Clownfish acting wierd...

[poniegirl]

That's more in line with what I would think for that size tank.
FX, the damsel is probably a 2 inch fish, at adulthood. Nature intended for that tang you have to grow to, perhaps to 10 inches. It's always a good idea to even read a little about the fish you'd like to have. The bare facts, how big will it get, is it agressive, what does it eat, is ir safe in a reef (with corals).
There are some quite beautiful small fish that I'm sure would be great. Not being familiar with nano's, I won't speculate. I'm glad to hear you had good news! Seems about time. You could have an awesome tank!
I'm not from UK, good ole US

so I don't know on the live rock. I know this site carries it. The good news on that is that you don't need awfully much! Most Aquarium stores these days carry or can find it for you.
However, just gotta say that whoever it was that steamrolled you into your tank and the stock should be stuffed in a nano, themselves.
Have those clowns eaten?

 

[nudilove]

Not trying to flame you but MY GOODNESS.
My first recommendation would be to get a good book on starting a nano aquarium.
Regardless of what 'some' people do, that doesnt mean it is the right thing to do, you might be able to have two clowns but definitely not the tang, regardless of how small, I promise you this will end in his death.
If it were my tank, this is what I would do.
1. Take the tang back to the LFS
2. Get around 10 lbs of Live rock
3. Get rid of the coral sand (it will become a bacteria and gunk trap later)
4. Get Aragonite sand (this will help keep LOTS of levels stable)
5. Wait till you have no ammonia or nitrates, get some hermits to clean up the live rock, some Nassarius snails for the sand.
6. Run a fan to keep the temperature down, but also monitor your evaporation VERY carefully.
I would be thrilled to help you out so please let me know if you have any questions about anything!

 

[mryoung7]

nudilove is absolutely right. at the VERY least, you must get that tang out. i won't even put a tang in my 30 gallon. it's just not enough room.
clownfish, damsels, and gobies are what i'd recommend for your tank. and even then, absolutely no more than 3 ... probably 2. some others may have experience with other kinds that will work in your tank that they'll want to recommend. to put any size angel, tang, trigger, or butterfly in that tank is a death sentence.
to elaborate on #6 (which i've never done so correct me if i'm wrong), set up a fan so that it blows over the surface of the water. it should cool it off but it may also add to evaporation. so if your water gets a little low, top off WITH R.O. WATER (not saltwater).
not trying to boss you around ... just trying to give you the info you need to keep happy and healthy fish.
it's good that you're reading these boards. you'll learn a lot. spend as much time as possible in the new hobbyists section. and, if possible, buy a good aquarists' book.

 

[flighter x]

Yea im buying this live sand today, and should come next week, trying to get hold of some coral. should i take the fish out and replace all the old sand? or what. how shall i do this? will it affect my tank with sll the mess floating about. Got any ideas?

 

[mryoung7]

with all due respect, you are not thinking about this in the right way. you are no where near ready for corals. i understand your enthusiasm but you are going way way way too fast.
setting up an aquarium (even in a hurry) is a long process.
does anyone here disagree with this?
in my opinion, before you do anything with the sand or anything else, you must deal with that tang. your first priority should be to find it a good home (you can probably return it to wherever you bought it).
then you can work on the basics. yes, put your remaining fish in other containers while you replace your sand with live sand.
i highly recommend adding live rock next. at least 8lbs. it will make your aquarium more stable.
you then need to let things run their course. try to keep those clowns alive while your tank cycles and becomes more established.
there are lots of people on these boards that would be happy to help walk you through the process, myself included.

 

[nudilove]

I agree Mr.Young most CERTAINLY too early for corals, and in fact too early for fish.
Siphon the old Crushed Coral out with a hose, I might even start with new water if you have some aged, your cycle with 75 ppm Nitrates was WAY out of control anyway. Get your livesand and live rock in there, re acclimate the clowns, preferably drip method.
Wait it out..

 

[poniegirl]

Wait it out..
I agree with this statement. Wait it out.
Have your clowns eaten?
I'm sorry all, bringing down the temp and getting the fish to eat after 4 days should be important, no?
Flighter, I believe you will be fine. You have time to return the tang, to change substrate, to add live rock.
At this point, your tank has been cycling for a month? I wouldn't change a thing right now. I don't think the interuption of the cycle by changing sand, water and stressing the fish more is going to serve a purpose.
Feel free to correct me if I am off base.
Keep a good check on the temp, the parameters, the SG and the feeding (don't feed to much. If you give them 1 single bit of food and they eat, try a bit more). Excercise patience right now.
Give it another month. Stay in touch. If anything happens to change the circumstance (heaven forbid, such as losing the fish) then holler and it's a different ballgame.

