Quote:
Originally Posted by
Drewsta http:///t/394742/getting-a-young-pair-of-clowns-s#post_3513488
I have set up a new tank about 2 weeks old now all parameters good still waiting another week before I add anything. Anyway I'm getting a pair of true Percs and wasn't planning on getting any corals yet. I don't want to overload the system so basically my question is is it ok to put the percs in without the anemone? Thanks
I thought you were on this site a long time ago, and were among the experts. Shane is correct, a clownfish does not need an anemone to keep it. Wallowing in an anemone is just a cool thing they SOMETIMES do. Often folks get an anemone to discover the clowns are not at all interested in it.
Just in case:
What did you use to kick start the cycle?
You don't measure when to put fish in a tank by time. You kick start the cycle with pure ammonia, or a chunk of raw shrimp...then you do water tests to determine what the parameters are...first stage is an ammonia spike, good bacteria develops to eat the ammonia, and then some other good bacteria buddies show up and they start a nitrite spike, last stage is another type of good bacteria feeds on the nitrites, then you have nitrates, the first cycle.
Ammonia and nitrites are deadly to sea life, you shouldn't add any life until you have those spike and go back to 0. If you have not kick started the cycle, then you have no activity going on at all, and the tank just sits there. As soon as you add that first fish it's going to begin the cycle with a fish in it....then just to keep the fish alive, you slow your cycle by doing water changes, and that's called a soft cycle. A soft cycle takes longer to do, and you risk burning the gills of the fish or killing it.
in my past tanks I kept mostly leathers and some montis so I'm venturing out a bit more