My Second Venture Into The Salty Side :)

[Truck]

Hi just been to the new maidenhead down the road and got chatting to the bloke...1 hour later, an empty wallet and some bits and bobs, im deffo going marine with my rio 125.

heres what i bought
hagen glo 2*24 watt HO T5 starter
hagen glo 24 watt tubes 6700k *2

lol not much but not bad for £80 so that leaves me with

2*28watts of T5 and 2*24 watts of HOT5 so 104 watts of T5

what corals would be suited to this light?

as for fish ive drawn up a rough list
2*common clowns (definite)
and 2 or 3 of the following

bangaii cardinal fish
purple firefish
flame hawkfish (personal fave)
blue mandarin (another favourite but would be added a year after the tank has been setup)
Banana wrasse (reef safe?)
dwarf angels (would they pick on corals?)
pajama cardinal fish
hub bug damsel (the black and white one...lol?)

and for CUC
1 skunk shrimp
4-6 astrea/turbo snails
4-6 electric blue hermits or maybe a mix of a few different ones.

any hints tips suggestions?

oh yeah 125 litres by the way

thanks,

truck

 

[rabbut]

that's not too bad a price for extra lamps from an LFS (if you get individual reflectors with them)

bangaii cardinal fish

Would mix fine with clowns. I think they have a minimum group number attached though

purple firefish

should be fine

flame hawkfish (personal fave)

may view the clowns as lunch...

blue mandarin (another favourite but would be added a year after the tank has been setup)

I thought they needed a 50G tank, or feeding pods from a culture

Banana wrasse (reef safe?)

Need to wait for someone else with that one, sorry

dwarf angels (would they pick on corals?)

A lot will Also need 50g plus for most of them I think

pajama cardinal fish

As with Bangii cardinals

hub bug damsel (the black and white one...lol?)

Likely to nack clowns, but you may get away with it if the Humbug is last in...

and for CUC
1 skunk shrimp
4-6 astrea/turbo snails
4-6 electric blue hermits or maybe a mix of a few different ones.

Looks OK for CUC, but I'd swap the Blue leg hermits for Red legs. Blue legs are more prone to killing eachother and snails for shells...

*Awaits long list of corrections*

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

thanks rabbut, i can get hold of tank bred mandarins which will feed on frozen foods but i would get a pod culture going.

 

[STD]

I'd miss out the HumBug - to aggresive

Also the bannana wrasse = get much to big - reef safe but will eat your clean up crew and small fish

The flame haw will be fine with the clowns

 

[Truck]

I'd miss out the HumBug - to aggresive

Also the bannana wrasse = get much to big - reef safe but will eat your clean up crew and small fish

The flame haw will be fine with the clowns

thanks im not too keen on the banana wrasse after reading up on them

 

[seffieuk]

Ah ha, so someone else with a new tank...................

Most softies will be ok under these lights and probably get away with a hammer, frogspawn as well

As for your fish list:


2*common clowns - I love my clowns, so interesting watching for which one is going to be the female and I keep hoping they will host with something think mine are a bit too young yet
bangaii cardinal fish - boring
purple firefish - gorgeous - wish I had one, Trod has one
flame hawkfish - got one and agree with you, they are lovely little fish, only wish i could have a pair
blue mandarin - as you rightly say, wait till your tank is mature, you have a pod culture going and you find a tank bred one
Banana wrasse - too big for your tank and would eat all your snails
dwarf angels - would be ok in your tank but have been known to pick on corals and be a little aggressive
pajama cardinal fish - boring
hub bug damsel- sorry no, same family as the clowns - there will eventually be a punch -up

I would go with;

2 clown fish
purple firefish
flame hawkfish
keep a space for the Mandy


Seffie x

thanks rabbut, i can get hold of tank bred mandarins which will feed on frozen foods but i would get a pod culture going.

Really, can you - where from and do they post ? Seffie is junmping up and down in a very excited manner

Seffie x



ps

yes do set up a culture, they still need the extra pods

 

[Truck]

Ah ha, so someone else with a new tank...................

