Safe To Add New Fish

[tdawg57]

I'm trying to do this the right way and be very patient. I have checked all the pinned topics and have done a lot of research, probably more than I should, being in college and all I really should be studying is Kinesiology, but I've decided to put that aside for the meantime. I have had my salt water tank up and running for 2 weeks now with 4 damsel fish in there. I have been checking the Ammonia and Nitrite and they have both been at a constant 0 for the past few days. I am planning on returning the damsels and purchasing some Clown and perhaps a Dart or Wrasse. Is it safe to add these new fish, and should I do them all at once or at seperate times? I know people say wait a month, which is fine by me. But since they are so low I was wondering if the water was okay. Plus I hear clown fish are hardy little guys. Thanks for the help and advice. I'm always trying to learn here so criticism is welcome.

 

[RamJet]

Tell me how you have cycled your tank. Are you adding any bacteria, and what you have in the tank for substrate, live rock? What are your using for filtration, and how big is your tank?
Also, a wrasse is not the best for a new tank, you may want to wait a year or so before you buy one. They need a more mature tank.

 

[tdawg57]

Well to avoid the lash of most people in here I wanted to avoid telling my tank size. It's a 26 gallon tank with a filter that hangs over the edge with dual bio weels and a built in skimmer. I know it's advised against such a small tank due to temp changes and what not, however here in Santa Barbara the outside temp doesn't change much. I had my tank up and running for a week with no fish in it so I could check how the temp. changed throughout the day and night. It never got below 73 and never went above 78. Plus as for cost, it's not a huge deal as I got it all given to me from a friend who works at our lfs. He really wanted me to set one up and has promised to help me out with deals and what not. For the first week, like I said I put live rock with bacteria in the tank, then added 4 damsels the following week, each one no bigger than one inch. I figured between the bacteria on the liverock, and the waste given by the damsels, the cycling process would start. I have 14 pounds of live rock right now. Looking to get another 12 pounds, I hear one pound per gallon is a safe way of doing things. So that's my set up. I know with such a small tank I am limited to certain types of fish that don't grow more than 3 inches, plus I'm not planning on having any corals. Just the sand, rock, and fish. Let me know if you have any more questions, advice or criticism. Thanks for the help.

Trevor

 

[RamJet]

Well, knowing all that. Here is what I would do. I would do 2 lbs live rock per gallon, I would get rid of the bio wheels after about 2 months and just run the skimmer. My first tank was a 29 gallon, with out anyone to help me out or tell me how to do it. I have learned alot through the years and with a tank that size you are really going to work to keep your water up to par, and the live rock will help!
I dont know how much you have to spend, but I would look at getting a good light, your friend might beable to hook you up with something nice for not alot of cash.
You are going to want alot of filter feeders, crabs, snails, a shrimp,a smaller brittle
star. If you dont want to spend much money, take all your fish out. Go to the LFS and get the brown slimy crap at the bottom of the live rock tank. Spread that on your live rock and substrate. Give it six months and you will have all kinds of critters running around your tank. Then, slow add a few fish. If you do this, it will be quite the cool tank.

 

[tdawg57]

Is it bad to keep your fish in while you're adding all that brown slimy stuff from the bottom of the live rock tank? What about purchasing some live sand? And what would be the benifit of taking out the bio weels? And actually right now I have a great light, at least I think. I'll let you know tomorrow when I find out exactly what kind it is, but my friend was really excited about it. Plus at a deal of $1 per pound doing the 2 lbs of live rock per gallon won't be a killer on the wallet. Thanks for the advice so far...

Trevor

 

[Great Lakes]

Dawg, this may be some conflicting advice, but along the same path somewhat. you could add a lttle more live rock. And before the fish, spend some time getting some cool crabs and snails and urchins and...you get the picture?

Befor eyou know it, a few more months will have passed.

GL

 

[ostrow]

Yeah I prefer GL's method there. You should be fine.

 

[SaltyMist]

Clowns are very hardy fish and will often even survive a cycle. My LFS sold me a clown to put in a tank that I had had running for about 4 weeks, and I was concerned that the tank might not be really ready for anything other than the domino damsel that i put in it at 3 weeks, the owner of the LFS said that clowns are related to damsels and are the next hardiest fish, and could even be used to cycle a tank.


