Fish selection 30 gallon

[juliafish]

Hi,
I was wondering what would be a good combination of fish for a thirty gallon tank. I like mainly the really colorful fish. I was thinking maybe a royal gamma, a purple firefish, and then I do not know. I would like one more fish that is not one that hides. One that swims out in the open kind of like a tang but I know that I do not have enough room for a tang. I was looking around at the fish on this website and I love the pygmy angel could that fish go in a thirty gallon? I guess I could get a clownfish. I was thinking just three fish is that about right? I also would like to get a cleaner package how many snails and hermit crabs should I get to clean the tank? Also how many will safley go with that amount of fish and what kinds do you reccomend? I would also like to get a coral banded shrimp if it can fit. Right now I have nothing and I am just setting up the tank and cycling it. I am just planning out what to get. At what point do I add the cleaner snails and hermit crabs? I would love to hear your opinions on fish.
Thanks,
Julia

 

[fishmamma]

You can definatly have a pygmy angel in your 30 gallon since they are the smallest of angels, and usually swim around the tank like crazy. All of the fish you mentioned like lots of crevices and caves on the rock to hide in, so you could have some real fun aquascaping for those fish. How much algae do you have in your tank at the moment? Sometimes I think it may be better to start off with a handful of hermits and a handful of snails to start. Then add as snecessary as time goes on. The red leg hermits are more stationary than the bluelegs. The blues are all over the rock and in my experience will kill the red legs. As for the CBS- check the suggested minimum tank size for those guys- I think it may be closer to 50 gallons, not that you still could not keep one. Also they are not always compatable with other shrimp species so if you think you may want other shrimp give the coral band a second thought.

 

[juliafish]

I do not have any algae yet. I think because I have not got my lights yet. I just bought a 192W power compact light that will be here in two days. My tank has been set up now for three or four weeks. It has sand for the base which I mixed two different sands from *****. One came in a bag sealed with water and was suppose to have beneficial bacteria in it. The other was just a real fine dry sand. Next I made base rocks for my tank that I am going to seed out with live rock. I made the rocks several months ago and they are now fully cured and in the tank. I just bought the live rock to seed them out with. I only got five pounds so it will probably take a while. I still need to get a test kit and a protein skimmer. I am going to make a hang on the back refugium for the tank in the next couple of weeks to take care of the nitrates. With my last tank I had I always had high nitrates so this time I want to try plants to get rid of them. I have a canister filter that actually hangs on the back of my tank. I can not remember where I got it but it was overkill for my thirty gallon. It really moves the water around and I think it will do just fine to turn the ammonia and nitrites into nitrates. I used ro water to set it up with and will use it to do water changes. Well that is my setup I plan on eventually having a reef tank but first I just want fish. I guess I should go get a test kit to see where I am with my cycle. I really probably need to add something first to start the cycle though. Could I add a fish other then a damsel to start the cycle? Anything else that I need to get? :jumping:
Thanks,
Julia

 

[fishmamma]

Don't use a damsel......the damsel will thank you!

Read up on this site for alternatives, the most popular being the raw shrimp. Just throw a piece of raw shrimp in your tank to start the cycle. I never used this method, I always started with lots of live rock and "fed" the tank for a few weeks to get it going. But 5 pounds of rock will not be enough for a small cycle so I would recommend using the shrimp. It sounds like you know what you are doing and have just about everything you will need! Hope you get some cool critters on your rock when it comes in. :jumping:

 

[rwood]

i have also heard of putting the raw shrimp into your tank, what does it actually do ??

 

[flamehawk]

as raw fish decomposes it creates amonia which is needed to start the cycle. However agree that you should buy some more L/r AND ALLOW IT TO CYCLE THE TANK FOR YOU.
aS FAR AS FISH ....RG and firish s/b ok. you need to wait 3-4 months or so before you can add pygmy. needs a more established tank then the rg or ff. 3 fish s/b ok.....by the way if it were me, i'd go with a flame hawk instead of the firefisf. lot's of personality.