Most softies will be ok under these lights and probably get away with a hammer, frogspawn as well

As for your fish list:


2*common clowns - I love my clowns, so interesting watching for which one is going to be the female and I keep hoping they will host with something think mine are a bit too young yet
bangaii cardinal fish - boring
purple firefish - gorgeous - wish I had one, Trod has one
flame hawkfish - got one and agree with you, they are lovely little fish, only wish i could have a pair
blue mandarin - as you rightly say, wait till your tank is mature, you have a pod culture going and you find a tank bred one
Banana wrasse - too big for your tank and would eat all your snails
dwarf angels - would be ok in your tank but have been known to pick on corals and be a little aggressive
pajama cardinal fish - boring
hub bug damsel- sorry no, same family as the clowns - there will eventually be a punch -up

I would go with;

2 clown fish
purple firefish
flame hawkfish
keep a space for the Mandy


Seffie x

just seen an article in PFK on fire fish and as you have said they are boring which i have also read.

im liking your list

thanks


ps. how many kg of live rock do you think i would need? to get either a focal point in the middle or an arc like high in both corners and an open area in the middle (my preference) the coral display tank at the new maiden head is an 8*3*3 i was staring at it for atleast 30 mins

 

[shibby]

banana wrasse could be one of many wrasses technically.

ive heard the canary and even silverbellied wrasse called banana, canary and silverbelly are nice small alternatives.

bangais are nice not too active fish i like them =]

how about flasher wrasses, candy hogs and there are some really nice small dottybacks out there

flame hawkfish are one of my favourate too such awesome charecters i would risk one in a reef, as i have done a few times now!

 

[Truck]

banana wrasse could be one of many wrasses technically.

ive heard the canary and even silverbellied wrasse called banana, canary and silverbelly are nice small alternatives.

bangais are nice not too active fish i like them =]

how about flasher wrasses, candy hogs and there are some really nice small dottybacks out there

flame hawkfish are one of my favourate too such awesome charecters i would risk one in a reef, as i have done a few times now!

ive seen a purple dotty back soooo nice!!! but can be aggressive

 

[shibby]

pseudochromis fridmani - orchid dottyback more expensive but more peaceful and tank bred the agreesive one is the magenta dottyback also known as the strawberry fish.

 

[Truck]

pseudochromis fridmani - orchid dottyback more expensive but more peaceful and tank bred the agreesive one is the magenta dottyback also known as the strawberry fish.

aye thats the one, very sexy fish i must say!

 

[Truck]

yellow assessor added to the list

also known as the clown goby i believe?

 

[seffieuk]

yellow assessor added to the list

also known as the clown goby i believe?

No, two different fish Truck - Trod has a yellow assessor - you don't see many of them around But if you are thinking of rarer fish and gobies, how about a dracula goby, i love mine - he has fangs you know

Seffie x

 

[Truck]

yellow assessor added to the list

also known as the clown goby i believe?

No, two different fish Truck - Trod has a yellow assessor - you don't see many of them around But if you are thinking of rarer fish and gobies, how about a dracula goby, i love mine - he has fangs you know

Seffie x

ive seen your dracula goby very pretty

i can get an assessor in through MA touch wood, so ill do a bit of research.

my current plans for fish so far:

2 tank bred ocellaris clowns
flame hawk fish
orchid dotty back

and either a:
mandarin
firefish although ive already got red and purple
yellow assessor (liking)


can any body recommend a blue fish that stays relatively small?

corals i would like are:
zoas
those yellow polyps lol
hammer coral
a xenia maybe

EDIT:

seeing as the hawkfish occupies the lower regions of the tank as does the goby, woud it be best to choose one or the other?

 

[Truck]

god the fish choice is so annoying to choose.

how does this sound?

2 percula clowns
1 flame hawkfish
royal gramma? alternativly i could go for an orchid dotty back
and that leaves me with one or two spaces depending on whether i go with 1 or 2 clowns, oh this is sooo fun

what order should i add them in?

and for CUC
which crabs would be best all the same or a mix of which?
red scarlet reef crabs
electric blue reef crab
dwarf zebra hermit crab

thanks all

truck