Theres nothing wrong with a 26 gallon tank, I have all small tanks (well, other than my 100 gallon tank thats now empty since the little bugger just di...... well, nevermind you get the picture), and they do very well.

As for adding more liverock, you have to make dang sure that its *****fully***** cured, else it will start a cycle all over again.

At what point did your tank spike in amonia and nitrites, and what were the readings. My only concern here is that perhaps your tank never really spiked in those two and thus is in psuedo cycle.

If you bought fully cured liverock, then the tank is kind of instantly cycled, but with 4 damsels in there it should have spiked at some point since your putting 4 fish into a tank that isnt use to the load.

Let us know how your cycle went.


I personally wouldnt add in any of the brown slimy stuff in the bottom of my lfs's liverock tank with any inhabitants in the tank, it could contain all kinds of things that are either dead or dying off and cause a huge amonia spike.

The only think you should add to a tank that has inhabitants would be fully cured liverock like I said above. And even then, when you buy it at the LFS, get them to put it in bags fully submerged with saltwater so that it doesnt travel home with you dry, else things are bound to die off on it and cause an amonia spike.

Definately get some livesand from the LFS, you can of course buy the bagged stuff from places like petco if you want, but I find that the livesand in my LFS has more life in it because it's been aging in their livesand tank for years now, and has all kinds of life in , both that which you can see and that which you can't.

 

[RamJet]

Ok, first off that brown slime at the bottom of the live rock tank contains many unhached corals, anenome, snails, feather dusters, small brittle stars, etc... The reason you would want to take your fish out is to give all the forementioned a chance to grow. You will only want a quarter cup of it for a tank that size.
Having two pounds of live rock per gallon will be enough live rock to filter the water on its own. Yes, use cured live rock, but even adding cured live rock will cause your tank to go into a mini cycle again. However, if you have pulled your fish out, this will not be a problem. The method I have given you is called the berlin method, you may want to read up on it a bit. In a tank that size, I highly recomend it. Before you know it the tank will be crawling with life! In fact my neighbor just brought me all his fish, he has a six gallon. He is doing the same thing after watching one of my tanks spring to life. He tells me that in the last week feather dusters have began to grow all over the place, the pods are going nuts, and little star fish have come out of the rock. The tank for the most part used to be a fish only tank, he tells me that he is not planning on putting fish back in at all. We have been adding live rock slowly, and his tank has not gone back into cycle, any time he gets new rock he first puts it in my reef, leaves it there for a week or so, then takes it to his apartment next door. This is the main reason his tank has not gone back into cycle. But with as new of a tank as yours, who cares. You will find that the tank will be much healther in the long run by doing this, not to mention your tank more than likely has not cycled yet.
If you have fish in your tank when adding the brown slime, the will pick through it and eat all the good live critters you are after.

"Clowns are very hardy fish and will often even survive a cycle. My LFS sold me a clown to put in a tank that I had had running for about 4 weeks, and I was concerned that the tank might not be really ready for anything other than the domino damsel that i put in it at 3 weeks, the owner of the LFS said that clowns are related to damsels and are the next hardiest fish, and could even be used to cycle a tank."
Clowns run around $30.00 in my neck of the woods, "often" is not good enough for me.
You dont need fish to cycle a tank, put the fish in when you are confident that they will servive!

 

[SaltyMist]

Is that "Unattached" or "Unhatched" in your first line?

No Im not pointing out spelling, Im just trying to comprehend it.

 

[tdawg57]

Well guys thanks so much for the advice. Most of what you have said was never posted in any of the pinned topics, so once again thanks. I think what I'll do is get some of the slime, add some more cured live rock, take the fish out and return them to my lfs, and within a few weeks add some shrimp and what not till I have a nice little tank set up and then start adding fish. I think you might be right on my tank has yet to really cycle. I don't remember my readings being much over .50 for both amonia and nitrite. And Ramjet...clowns for $30.00? Here the most expensive clows (Nemo Clones) are $14.99 while most others are around $8.99. 30 just seems a bit high.

Trevor

 

[RamJet]

Unhatched, sorry, I some times think faster than I can type.
Trevor, I agree a that $30.00 is too high. But thats the price I pay to live in the Chicago area. A house that would have cost me $50,000.00 in Iowa, runs $200,000.00 or more out here. You cant even buy a lot to build on for $50,000.00 out here.