my new wish list

[iidylii]

if anyone cares I thought I would share my fish wish list...since my tank got a case of ich I have had a few of the survivor fish in QT for the last 80 days while the ich cycles out of my tank...which include my saddle puffer, starry blenny, and falco hawkfish

so here we go and this list may change if in fact I have to many fish lol again this is just a wish list and my wish might be bigger then my tank capacity lol which is 90 gallon cube



saddle puffer already have
starry blenny already have
falco hawkfish already have
purple firefish
royal gramma
red mandarin
engineer goby
blue reef chromis
court jester
scooter blenny
pajama cardinal
tiger watchman goby
cleaner wrasse
copperband butterfly
bicolor angel
bangaii cardinal
lyretail anthias
clarkii clown
chalk bass

after writing that list I see that my eyes seem bigger then my gallons lol might have to do some deleting lol

 

[lmforbis]

A lot of those are small fish so the long list isn't so bad.
I'd nix the engineer goby. they are crazy messy and will move all your sand every day. The other gobies are fine.
I'd also nix the cleaner wrasses. They usually die of starvation pretty quick.
I'm not sure how multiple blennies do with each other, I've never tried it.
Clarkis get big and mean. Cute when they are little but kind of ugly when full grown which happens fast.
I've been eyeing blue reef chromis myself if you get them I'd be curious to hear what you think of them.
I'd stick to only one dragonet, the red or the scooter.
I really wanted a bicolor angel. Tried a couple but never had any luck with them, never got one to make it through QT, ended up with a flame.
Copper bands can be difficult and don't always take to prepared food well. If you get a good one that is eating well it works.
It really isn't that long of a list since they are all pretty small fish. Just add slowly after a proper quarantine and it should work great.

 

[jay0705]

Ok few issues lol the chromis, pj cards and anthias all do best in groups. So those will add up fast. Falco hawk, you may have to worry about small blennys and the fire fish getting eaten. Just a caution on those. I agree w imforbis on the cleaner wrasse, and clowns. I have seen cleaner wrasse eating frozen but I would want to see it before buying. If you want clowns I like maroons but best kept single. They get big but always keep the deep red color. Can be aggressive, although mine is not. Copper is a tough fish to get eating. They love apatasia tho.

 

[iidylii]

yeah im not hugely crazy about the engineer...they look very cool but my brothers never comes out of hiding unless theres food...

ive heard that about the cleaner wrasse as well but am willing to try and train it in QT but I guess if it doesn't work I will have to give up on that fish...

about the scooter and mandy, jay says they should be ok together which I would also try and train them to eat frozen in QT together as well...although my tank is SOOO full of pods from having no fish in it for 3 months its amazing...lol it looks like my sand bed is moving kind of like that part on pirates of the carribean when jacks ship is being carried by the white crabs lol...and I do have a 90 gallon sump as well that is full of calerpa for the pods to hopefully keep thriving in although with a couple few fish eating them who knows

and yeah I guess I don't know about the scooter and starry if that's what you mean by multiple blennies although my brother has a scooter and a lawnmower and they don't bother each other..

as far as the clown...It was a toss up between the clarkii and maroon because i want one with good size to it so I will be going back to a marron and id rather just have one clown alone anyways

my dad has had many blue reef chromis which have never ever made it yet...although he didn't properly QT them so when I do it im gonna do it the right way...ill keep you posted...they are super super pretty though amazing blue color

I myself have had pretty bad luck with the bicolor as well...but I believe both times I was to new in the hobby...first time no QT and the second time I threw it in with a coral beauty which is pretty much a no no...I personally would love to go with a potters angel but am a little gun shy considering I haven't done well with dwarfs and the cost of the potter is a little up there to just have it die for whatever reason

about the groups of cards, anthias, and chromis...I agree with the groups but didn't know if it was a necessity...I was hoping it wasn't cuz as u said that list becomes pretty long if I were to get three of each...would 2 of each be ok or is 3 kind of a starting point? because if I do 3 each and minus the engineer goby that would bring the total up to 27 fish lol which I would say is waaay to many for this tank size...If I only paired them it would be 24 which still seems like to many...what do you think? I may have to eliminate one or 2 types of those guys or just do 3 each of the anthias and chromis and just one pj and bangaii

ive had my starry blenny and falco together now in QT for 3 months and they do just fine plus they were in my DT before that for 3 months together..at first they were a little funny and would take each others perch spots every other minute lol

the butterfly I have to give it a shot because id like to have a nice big fish for my center piece and I went with a powder brown tang last time which brings me to my ich and 3 month QT issue that im just getting done with lol so I will be avoiding any powders

thank you guys for the feedback as always you have been a big help and I appreciate it

 

[jay0705]

Lol ok, after the 10 minutes it took to read all that. The huge sump along w the fact you wish to train them to eat frozen yes you will be fine. If you can ever find nutramar prawn roe tho get it and lots of it! Really good stuff.
As for groups, generally its groups or 1. W chromis generally its 1 bc they slowly kill eachother off. Anthias are reccomend in groups. 1 male to 2-3 females. Bangai cards are fine single , but pj do best in odd numbered groups.
potters angels are very nice fish. If there eating your fine. Watch them eat at the store.. other wise, maybe a rusty angle.
If you want a larger show fish , a few easier to keep are a one spot fox, yellow eye tang, metallic fox your tank is rt on the edge of big enough, blue throat trigger

 

[lmforbis]

I forgot about the huge sump. You should be good with both dragnets.
Maroon clowns. Are really pretty. They do get big but the stay pretty. Love the almost velvet look to their skin. You'd want to add last though .. Mine was tiny whe I got it inMay now it is about 3x it's original size.
Chromis are prone to uronema. If you get them you need to quarantine with that in mind. I am not sure what the treatment is but I believe it is a parasite that doesn't need a fish host so you don't want to introduce it into your tank. I have seen groups of three blue reef chromis on divers den recently. They do treat the fish for a multitude of diseases and quarantine. I'd still QT them but you are more likely to get healthy ones from them.

