im pretty new at saltwater too. the fish i started with were damsels, that way if you cant keep fish healthy yet, you dont burn yourself by losing an expensive fish. damsels a relatively cheap and i like mine. if you can keep damsels for a couple months, then you can prolly keep most fish, but research them first. main thing in this hobby and research is endless. example, i bought a green manderine cause it was awesome looking and colorful. had to give it away because it eats only copepods and my tanks population was decimated and he started to starve, but is fine now in a friends tank. learning is endless as well.
Yeah there is some cool looking damsels out there but I read they get pretty territorial and sometimes beat on other fish to much. So Im thinking about starting with a couple green chromis because they are recommended to be more mellow. I definitely wanna get a green mandarin when I think my tank is ready too.
Yeah there is unbelievably so much info out there i spend over an hour a day just reading and learning I think that's a pretty cool part of this hobby .
Here's a pic of my xenia. It finally seems more active and the snails and hermits are doing work on the algae which I still think is pretty bad. We hope to be picking out a couple fish within the next week or two if all stays well. I know the pics pretty bad didn't feel like running to the car to grab the camera. The impending doom of weekend over feeling is sinking in.
hey pat...ive only been doing this for about 6 months now....but if i can do it you can do it. What a wonderful hobby having a part of the earths underwater ecosystem right in your own home! It truly is something amazing especially when you get all your critters from bacteria, algae, plankton, all the way up to coral and fish and invertebrates all cooperating with each other. If you do it slow and if you have a little direction ask a lot of questions youll be fine. i am really blessed to have a friend who has carefully helped me not get in over my head and lose a bunch of expensive stuff right from the get go...i need to listen to him more...but what we do is inch out on our own a little...maybe lose a thing or two...learn from it and move on. Zoos are pretty easy to start with and can be very colorful. one of the happy accidents i had when i started out was purchasing a very large hairy mushroom...i mean its big...the size of a grapefruit...well he cleans the water real good...which helped me out when i bought a mandarin dragon too soon and my copepods werent even there yet....hey i didnt know...anyways as unorthodox as it may seem. i began to overfeed which is common when you start out...but guess what...the mysis would fall to the bottom and the mandarin would eat it....did he like it ? not as much as copepods but he soon realized that this is his primary food...he comes out and eats this stuff regularly...i overfeed just for him....the hairy mushroom and the 16 snails and a couple crabs and shrimp eat the rest....sounds kinda crazy...and like i said earlier unorthodox but it works. i think what you might want to consider is this...there is always a natural solution to a problem in your reef...if you make a mistake you can remedy it...it might not be the way that others would do it...but it can work for you....its a balancing act and your the ring master....find someone who has been doing this for years and listen up.
dont be afraid to ask questions on the forum theres a lot of friendly people out here.
jim
Thanks for all the info and advice. Its pretty cool to hear someone that's almost as new as I am doing well. We picked the xenia because it was recommended as easy but Zoas are what I realy want to try the colors are crazy I just thought they where difficult because of how they look. Did you say the help filter the tank some too?
Thanks for all the info and advice. Its pretty cool to hear someone that's almost as new as I am doing well. We picked the xenia because it was recommended as easy but Zoas are what I realy want to try the colors are crazy I just thought they where difficult because of how they look. Did you say the help filter the tank some too?
my zoas r doing fine....they seem to be growing very very slow in my tank...could be lighting....could be i have a super large hairy mushroom sucking in almost all of the nutrients in the tank...they could just be slow growers...allthough i have a couple that are growing quicker than the rest....then some of them dont seem to show any signs of growth....thats not to say that they are dieing....they look real good...i think it could be a combination of things....my inexperience...i dont use a heater...when they go bad they usually heat completely up dont want to come home and have everything fried, will probably need it in the winter....so my temps swing....ive got a lot of zoas packed in there...some say there refusing to grow because of the crampedness....understand this ...what i learned is this is not an exact science or anything even near it. what works in one persons tank just doest seem to work in another tank.....kinda strange. but there a lot of variables....water parameters, lighting , temp, room to grow, competition for nutrients, critters climbing all over my zoas, i cant put my finger on it but its prob a combination....youknow...its kinda allright that my zoa colonies arent growing profusely...i dont have enough room....and then what?
there is a balance and you will find it with patience
remember this ;
Your corals put no load on the tank as far as organic waste...they filter it out of the water
Your fish feed the coral organic waste
Your bacteria in your filter helps in decomposition so dont think it must be kept perfectly clean
Everyone uses protein skimmers ...i have a dinky one in the back of my tank...works half the time
some people say just keep up on frequent water changes, i do 4 gal per my 28gal cube biweekly
Have an excellent clean up crew....i have 16 large snails (astrea snails over mexican turbos)
hermit crabs, peppermint shrimp im told they help to keep aptasia down, n i got a couple of blood shrimp
i have a sally lightfoot crab hes a meat eater...so the fish better beware...n they are. and another filter feeder
crab always scooping nutrients out of the water. these critters consume a dead fish or shrimp overnight and i
believe thats good....no rotting carcases....
