Am I Ready And If I Am Wat Should I Get?

[petey Z]

alright so ive had the tank running for 6 weeks with live rock and live sand. And 3 of those weeks with hermits, snails, crabs and shrimp. Ive had 3 deaths in the tank. 2 scarlets and 1 blue legged, but everything else seems to be going fine. I checked the ammonia and it was .10. I got about 18 snails, 20 hermits, 1 porcelain crab and 1 peppermint shrimp. Theres plenty of coraline algea growing on the rocks and ive started to see a lot of feather dusters. Do u think im ready to add fish and or corals?? And if so wat are some good begginers fish? Id love to have a dwarf angel. If not wat is my next move?
its a 38 gal

thanks
pete

 

[Navarre]

First of all are you sure that the dead hermits really were dead? WHen introduced to new tanks and at regualr intervals afterwards, crabs, shrimps and hermits will shed their skins to allow them to grow. THeir left off casts look like you have a dead creatures but it is in reality just dead skin.

As for your first fish/coral... zooanthids are a great beginners coral and very hardy, pulsing xenia is another good starter but be careful as it can overrun a tank. leather mushrooms and soft mushroom polyps are all great beginners corals so i would start here.
As for fish I would recomend the angel last as they can get territorial. The same applies to small wrasses, they are both beautiful fish to have in your system but leave them to the end of your wish list. How about a pair of common clowns? Royal gramma (they can seem a bit aggressive but its usually all show and are mostly very shy). Bi colour blenny.. lots of character, fire fish... be wary to keep the tank covered as they are prone to jumping but they are stunning fish.
Keep clear of mandarins as they are one of the first beginner mistakes. They need large well established tanks to sustain their diets.

 

[crazyelece]

If you have a readable ammonia level I wouldn't add anything just yet. Once you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites then it is time to add.

As far as first fish I would agree that a pair of perc or false perc clowns would be a good option if that is where your interests lie. It maybe easier if you tell us what fish interest you and we could tell you if they would work together, at all, and in what order would be good to add them.

 

[petey Z]

i kno my shrimp has shed it skin, but for the crabs, im almost sure a couple were dead because it looked exactly like the hermit crab body, but maybe a couple were skins.
As for fish, how are green chromis ??? any good ??
im thinkin about any hawfish
def dwarf angel, but those last
jawfish
neon gobies
cardinals
any sand sifting goby
six line wrasse
those are just some ideas, probly just like 2 or 3 of those
thanks

 

[crazyelece]

green chromis would be cool, but they are a schooloing fish so you need to add them in groups. I particularly like them in a reef setting because at night they all go off to their little spots to sleep and in the morning one will go around and find the others to get the school up and running for the day. Not the neatest coloring but they are cool to watch. I would think a group of three or four would work as they stay fairly small. I think 1-2 inches max. If you wanted them they would be a good first choice as they are very docile. You want to add the most aggressive fish last to ease the tension in the tank.

 

[petey Z]

alright cool, wouldnt that be alittle bit to much for a 38 gal tank??
like a shoal of 3-4? maybe not

 

[bunjiweb]

Of the fish you have mentioned you could have something along the lines of...

3 Chromis,
1 Dwarf Angel,
3-4 Neon Gobies,
A Blue Cheek Goby,
Six-Line Wrasse.

And have space for some nice inverts aswell.

I would add the goby first, then chromis, neon gobies, angel, and the wrasse last.

Ben

 

[Navarre]

4 should be ok. They will also occupy the highr water level of hte tank so when the tank is fully stocked with other fish you should get a nice spread of display fish at all parts of the tank.

 

[petey Z]

ok so would this work
im gonna go with bangaii cardinals in stead of green chromis

2 Bangaii
1 Dwarf angel
1 Six line Wrasse
1 blue cheek goby or a watchman goby but if i could, can i get a catalina goby like maybe 2 of those
or like 2 catalina and one blue cheek?

and how about a yellow headed jawfish, i would def substitute any of the gobies for one of these, i realllllllly like them

lemme kno thanks everyone

pete

 

[bunjiweb]

You could have a jawfish, you just need to have a deep sand bed for it to burrow into, at least a couple of inches. If you do this you may need to fit a heater cable to the gravel to keep convection currents going through the gravel otherwise you may get dead spots.

Ben

 

[petey Z]

i have a good 2.5 inches of substrate maybe 3 in some areas