.

Right now, it's FOWLR. I'd like to add corals, but I hear they are really hard to keep. So, I'll stick to the fish only for now. Might get brave later on .

I've heard about the damsels from reading the forums. I tried to get green chromis, but they didn't have enough. I'll see if I can take them back to the place I bought them when the tank is done cycling.

I seen a Long Horned Cow.....he was so cute, but when I read up on it, my tanks not big enough. That's why I need some help deciding on what will be a good choice. I've had that pseudochromis for over a year now, don't want anything that will fight with him.

Thanks.....

 

[JAG107]

The cow will get really big.
I also think you should get those DAMNsels out as soon as you can! NINE? j/k
The sooner you get them out, the better because once you add more live rock, inverts, corals down the line, etc, it will be that much tougher to catch them all.
Find yourself a cool wrasse or blenny or something once the damsels are 86'd, IMO.

 

[Sunshine]

The cow will get really big.
I also think you should get those DAMNsels out as soon as you can! NINE? j/k
The sooner you get them out, the better because once you add more live rock, inverts, corals down the line, etc, it will be that much tougher to catch them all.
Find yourself a cool wrasse or blenny or something once the damsels are 86'd, IMO.

Yes.....9 lol It's a 90 gallon tank, the guy at the fish store said one for every 10 gallons. I only have a few rocks in it now. I was hoping it would cycle fast. I used the rocks out of my other tank. I bought more rocks, I put them in the established tank. I just keep switching them out. I buy a few new rocks every week or so till I get enough for the big tank. They are pricey here. $6.99 a pound. We only have 2 places that sell Saltwater stuff here.
I'll check out the blenny's and Wrasses. Thanks...

 

[yote]

Jags right.
Go ahead and pull those damsels.You dont need them to cycle with anyhow.They've already got enough crap in the water to cycle the tank,and if not,you can always add a pinch of your favorite fish food to cycle with.

 

[yote]

Yes.....9 lol It's a 90 gallon tank, the guy at the fish store said one for every 10 gallons.

I hate to be the one to say it,but you got took.You can effectively cycle a 90 gallon tank (or any tank for that matter) with just one pinch of fish food or even a piece of raw table shrimp.
You can also cycle the tank by just adding live rock.With enough live rock and some luck,you can actually skip the cycle as long as you stock slow.

You might want to look at the dwarf angels too.The coral beauty and the flame angel are both great fish.Of course if you decide to go reef later on,they'll have a 50/50 shot being safe with the corals.

 

[Sunshine]

hmmm, think they seen me coming........lol He also said 2 different fish of the same color will fight. Is that true ? I have a Yellow Watchman Goby, I seen a Canary Blenny that looks cool.

It's been a week. No ammonia spike yet. After the ammonia and nitrate spike and go back to 0, then it's safe to put my fish in ? I'm getting anxious.

 

[JAG107]

Yes, if you have ANY plans on having any fleshy corals, I'd avoid the pygmy angels altogether. Take it from me, I have a demon bicolor angel that I am having extreme difficulty removing without completely taking the tank down. They are very shy and in my case, nip at a lot of expensive stuff!

 

[yote]

hmmm, think they seen me coming........lol He also said 2 different fish of the same color will fight. Is that true ? I have a Yellow Watchman Goby, I seen a Canary Blenny that looks cool.

It's been a week. No ammonia spike yet. After the ammonia and nitrate spike and go back to 0, then it's safe to put my fish in ? I'm getting anxious.

How much live rock have you added so far?
And once the ammonia and nitrites spike and zero back out,THEN its time for one or 2 hardy fish.Even though damsels are little buttheads,its cruel to use them to cycle a tank.The ammonia burns their gills and stresses them,which just makes them meaner.

You can have fish that are the same color.Certian fish you can have 2 or 3 of.But your watchman and the canary blenny should get along fine since there 2 different types of fish.

 

[Sunshine]

What is the best thing to feed the fish ? Right now, I feed them flakes, Spectrum (looks like coffee grounds) , frozen shrimp and seaweed sheets. I alternate.

 

[Sunshine]

How much live rock have you added so far?
And once the ammonia and nitrites spike and zero back out,THEN its time for one or 2 hardy fish.Even though damsels are little buttheads,its cruel to use them to cycle a tank.The ammonia burns their gills and stresses them,which just makes them meaner.

You can have fish that are the same color.Certian fish you can have 2 or 3 of.But your watchman and the canary blenny should get along fine since there 2 different types of fish.

I have roughly 20 pounds so far. And most of it came from my established tank.

Sorry, I didn't know you could cycle without fish.

 

[JAG107]

The seaweed sheets are mostly for veggie-loving fish like tangs.
The stuff you're feeding is fine, just be careful with the flakes and pellets, if you feed too much, you'll have major pollution (read: future algae) issues.

 

[yote]

Like Jag said.Be careful with the pellets and flakes.They contain ash which is basically just a type of phosphates.Once you use those up,you might think about switching to frozen mysis,emerald entree,and other frozen foods.

A lot of people dont know you can cycle with stuff other than fish.A lot of LFSs will tell you that you've got to have live fish to cycle with.But their after your money.

 

[WarmSoda]

I have roughly 20 pounds so far. And most of it came from my established tank.

Sorry, I didn't know you could cycle without fish.

Your probable gonna need about 80-100 extra pounds of it. I your talking about a 90 gallon tank and you have only 20 in it now (that's what I gathered)

To cycle a tank, all you need is something to start the nitrogen cycle, is all. Usually organic waste, which happens to be produced by fish (in your case, your damsels) OR any dissolved organic material (i.e. food). But why go and waste money on fish when you can kill two birds with one stone and start the cycle with Live Rock? (some of the living micro-organisms on the rock die off when transferred and create organic waste, thus starting the nitrogen cycle)

 

[Sunshine]

Like Jag said.Be careful with the pellets and flakes.They contain ash which is basically just a type of phosphates.Once you use those up,you might think about switching to frozen mysis,emerald entree,and other frozen foods.

A lot of people dont know you can cycle with stuff other than fish.A lot of LFSs will tell you that you've got to have live fish to cycle with.But their after your money.

I'll look into the frozen food the next time I go to the LFS. Thanks.....
After I put the first 2 fish in, how long before adding 2 more ? And what about the snails and crabs, when can they go in ?

 

[yote]

The general rule of thumb is 1 to 2 fish every 3 or 4 weeks.That gives the bacteria time to catch up with the bio-load before adding more.
As soon as the cycles done,you can start adding your clean up crew.I like to start with 4 or 5 snails as I see algae starting to grow.Of course you can add hermits along with the snails.You want just enough to keep up with the algae growth.Too few and they cant keep up,too many and some starve to death.

 

[Sunshine]

The general rule of thumb is 1 to 2 fish every 3 or 4 weeks.That gives the bacteria time to catch up with the bio-load before adding more.
As soon as the cycles done,you can start adding your clean up crew.I like to start with 4 or 5 snails as I see algae starting to grow.Of course you can add hermits along with the snails.You want just enough to keep up with the algae growth.Too few and they cant keep up,too many and some starve to death.

Good thing I don't have a lot of fish, that would take all summer !! Ha Ha
I'm not sure how may snails I have left, or crabs for that matter. I had a Chocolate Chip Starfish, She devoured my turbo snails. And I seen my small snail's shells laying on the sand empty. The Starfish died recently. So, I just have my pseudochromis, watchman goby, Blenny sand digger, Sea Urchin and my little Mandarin. He's a cutie.