Spare Orca Nano 450

[xxBarneyxx]

Well I still have an Orca Nano 450 sitting around in a cupboard doing nothing and im getting itchy to get it set up.

For people not familar with this tank it is around 50l and is cube shaped with 36w power compacts.

I wont be looking to put corals in (though depending on what I stock it with I might put a few frags from my main tank in there). I'm looking mainly for something a bit different that I wouldnt really put in a reef tank but isnt going to cost a whole lot.

Some of the things I have considered:
Shrimp+goby pairing
dwarf seahorses
Mantis shrimp

Other then the shrimp+goby I havent seriously looked into the others yet so not sure how suitable this tank would be.

Any thoughts on the above or other suggestions? Ideally interesting inverts or fish.

Edit: Sorry I thought I was in the marine general chat section. If any mods happen by can you move this for me please

 

[ben1987]

if it were me id probably try for dwarf sea horses but i too dont know much about them

 

[BigBeginner]

I am starting a new tank which is going to be a shrimp+goby pairing (if can i get ever get the shrimp and goby) but originally it was for a mantis.

I always thought a mantis would be awesome looking at videos. I would say go for a mantis =] they are so cool and have so much personality, plus they have really good vision which is always cool. Also i did a lot of research on mantis (for when i was making my tank for one) and they dont seem to hard to keep, and feeding is always interesting, they're just kinda risky with the super powerful punches and them being in a glass box just remember to put some sort of acrylic on the bottom of the tank

Seahorses would still be awesome anyways, so you cant really lose. Choose which ever was the first to come to you head, cause most likely, your brain wants that one more. I have never done any research on seahorses so i dont know anything about them, other then the fact that they are fragile.

 

[Trod]

I'm with Ben, Dwarf seahorses would be lovely

http/www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=...73&aid=1860

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I really like the idea of dwarf seahorses because they are also easy to breed. However I dont think I have time to constantly be culturing brine shrimp for them and as I'm often away for work for a few days at a time I dont think they would be the best option.

 

[Trod]

BigC is an expert on breeding brine shrimp may be he could give you some advice

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah. I have no problem with being able to culture brine shrimp (I already do on occasions for my reef tank). However with dwarf seahorses they have to be fed them 2-3 times a day, every day. Not too much of an issue if im about (maybe take 10 mins a day to sort the cultures out and feed them) but I dont normally get home until quite late in the evening and im sometimes away for a few days at a time so wouldnt be able to keep them fed really.

 

[Trod]

Thats a shame....................But you've got me thinking now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think I need a bigger house and bank balance

 

[mutantbigman2000]

frag tank. Upgrade the lighting and run it to culture frags. either for your other tank or for profit.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Already have a frag tank running connected to my display tank or I would have done.

 

[Trod]

Have you decided yet

 

[xxBarneyxx]

lol no I havent yet Been really busy with work and only been home for a couple of hours a day the last couple of weeks so havent really given much thought to anything. Probably going to just leave it for the moment until things settle down again (but still got it in the bak of my mind in case I see something really interesting turn up ).

 

[connorsbala]

Thats the only downside to Dwarf Seahorse's...feeding! You would need to be feeding freshly hatched baby brine 2-3 times daily, so you need to take that into account. Also, they are very small in size, so feeding maybe a challenge in a large tank, but you may get away with it. For this reason people use tanks like 2-5 gallon..but some use 10 gallon tanks, which is what you have so it maybe do-able

 

[bae1994]

the only prob about the mantis shrimp is the glass is farely thin so might be riskey