I have finally added almost all the rock I plan on adding to our 75 Gallon tank. The A and Nitrite have been steady at 0 for over a week now and the nitrates are down to 10 after a 20% water change. I think it's finally ready for some fish! Anyway, the question is, Is it ready for fish? I am removing the damsel on lunch today ( if I can catch him ) and was wondering where the best place to get livestock is, and what order to get them. We are planning on getting the following list, and if any of these are incompatible, let me know so I can change it. Pair of Gold Banded Maroon Clowns http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=107 Convict Tang http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=737 Flame Angel http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=444 Mandarin Dragonet http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=551 ( I know I can't add this one right away due to the pod population not being high enough ) Kaudern's Cardinal http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... catid=2672 Firefish http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=168 ( probably a pair ) There are some in particular I was wondering about, such as the mandarin, I didn't know if it would make a difference that it was peaceful since it will be on the bottom of the tank and the rest are at a little higher elevation. Thanks in advance for the feedback!
I am a big fan of supporting your LFS. While I have purchased coral online its only ever by the WYSIWYG way and I will always buy my fish from the local store. They can order anything I want when it is available and they can hold it for a week or so in their tanks to make sure it is okay and eating before I bring it home. Hence I dont have to quarantine it.
I know Maroon Clowns can be aggressive, some Flame Angelfish can be a bit too. Mandarin Dragonet seldom make it in new tanks, they are difficult in any tank. I am a big fan... of only adding one or two fish a month & let the tank mature - catch up with the bio-load. Going slow is never wrong, I have seen lots of people add fish quickly & then watch them die or get stressed & sick. Highly recommend this reading this post: The Mature Aquarium http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fis ... arium.html Good Luck - my best advise - go slow when it comes to adding fish !
I have heard and read that the Maroon Clowns were aggressive... was hoping with the mix of mostly aggressive and semi-aggressive or fish that are larger, or occupy a different space in the tank, it wouldn't be too big of a problem. I don't plan on adding them all at once, and the Dragonet will most likely be close to a year down the road, I was just curious as to what order would be the best to add them to avoid conflict. And also to see if there were any that were a definite no-no. Thanks for the replies!
Why would you remove your Damsel? If you used him to cycle your tank and he survived, I think he deserves to stay. I have the same Damsel in your picture in my 30 gal and he has never hurt anything and they are very pretty.
75 gal is big for 1 Damsel. My Damsel does have a rock he protects. If you have several of them maybe your LFS will give you a credit for them. Good luck catching them without knocking over all your rock
i actually had to move a lot of the rock to catch him. It was quite interesting, i would move the rock, some of it has holes drilled for aqua-scaping, he would follow the hole as I moved the rock! But I did catch him and Pet Country gave me a 3.99 credit for him ( thanks to wlyon for the help ). Hoping to add the first real residents in the next week or so!
My first question is will you be putting an anemone in with the clowns if so they need to be last, as your tank needs to be aged for the anemone. These clowns are IMO the most agressive of all clowns. The flame angel will sometimes pick at certain corals like leathers but not to bad if they even do. The convict tang will most likely be the top dog in the tank do to the fact that it will get larger than the others, I would add him more towards the last of the fish added. The mandarin dragonets needs a lot of pods and no fish picking on them as that will make them hide most of the time, I would watch the tank for the first six months and see what kind of population of the pods you have, you will be able to see them at night crawling all over the rocks.The fire fish is a very peaceful fish and a great fish to start with as well as the cardinal, You may want to get about six or so of the fire fish as they will look really cool in a small school. Hope this info helps some.
Definitely helped! Thanks! I don't have the cash for lights yet so the anemone will have to be added later, but I got a really good deal on a pair of Maroon Clowns ( $45 for the pair and the female is close to 5" maybe even 6"! pics coming soon ) so they went in first. Unfortunately I will probably have to take them out later to add more fish, because they are without a doubt aggressive. I think NSA has some 30 gallon tanks for a really good price so I might try to get one of them as a larger QT than the 10 I have now. It just really isn't big enough for anything! And now I have another question, will taking out the maroon clowns and putting them in a QT for a week or two when I add new fish work to get them to accept tank mates? Just a fleeting idea, thought I'd ask the experts
A 5 or 6" Maroon is going to pretty much rule that tank, you will be shocked at how large a fish it will attack or fend off. Any new smaller fish will pretty much be toast. Taking them out to put in the QT might help for a bit but as soon as they get their bearings back all bets are off. But with that said fish are alot like people they all have their own personalities. I have seem some fish that are supposedly timid that are the tank terror so you never know but with maroons the deck is stacked against you.