 

[iidylii]

sorry for the book I wrote lol just like to put lots of detail out there about past experiences in case newer people are reading...I will be adding the clown last and also will do some research on the chromis disease...now that i think about it my dads chromis did develop big gashes which look very similiar to uronema....anyways thanks again to you both

 

[jay0705]

Lol ur fine. I was just messing w u. I agree on how fast the clowns grow tho. Mine now is about 3.5". I've seen them over 6"!!

 

[iidylii]

do you guys freshwater dip after 3-4 weeks of QT? I just wanna make darn sure this time Im doing the best I can of not transferring disease...this time around I think I am QT for 4 weeks and then wondered about a 3 min FW dip prior to putting them in the DT

 

[jay0705]

NO!!!!! lol if nothing shows after 4-6 weeks of qt your fine

 

[iidylii]

woah lol ok just making sure...I was reading a guys blog and he says he has 30 years experience and he treats his QT with prazipro for the first 7 days and then does a water change and then begins a 2 week copper treatment and then just normal water top offs for the next 2 weeks after that...to me this seems like a decent preventative method which I might try

 

[iidylii]

another quick question...say I order 3 fish and one of them looks a little unhealthy like he might have some sort of disease parasite whatever...I assume it is ok to place all 3 in QT and just treat all 3 as if they were all unhealthy like the one fish?

 

[jay0705]

Yes. But I only treat if needed. Otherwise cooper can do more harm than good

 

[lmforbis]

My current QT protocol, Just by second time through though so I haven't got a lot of experience doing this, is as follows.
I start with tank transfer method, this deals with ich by out running the parasite. I put the fish in a bare bottom tank with something to hide in and an air stone. After 72 hours ( it can be less but not more). I move the fish to a new tank at the same salinity and temp as the previous one. I take the first tank and empty it and sterilize the tank and everything in it ( air stone heater tubing, etc) with bleach. I rinse it and let it air dry. Then I set that one up fill with matching water and after another 72 hours transfer the fish again. This continues for 5 transfers the final into a bigger tank for observation for 2 weeks. This should eliminate ich with no meds. During this time I treat 2 times with PraziPro for worms. If they weren't eating very good I'd wait on the PraziPro because it suppresses appetite.
I've been using 2, 10 gallon tanks but I only fill them half full. I have a yellow tang doing this now. I also have 3, 2 gallon plastic tanks for smaller fish. I have a super tiny yellow belly blue tang (the size of a dime) in these. I keep a brute trash can with heated salt water so i always have salt water ready and I can make the transfers easily.
The problem I have been running into is the water gets dirty fast because I want to be sure they eat and am probably am feeding too much so Ihave been using prime and transferring at 48 hours. I will just do a couple extra transfers so I go the full length of time.

 

[jay0705]

Holy christ!!! Lol I knew you did the tank transfer, but had no idea its that involved.
How is the hippo doing? At that size they have such a bad survival rate.

 

[iidylii]

that actually sounds like a pretty darn good idea...I have a 30 gallon tall for my QT which would be a perfect larger size for the last 2 weeks of treatment...I suppose I could just find 2, 5 gallon tanks and be good to go...

I assume you use your DT water to refill your 10 gallon tanks each time?

 

[lmforbis]

Holy christ!!! Lol I knew you did the tank transfer, but had no idea its that involved.
How is the hippo doing? At that size they have such a bad survival rate.

So far she's doing good. She eats well and I've been feeding her 3 times a day thus the dirty water. I have it set up in my basement fish room (aka a small storage closet) She's on day 7. I have big plans for this 30 sq ft of basement.
I find it is easier to do than what I had been doing. Trying to maintain copper at the right dose or hypo just right is a lot of work and my fish ended up in QT for months rather than weeks. The first fish I put through it was a Lamark's Angel and it worked great.

 

[lmforbis]

that actually sounds like a pretty darn good idea...I have a 30 gallon tall for my QT which would be a perfect larger size for the last 2 weeks of treatment...I suppose I could just find 2, 5 gallon tanks and be good to go...

I assume you use your DT water to refill your 10 gallon tanks each time?

DT water would work but I just keep a 32 gallon brute trash can with heated salt water that I use. Someday I'll put a spigot on it so I don't have to syphon it out. I only fill the 10 s with 5 gallons. That way I get more surface area for air exchange. I bought the 10 a while back at the ***** dollar a gallon sale. I also bought a bunch if heaters there on clearance for $4 each, I may get a couple more if they still have them.

 

[jay0705]

So far she's doing good. She eats well and I've been feeding her 3 times a day thus the dirty water. I have it set up in my basement fish room (aka a small storage closet) She's on day 7. I have big plans for this 30 sq ft of basement.
I find it is easier to do than what I had been doing. Trying to maintain copper at the right dose or hypo just right is a lot of work and my fish ended up in QT for months rather than weeks. The first fish I put through it was a Lamark's Angel and it worked great.

Very good. Angels are tough to treat bc alot can't handle copper. The hypo is tricky to hold steady. Copper is consistent for me, but again some fish just can't handle it

 

[iidylii]

I was just reading the new persons welcome thread and I seen flower say that its best to put any type of sand sifting fish right into the DT...I know I have heard that before but there must be an alternative way to QT them...I suppose you cant really go buy a new bag of live sand seeing as how it probably doesn't have ample food source in it yet...