Thinking Of Going From Fresh To Marine

[GShorty1981]

Yeh i plan to buy 25 litres of pre mixed RO/salt and another 2kg of LR next week.

The green Algae can be pulled off safely yes??

Also i agree with you about the Nem,i'd rather leave it 12 months before messing with stuff like that,im gonna keep an eye on the hitchiker,if it gets big quick i will pull him off with tweezers...it cant kill my clowns can it?

Looks liek i got 2 diffrent types of Zoas to..one lot on the rock on the right hand side is scarlet red with outward yellow buttons in the middle and the other lot on the left is longer stemmed and a orangey browny colour with a inny button lol.

Once i got all my LR and pushing RO through my system..

What do you thinks my best combo on fish stock..

Heres my ideas to keep with

my 2 clowns
CUC
Fireshrimp (blood shrimp)
Cleaner shrimp (because the fireshrimp hide so much)

one of the following..

Strawberry Dottyback (apparently very aggressive according to watermarque)
Royal Gramma (apparently very aggressive according to TAC)
firefish (apparently to skittish according to TAC)
Yellow Watchman Goby (TAC say they are very weak when small)
Azure Damsel (both lfs's say they are fine aslong as added after other stock)

I'm not a fan of the wrasse's etc..

I would like to keep a yellow Goby and Pistol Shrimp but have read teh Pistols can turn predatory on fish and defintley other inverts and can at times kill the goby.

If i add slow would it be possible to add say a yellow goby and one of the dotty backs mentioned after all my LR is in?

 

[ben1987]

yeah you should be ok to pull the algae off.
As for shrimp id just add the cleaner for now.
Fish wise i would leave it for a bit, get a bit more LR and let it mature a bit. I had a firefish for a while, all it did was hide till feeding time. So if you have a lot of caves then maybe its not a good idea. Really beautiful fish though. Mine wasnt too skittish but they need a covered tank as they jump. As they establish themselves in the tank they are supposed to become confident and stay out all the time but mine didnt last long enough.
what about http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...amp;pcatid=1441 ?

 

[GShorty1981]

You might think im mad but i actually think Azure Damsel>every other fish there other than the clowns looks wise!

Yeh i mentioned the yellow watchman goby a few times before (do you read all of my posts? lol)

I'm not even going to add any CUC or shrimp until get past the 5kg mark with the LR then i will add more rock and livestock here and there.

I want the CUC/SHrimps in before the fish anyway so i will get them first cos i love my inverts..espec shrimp i'd have loads of diff types if i could,i find them fascinating.

Is it pushing it having 2 more fish eventually?

I really want the Goby and another free swiming fish to busy the tank up..if not i will stick to the Goby and 2 clowns but would like to add either a dotty back or a Azure in there to.

 

[shibby]

pseudochromis fridmani is a less aggresive alternative to the magenta dottyback.


as for the nem i killed mine with vineagar the main reason there nusiences is because they spread like a weed and can sting corals, but they are a very hardy anemone !

 

[ben1987]

You might think im mad but i actually think Azure Damsel>every other fish there other than the clowns looks wise!

Yeh i mentioned the yellow watchman goby a few times before (do you read all of my posts? lol)

I'm not even going to add any CUC or shrimp until get past the 5kg mark with the LR then i will add more rock and livestock here and there.

I want the CUC/SHrimps in before the fish anyway so i will get them first cos i love my inverts..espec shrimp i'd have loads of diff types if i could,i find them fascinating.

Is it pushing it having 2 more fish eventually?

I really want the Goby and another free swiming fish to busy the tank up..if not i will stick to the Goby and 2 clowns but would like to add either a dotty back or a Azure in there to.

Lol it was a different goby in my link
I reckon 2 more fish would be pushing it. Someone who knows more may disagree though

 

[GShorty1981]

I thought Yellow Clown Goby/Yellow Watchman Goby was the same thing
Thanks for answering my question tho.

 

[ben1987]

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...&pcatid=228 - watchman
http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...amp;pcatid=1441 clown

watchman is more attractive but i think the clown swims more

 

[CageUK]

Also i agree with you about the Nem,i'd rather leave it 12 months before messing with stuff like that,im gonna keep an eye on the hitchiker,if it gets big quick i will pull him off with tweezers...it cant kill my clowns can it?

If you decide to get rid of it use one of the other methods of killing it. If you try to pull it out with tweezers, it will fragment and you'll end up with dozens of the blighters! They are difficult to get rid of at the best of times and you'll be very lucky to completely clear them once they are in the tank!

Yes pull off the algae as it will promote further growth. But that does mean you must have nitrates/phosphates so it may be worth doing another test! If you have a lot of algae though, it can consume all of your nitrates giving you a false reading!

My watchman has made a home for himself at the back of the tank behind all the LR and we just about never see him!
We have now got a scooter blenny (a pink one) and he is everything we wanted the watchman to be (apart from the symbiotic pairing). He is always active and buzzing around the sand picking up tidbits. He has a lovely dorsal fin when he raises it. He sometimes buries himself in the coral sand and you can just see his eyes. He blows sand out of his gills as he's grazing. Occasionally he'll do an impersonation of a harrier jump jet and sort of hover in mid-water for a few seconds. If you want a bottom dwelling fish you could do a lot worse than one of these! You can see my one in my bristle worm video in this thread.

 

[shibby]

just thought id add though scooters and just as difficult as mandarins. lots of copepods needed and a mature tank ideally.

 

[GShorty1981]

Yes pull off the algae as it will promote further growth. But that does mean you must have nitrates/phosphates so it may be worth doing another test! If you have a lot of algae though, it can consume all of your nitrates giving you a false reading!

My watchman has made a home for himself at the back of the tank behind all the LR and we just about never see him!
We have now got a scooter blenny (a pink one) and he is everything we wanted the watchman to be (apart from the symbiotic pairing). He is always active and buzzing around the sand picking up tidbits. He has a lovely dorsal fin when he raises it. He sometimes buries himself in the coral sand and you can just see his eyes. He blows sand out of his gills as he's grazing. Occasionally he'll do an impersonation of a harrier jump jet and sort of hover in mid-water for a few seconds. If you want a bottom dwelling fish you could do a lot worse than one of these! You can see my one in my bristle worm video in this thread.

The algae came on the Live Rock..its the first bit to grace my tank

I'm not a fan of Blennys cos i prefer big bright whole colours..like the yellow gobys etc

However..my mrs quite likes Bangaii Cardinals..what are they like in a nano? Ive read alot of people keeping them in nanos.

 

[CageUK]

just thought id add though scooters and just as difficult as mandarins. lots of copepods needed and a mature tank ideally.

Good point shibby.
Wether I am lucky or wether they are less finicky than mandarins, mine eats frozen stuff. He prefers krill and mysis. I do have to make sure I turn the powerheads off though so some of it settles on the sand, though he finds stuff during non-feeding times as well. He will swim past obvious bits quite a lot and pick up a different bit as he stumbles upon it so I'm not sure if had has dodgy eyesight or just plain stupid

Bangaiis are fine in a nano. Placid and mid-water swimmers. They tend not to do very much though, they think that just looking pretty is enough

 

[GShorty1981]

Those Clown Gobys stay really tiny dont they? if they do i think i could add another fish on top of that.

 

[CageUK]

I'd have though 4 small fish is not out of the question!

 

[GShorty1981]

They kinda expensive tho for a 1 1/2" max size fish lol! £16 each in lfs!

 

[shibby]

£16 for a clown goby? no way .... last oen i sold was for 9.99.

im still recomending a psuedochromis fridmani .... they are double the price of a strawberry dottyback but a much better temper.