porthosandjazz
Member
My coworker had a fully established tank that thrived for 3-4 years. She decided she could not maintain the tank anymore due to time and money. I had always wanted a swf tank. So I agreed to buy it from her. I got it for a STEAL. I didn't realize what a good deal I got when I was buying it.
It's 125 gal. 40 gal refugium. Dinner plate sized anemone. Mated jumbo clownfish, large yellow tang, large orange shoulder tang, 100 pounds of live fiji rock, live sand, a fully grown lawnmower blenny, two chromis, protein skimmer and bioballs, pumps, lights, timers, and probably a lot more that I am forgetting.
The thing is... I was so excited about the fishtank (still am), but I just rushed into buying things. I only looked at things like reefsafe? yes or no. And difficulty of care. I had no idea what in the hell I was doing.
Here are some of the mistakes I have made (and I KNOW I have made more, but I just don't know it yet)...
First of all... overcrowding
Since we have gotten the tank, here is what I have bought...
large spider decorator crab, sally lightfoot crab, arrow crab, teddy bear crab, horseshoe crab, 70 blue hermit crabs, fuzzy dwarf lionfish, emperor angelfish, foxface rabbitfish, copperbanded butterfly fish, fire shrimp, pistol shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimps, 1 coral banded shrimp, choc chip star fish (which ate my 2 flame scallops), blonde naso tang, pipefish, 3 feather dusters, 1 huge colt coral, 1 bubble tip anemone, 1 florida condii anemone, 2 more clownfish (on the opposite side of tank as other clownfish), 10 snails, 2 cleaner clams, 3 emerald crabs, 5 mushroom polyps, frogspawn coral, bicolor blenny, green mandarin fish, blue hippo tang, a valentini puffer, white sebae anemone, pink tip hatian anemone, yellow gorgonian, red gorgonian, engineer goby, dragon goby, 3 anemone crabs, 3 curly q anemone, a yellow cucumber, a lettuce nudibranch, 1 peppermint shrimp, 3 large xenia colonies, a volitan lionfish, and a partidge in a pear tree.
O....M....G....
If only I had spent more time on this message board before I went crazy. I am just so in love with marine life, that I went way OCD with the purchasing. Oh, and I bought all of this within the span of... 1.5 months! You guys are all going to SHOOT me. But I am here, admitting all of this to you for several reasons. To help others not make the mistakes I did. To see what you seasoned aquarists have to say about the compatabilities of what is now in my tank. I have been suprisingly lucky so far. People tell me I am breaking like every rule in the book, and they are right. If you guys have any guesses as to what survived, it should be interesting to hear your thoughts!
It's 125 gal. 40 gal refugium. Dinner plate sized anemone. Mated jumbo clownfish, large yellow tang, large orange shoulder tang, 100 pounds of live fiji rock, live sand, a fully grown lawnmower blenny, two chromis, protein skimmer and bioballs, pumps, lights, timers, and probably a lot more that I am forgetting.
The thing is... I was so excited about the fishtank (still am), but I just rushed into buying things. I only looked at things like reefsafe? yes or no. And difficulty of care. I had no idea what in the hell I was doing.
Here are some of the mistakes I have made (and I KNOW I have made more, but I just don't know it yet)...
First of all... overcrowding
Since we have gotten the tank, here is what I have bought...
large spider decorator crab, sally lightfoot crab, arrow crab, teddy bear crab, horseshoe crab, 70 blue hermit crabs, fuzzy dwarf lionfish, emperor angelfish, foxface rabbitfish, copperbanded butterfly fish, fire shrimp, pistol shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimps, 1 coral banded shrimp, choc chip star fish (which ate my 2 flame scallops), blonde naso tang, pipefish, 3 feather dusters, 1 huge colt coral, 1 bubble tip anemone, 1 florida condii anemone, 2 more clownfish (on the opposite side of tank as other clownfish), 10 snails, 2 cleaner clams, 3 emerald crabs, 5 mushroom polyps, frogspawn coral, bicolor blenny, green mandarin fish, blue hippo tang, a valentini puffer, white sebae anemone, pink tip hatian anemone, yellow gorgonian, red gorgonian, engineer goby, dragon goby, 3 anemone crabs, 3 curly q anemone, a yellow cucumber, a lettuce nudibranch, 1 peppermint shrimp, 3 large xenia colonies, a volitan lionfish, and a partidge in a pear tree.
O....M....G....
If only I had spent more time on this message board before I went crazy. I am just so in love with marine life, that I went way OCD with the purchasing. Oh, and I bought all of this within the span of... 1.5 months! You guys are all going to SHOOT me. But I am here, admitting all of this to you for several reasons. To help others not make the mistakes I did. To see what you seasoned aquarists have to say about the compatabilities of what is now in my tank. I have been suprisingly lucky so far. People tell me I am breaking like every rule in the book, and they are right. If you guys have any guesses as to what survived, it should be interesting to hear your thoughts!
