essentials?

[vicmoconre]

:thinking: As I have already stated I am new to saltwater aquariums. I have received some important info from fellow members and I now would like to get some more guidance. My plan for my 25 gallon is A pair of Pecular Clowns, A Cleaner Shrimp (any suggestions, keep in mind color and, temperment), A Bicolor Blenny, A Green Mandarin Dragonet, A crab or two, A Feather Duster, An Anenome, and last but not least about 5-6 pounds of live rock. Of course any suggestions as to compatibility would be greatly appreciated. And if anyone has any hints as how to increase the number of fish in the aquarium without stressing them out that would be thanked aswell. One very important thing for me is live plant life. Also what does reef safe mean. Oh yeah I would like to get this started as soon as possible as my sons birthday is on april 29th.

 

[karajay]

Skip the mandarin - they generally feed only on live pods and you'd need 100 lbs. of LR and a refugium to support one of them without starving it to death.
Also, anemones should be left to the experts, they do not tend to do well in captivity - even for experienced hobbyists.
Reef-safe generally means that they will not munch your corals or inverts.

One other tip - DO NOT try to hurry or rush anything in this hobby...all you get is a disaster.

 

[dflannagan]

IMO that's too many fish for that size tank. A good rule is 1" of fish per 5 gallons of tank water. It may be very difficult to keep the dragonet properly fed in that size tank as they depend on pods that live and breed in live rock. The majority of opinions I've read on this site recommend along the lines of 100 lbs of LR in a mature tank. As for the anemone, those should only be introduced into tanks with very good water conditions that have been up and established for 6 months and maybe even more.
Reef safe means that the critter is compatible living in an environment with fish, inverts, and corals.
Just my .02