 

[flighter x]

My Young, i know what you mean, it may be all snoogly poop easy for u pulling fish out and changing everything but for me it isnt, i just cant return a fish, it dont work like tht over here, all fish are baught at u free will, they hold nothing against em for what happens. As far as i see it, US take marine fish much more seriously then here in uk. The advice we get is shove em in a tank, give em saltwater, fake plants, coral sand, and food. All what ure writing just dont sink in, i read it all and think yea ok, but when it comes to it, all the things i need i just cant get! unlike you lot, slatwater have everything but they dont ship uk.
The tang is doing fine still, i will upgrade but ima try hold it out for atleast 2 months, the clowns are doing fine, its been up for month without fish, and no matter how bad my test look, i got 1 thing to say... if all this is SOOOOOOO bad for my tang and readings of scale, why are they still swimming in that tank. i have every single bit of wrong equipment in that tank, but what you gotta realise is, those fish have never ever seen live rock or live sand or coral, they are bred in capitivity, however they treted over there it seems to me its diff over here, those tangs back at my LFS are shoved in a glass tank no more then 3 gal with 6 other tangs and 10 clowns for months,
So just take in what i said, im trying my best to take aboard what you are saying, im looking for decent sites but it dam well not easy, ive gone by what my LFS have told me, and i admit, its totally wrong, ima just have to hold it out and wait, find a reliable site willing to ship live rock, and try start agen. I dont mean to be rude or anything but im just saying, where i am doesnt sound same as where you are. and cheers ponie for ya support just hope u all realise that over there ure more lucky then over here, ure seas are full of nice coral and fish, what do we have over here? lumps of ---- and oil floating about.

 

[mileto]

hi flighter x you didnt no any beter so no one can blame you for the mistakes made i am from australia and i have been to many fs and i can tell you none of them let you return your fish or let you trade back with them for credit or anything like i read that happens in the lfs in usa

 

[flighter x]

Yea i know, i cant just take em back here either, the fish are way more expensive here, a clownfish is £12.50 here. thats like $16 over in the us. and a tang cost £20 thats like $35.
Any how, on the 2nd hand, Me and dad went around for bit this morning, and finally found some live rock, i got about 2kg worth, gonna just test it atm. and i also got a few tank cleaners to try clean up the bottom, In this shop they also had some types of coral, but nothing good, and at very high prices, alot more then what saltwater charges. But coral will come in time, The rock had already been in tanks, no curing needed, he said it should be fine, but agen my nitrates and that cant spike any higher. But i got one shot at this, and im trying my hardest, if i had the money id happily start all over agen, but i cant so ima try clean the mess ive made up. and atm im finding useful tips. im gonna take your advice, added live rock, and ill research up on coral, lighting, heat, and let my cycle calm down now. but all in gd fun ay? will be miracle if i get through this, really will. but thanks once agen to all ppl in the thread who have shown support, and not one person said ure dead and thats end off. cheers for all your replys hopefully ill get some pics up later, but clowns and tang seem to be enjoying the rock atm. "Touch Wood" :cheer:

 

[poniegirl]

Good for you, Flighter. Truly, this is a hobby to be enjoyed and not stressed over. I read often on this site of this fish or that one dying, it does happen and it happens to folks with even perfect set-ups and great water quality. Go figure

.
Would love to see pics even without pefection.
As an added note, at the LFS, the manager keeps a nano (not sure what size, I'm thinking about the size yours is) and he does keep tangs in it. Some make it, some don't. Those that do survive look awesome in there. But then he has the luxury of moving them to larger tanks when they get too big. Keeping the water balanced is the trick and I know it's not a simple equation.

to your Pop, too.

 

[mryoung7]

Originally Posted by FLIGHTER X
My Young, i know what you mean, it may be all snoogly poop easy for u pulling fish out and changing everything but for me it isnt, i just cant return a fish, it dont work like tht over here, all fish are baught at u free will, they hold nothing against em for what happens. As far as i see it, US take marine fish much more seriously then here in uk. The advice we get is shove em in a tank, give em saltwater, fake plants, coral sand, and food. All what ure writing just dont sink in, i read it all and think yea ok, but when it comes to it, all the things i need i just cant get! unlike you lot, slatwater have everything but they dont ship uk.
The tang is doing fine still, i will upgrade but ima try hold it out for atleast 2 months, the clowns are doing fine, its been up for month without fish, and no matter how bad my test look, i got 1 thing to say... if all this is SOOOOOOO bad for my tang and readings of scale, why are they still swimming in that tank. i have every single bit of wrong equipment in that tank, but what you gotta realise is, those fish have never ever seen live rock or live sand or coral, they are bred in capitivity, however they treted over there it seems to me its diff over here, those tangs back at my LFS are shoved in a glass tank no more then 3 gal with 6 other tangs and 10 clowns for months,
So just take in what i said, im trying my best to take aboard what you are saying, im looking for decent sites but it dam well not easy, ive gone by what my LFS have told me, and i admit, its totally wrong, ima just have to hold it out and wait, find a reliable site willing to ship live rock, and try start agen. I dont mean to be rude or anything but im just saying, where i am doesnt sound same as where you are. and cheers ponie for ya support just hope u all realise that over there ure more lucky then over here, ure seas are full of nice coral and fish, what do we have over here? lumps of ---- and oil floating about.
i appreciate you explaining your perspective. i should have taken note that you live elsewhere and things are much different. sorry for lumping you in. now that i understand your situation, let me suggest a few things that you may or may not be able to do.
if you know anyone who has a larger tank (even 25 or so gallons until the tang starts to grow), consider selling it to them. i understand that it looks healthy right now but keeping it in such a small space will certainly do damage over time. i agree with the other person that some people have luck with certain things but, in my opinion, your situation is outside of the realm of luck in having this fish live long-term. if someone kept that tang alive in a 25 gallon long-term, then i'd say that's amazing luck.
if you don't know anyone with a larger tank, then i don't know what you can do.

i'm glad you got a cleanup crew. would you tell us how many of what kinds of inverts you got for that?
keep those water changes up and also let us know what the status of your temperature is. did you try the fan?
and i agree ... we'd all like to see photos if that's possible.

