penance

I've been bitten by the salt water fever I met one of my SO's friends last night and it wasn't until he was leaving that I learned that he had, had a salt water tank and I was O.O really?! "You must teach me" I said to him and now this morning I woke wanting a salt water tank more than ever but still I'm concerned of the work involved.

I want to convert my 29g for salt water but I'm not sure on how to stock it. The fish and inverts I would like to have but won't dare to buy until my tank is cycled is the clownfish in a pair (ocellaris) and the skunk cleaner shrimp in a pair. Since the clownfish live in the anemone, can I do anemone, coral and live rock?

What other fish or inverts would I be able to stock? I do not want to upgrade to a bigger tank as I already have my hands full, so small fish please apply

As well for a 29g how many pounds of sand would I need? Is there a limit on how much coral I would be able to place?

Thanks a bunch

au01st

Welcome to the world of saltwater. In a 29 gallon a pair of ocellaris clowns will do great. Anemones require mature tanks, pristine water, intense lighting, and are generally not recommended for beginners. The best thing to do is to look through the saltwater section on the right side of the homepage here: http://www.fishlore.com/. Decide what fish you like and come back here with a few choices that we can help you narrow down. With a pair of clownfish, you'll likely only be able to have 2 more fish, 3 more max. Some popular choices are firefish, grammas, dottybacks, cardinals, damsels, and gobies. Most of these fish will stay in the 3-4" range and come in a variety of colors.

For inverts you're going to want a variety of snails, crabs, and shrimp. For snails: nassarius, nerite, cerith, astrea, and turbo. Crabs: blue leg hermits, scarlet reef hermits, sally lightfoots, and emeralds. Each of them has their advantages and drawbacks. Finally for shrimp: peppermints for aiptasia control, skunk cleaners, coral banded, and fire.

Live rock is necessary for its biological filtering abilities. It can run from $2 a pound to $10 a pound depending on the coraline algae growth, shape, size, etc. Keep an eye on Craigslist for someone taking down a tank and selling rock for cheap.

What are your plans for the tank. What kind of coral do you want to keep? That will help decide what kind of lighting you will need.

The biggest thing you can do is research. Read, read, and read some more.

penance

Thanks for the quick response - I'm actually thinking of buying this person's nano cube tank from craigslist since it's already completely stocked and after my 29g is already cycled I can transfer one to the other.

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/hsh/1120197379.html

Does this sound like a good tank?

au01st

Looks like a really good deal.

penance

aww she wrote back that she didn't want to sell it anymore looks like I'll have to start from scratch

penance

I found another 20g tank already set up that I'm going to go and view tonight So I have a few more questions

What is the best and safe way to transport salt water fish?

There is a 1 clownfish already, if I were to add another one would they pair? or would the first one show aggression?

Thanks

au01st

First, I would kindly remind her to delete her listing since she's not interested in selling now. Transport fish in a bag and in a cooler. Does the current tank have a sand bottom? If so, you'll want to take care not to disturb it too much or you'll want to replace the sand.

What species clown does it currently have? You can add another but make sure the new fish is smaller than the current fish. The bigger one may pick on the new fish, but they'll establish a pecking order and be alright.

Transport the fish in a plastic bag in a cooler.

penance

It has an ocellaris clownfish ... if I disturb the current sand what will happen?

If I move the tank as it is without the fish of course and when I get home will all I have to do is plug everything back in and it'll be ready to go again?

This is the new listing that I'm interested in

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac...139859932.html

Matt

Welcome To The Salty Side Of Life!

Occelaris clownfish are great and are very entertaining and not trying to give you any ideas but they are fairly easy to breed aswell

-Matt

au01st

Ok, that looks like a good setup. First things I would do is find a local store who could take in the damsel and mandarin. Damsels are mean and mandarins don't belong in nanos unless they're specifically set up and have an established copepod/amphipod population; they require a little extra TLC to survive in the home aquarium.

Clownfish may be easy to pair up, but by no means are they easy to breed or raise livestock. Specific rearing tanks must be set up as well as a food source (green water and rotifers). IF you get clownfish to spawn, I wouldn't even bother trying to raise the fry, just let some other critter in the tank have a snack. The clowns may also instinctively eat the eggs if they sense that the environment is not right.

I would honestly replace the sandbed if I moved a tank. You risk disturbing the bacteria in the sand if you stir it up too much, and you could get a bag of sand for $20, cheaper than replacing the fish (you may use the store credit for the mandarin and goby to finance that).

penance

So I went to go and see this tank and ended up talking to this guy for an hour and a half, I love talking about fish He's selling his aquarium because he's moving to Rhode Island. I'm really torn between buying it or not, hmmm.... as I agree with au01st the mandarin goby kept by himself, I know nothing on the care of it and I would rather start off with an easy going fish, the domino damsel I would be trading in as well because he is a big bully he kept chasing the blue damsel and invading the clownfish's territory. The blue damsel was so scared and kept hiding but if I got rid of the domino damsel I would also have to get rid of the blue damsel because I suspect that he would be the next to be aggressive and I want only a community tank.

He had a lone pistol shrimp that was also a bully and he was stuck hiding in the rocks lol, I saw a snail climbing the rock and suddenly it got knocked off and landed at the bottom and we suspect that the pistol shrimp had knocked it off lol - I would as well get rid of the pistol shrimp if I can't find the shrimp that pairs with it. The live rock was in good condition, the anemone looked scary lol I'd never seen one so upclose before where I could actually touch it. He had the anemone with the long stringy tentacles, I'm looking more to get a pink pulsating xenia

His tank was very mickey moused (broken & fixed up) and I keep thinking that with the livestock incompatibility I might as well start fresh with my 29 gallon. The whole reason I wanted to go with an established tank was because I wouldn't be starting anew but in this case I would be.

He was still asking $400 and I think that it'll cost me more to fix it and then enjoy it instead of enjoying it right away. I'll pass to pass on this tank