Rocks are your filtering friends
Close the window curtains by your tank to slow algae growth
Algae needs sunlight to grow....but 99.9 percent of your critters do too. fight the urge to kill your algae by
blocking off sunlight for any length of time...i tarped my tank for 24 hours...it wasted the algae...but who
knows what i did to the the critters...(i didnt know at the time that they have zooplankton in there bodies
that help feed the critter that require light) if you have an algae bloom get mexican turbo snails fast.
Get advice before buying a mandarin dragonette...i didnt and had problems....problem solved now..
I got lucky He eats mysis shrimp readily but his Real Dinner is Copepods (i had to overfeed with mysis so that
i could get some down to him...slowed the water current so he could slowly peck at it. its unorthodox but i
overfeed a little so he gets fed the other clean up crew gets the rest... but overfeeding can cause problems too.
my tank is balanced pretty good so i dont get high ph swings...nor algae blooms. i think it is because of plenty
of filter feeders, snails, and meat eaters. but thats a guess.....but if you really want the truth hahahha God is
pulling for this inept old fool who thinks he knows what hes doing....the critters pray daily.....lol
theres really plenty of stuff to learn....lots of googleing ....ask questions...but its not overwhelming.
introduce your critters not all at once....and read up on your animals before buying...
hey im a newbie too,,,these pros on here would take a look at what im doing and say wht in the world are
you doing....but its my turn to make my mistakes.
have fun !
p.s. i really need to get these glued to my coral i know that would help...
Hey Pat, I'm not really sure why they told you xenia is a good starter coral. In my experience it's far from it. I have grown alot of different things in my tank but for some unknown reason xenia dies. I've had 4 different frags trying to get it going but it never will. Supposedly, if it lives, there really isn't much maintenance with them, just feed the tank coral food two or 3 times a week. You may have to add iodine to the tank though. The crabs and such are good for the cycle of the tank and to clean up debris. Probably a better choice for starter coral would have been a hardy mushroom or kenya tree. If you're ever back towards auburn hills just stop in and I'll bag you up some. I hope the Xenia does well but if it doesn't, don't get discouraged. As far as the fish go, if your Ammonia is 0 you get that girl some fish! and your T5's are fine for a nem, put him on a rock or something a little elevated in your tank for now and feed him a thawed shrimp or krill once or twice a week. You need to dechlorinate your tap water but other than that there isn't really anything else that you NEED right now other than fish and food. I could build a big WANT list for you though.
Hey Pat, I'm not really sure why they told you xenia is a good starter coral. In my experience it's far from it. I have grown alot of different things in my tank but for some unknown reason xenia dies. I've had 4 different frags trying to get it going but it never will. Supposedly, if it lives, there really isn't much maintenance with them, just feed the tank coral food two or 3 times a week. You may have to add iodine to the tank though. The crabs and such are good for the cycle of the tank and to clean up debris. Probably a better choice for starter coral would have been a hardy mushroom or kenya tree. If you're ever back towards auburn hills just stop in and I'll bag you up some. I hope the Xenia does well but if it doesn't, don't get discouraged. As far as the fish go, if your Ammonia is 0 you get that girl some fish! and your T5's are fine for a nem, put him on a rock or something a little elevated in your tank for now and feed him a thawed shrimp or krill once or twice a week. You need to dechlorinate your tap water but other than that there isn't really anything else that you NEED right now other than fish and food. I could build a big WANT list for you though.
Thanks Scott, Yeah the ammonia is at 0 and has been for almost two weeks now, lol she read that while I was at the college so we will probably come home with a fish or two this weekend lol. Im not sure what I want to get yet but my wish list for fish is- some type of clowns but all the types I like are very expensive so im gonna look for a good deal on them and I read you want to establish the nems before you put the clowns in so we may wait for them for that reason on them and forsure get a nem this weekend, I like both varieties of cardinals that I have seen, also like yellow tangs still have more research to do on them, some of the angels that stay smaller like the flames but I have read that they are not to hardy, and lastly my girl loves chromis along with clowns so we will pry check them out and maybe some other cool damsels too. Dont plan on taking a lot of fish home soon just one or two. Coral wise I really like a lot of zoas I want to check them out. Equipment i will eather be getting the hob reef octopus skimmer or try and figure how to make a overflow bow sump fuge which I would like to do but not sure how, also wanna look into a top of the line heater because we are living in the basement for free till schools done and look into some type of generator because I dont wanna spend all this money to loose it. Lol man thats a lot to look at the possibilities are a very cool part of this hobby.