 

[mryoung7]

Originally Posted by PonieGirl
Wait it out..
I'm sorry all, bringing down the temp and getting the fish to eat after 4 days should be important, no?
... At this point, your tank has been cycling for a month? I wouldn't change a thing right now. I don't think the interuption of the cycle by changing sand, water and stressing the fish more is going to serve a purpose.
i most certainly overlooked the fact that the clowns aren't eating. thanks for adding that.
i suggested changing out the sand because it seems to me that if those fish are alive with the levels as they are now, then it won't matter if he restarts the cycle. i could be wrong. thanks for the input.

 

[flighter x]

I do actually have live sand, i didnt realise this, so another mistake by me, and i went to shop, i was gonna buy iverts, but the guy said as u just baught live rock, put a scooter in it, the brown and red and white colured one, eats bad bacteria and moves sand around he says, probs another bad choice, but hey ima just see how it goes. if he bad then ill take him out let him burn in sun.
Temperature is 24-24C
Fish are all swimming fine and happy by the looks, i took the clowns rock out, but he didnt seem to settle, so i put it back in, he swam straight onto it agen.
I didnt mean to moan at you mr young in bad way and i know you were trying to help, but i just wanted u to realise its just not same here to where u live from sounds, fish over here seem to be kept diff, and LFS seem to not worry as much about all this rock mumble. But ima try let my water settle now, see how things go, and wait it out as you said. then, mb think about coral but once ive researched enuff about pputting into small tanks, and what type, and what light stuff it needs. but thtll be in few months,
But ill try my best to get some pics on tomoz, just getting around to it. 1 question, should i keep the light on always now tht i have live rock? or is it fine to turn it off. seems to be some sort of coral growing of them? or ocean plants, and some algea.
Once agen cheers for your replys and help, really am Thankful.

 

[poniegirl]

Keep your lights on a regular cycle, on during day, off at night. Just like in the ocean, life depends on it in your tank. All beings need rest and dark is what brings it on for most things.
You will find that there are some critters that will hitch rides into your tank on the live rock that you buy. Some are good (most, I find) and some not-so-great. There are several "HitchHiker" threads here that are very helpful identifying what is what. Some of these hitchhikers will be active at night, and don't like the light. It's okay. So when you have lights out at night, it's their turn.
Your temp sounds more reasonable, good job! And it sounds like your clown has chosen to host a rock! Fun little guys. He'll be happy to be fed in the same area where his rock is.

 

[20galfowlr]

Im still a NOOB only about 4 months of research in me... all i can is is if they dont ship liverock to the UK order a book and have them ship that...

 

[mryoung7]

Originally Posted by FLIGHTER X
1 question, should i keep the light on always now tht i have live rock? or is it fine to turn it off. seems to be some sort of coral growing of them? or ocean plants, and some algea.
oh yeah, i should have said that that's the second thing you need to do -- start turning your lights off!

i'm pretty sure it's advisable to have the lights turned off longer than they're on in any 24-hour cycle. i keep mine on for 8 hours a day but that's mostly due to my anemones. the fish aren't as picky about it but they will want lights out regularly. try to maintain a schedule; turning it on and off at the same times each day. what times those are is up to you. but i think most people would recommend having the lights on no more than 12 hours a day. correct me if i'm wrong. any more than that and not only might it affect your fish but you will have a terrible algae growth problem. and those are not fun.
oh and don't make the mistake i made when i was just starting - even a little ambient light coming through a closed curtain must be considered. if there's a window in the room with your tank and the tank's night hours occur during the daytime, you'll definitely want to either block out the light when the lights are off or find a way to cover the tank so it's dark in the tank.

 

[flighter x]

Yea Cheers for that then, ill leave my light of like i do then before go bed. Fish still doing fine, Gonna keep an eye on the water now, baught some more salt today, tropic marine gonna keep it the same. When should i do my first water change? and how long should i have it pre-made for? and also how much of the tank? 10% 20% >?
:happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish

 

[poniegirl]

Hi Flighter, I have never premade the water, I usually wait and mix on the day I do the water change. Do the instructions tell you to pre-mix it ahead?
Once your water tests stable, you could do a 10% change.

 

[flighter x]

First Pictures After Week 1.
Fish As Follows :
1 Yellow Tang
1 Regal Tang
2 Percula ClownFish
1 Scooter
Live Rock
Gonna add some more live rock, Next Weekend Hopefully. Overstocked? Yea Most probs definatly, But gonna upgrade Very soon to 50+ Gal.
So here are first couple of pics, Not great detail but here are first Looks :