I'm New...(and trying to avoid being confused)

joshradio

joshradio

Member
Greetings... I recently decided to dust off my old dorm room sized 15 gallon and decided to try my hands at saltwater fish. I had a salt tank as a kid, but it was a thriving 360 gallon behemoth donated to me by my uncle, fully set up. I want to keep it small/simple as of right now because of $$$ and space(...and wife... :thinking: ). I just put some live sand and about 5lbs of live rock in it with water bought from the shop, so it's balanced and phosphate, copper and other gunk free. It's been "cycling" for about a week and it seems to be supporting the rock (and all the little freebie guys that were attached, like feather dusters and random/microscopic type of anemones.) It currently has a bio-wheel for 30g tanks.
My wife of course likes clowns (like almost any other person) and I wouldn't mind it, but I'd like to add small corals and such....
So here's the question... what are the remaining steps we should take? like add more lr before we add fish? Add simple things like feather dusters, or anemones now? Put a power head on for circulation? Like I said, I'm new, but don't wanna go all in right off the bat.... any help/ideas? Anything I'm leaving out?
And one more.... are Florida Condi anemone's A) "too big" for that size tank w/ a clown? and B) Ok to be put with a clown?
others I'm considering to put in (based on your advice)
-coral banded shrimp (1)
-jawfish (1)
-purpleback pseudo (1)
-or-
-royal gramma (1)
-flamehawk (1)
as well as a few snails (10?) and maybe the feather duster's (2 or 3) and anemone (1)
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Welcome to the board and good luck with your tank.
Do a search on this board for "cycle". There are a lot of great posts explaining it.
Add all the live rock you want now... before you try to add inverts/fish.
Be patient. Use a raw cocktail shrimp to "cycle" your tank. Let your tank cycle for about a month... checking ammonia, nitrites, nitrates.
Anemones need strong lighting. Research those fully. Also research your choice of clownfish. Some get rather big.
I believe it is fairly rare for a clownfish to host in a Florida anemone. It can happen, but it is rare. Again, research anemones carefully. Clowns can do fine without them.
 
crazyaqua

crazyaqua

Member
yeah my cinnamon clown will hang in my florida condi. he prefers that over the rock flower i have in there. i will have to get a photo i didnt know it was rare that clowns wont host in florida condis. i knew my fish was special :jumping:
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Well, there are no "clownfish" in the Caribbean... it may just be they don't usually recognize Condis as viable homes. Sometimes damsels will host in Condis in the wild. Not sure if that has been replicated in captivity.
 
joshradio

joshradio

Member
Well I now have my mission... to get a damsel to host in a condi!!! :joy:
but am I jumping the gun on this? What am I missing? :help:
 
crazyaqua

crazyaqua

Member
Yeah you are right journey i never thought of that maybe my clown went on vacation to the carribean before he came tank heh who knows but i will get a shot of him prob tomrrow. Also with a 15 i would stick with a just a clown and if you want an Anemone you will need better lighting. But good luck :cheer:
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by JoshRadio
Well I now have my mission... to get a damsel to host in a condi!!! :joy:
but am I jumping the gun on this? What am I missing? :help:
Damsels are among the most territorial little monsters you can have (and many don't stay little for long). They get even MORE aggressive guarding an anemone (from SCUBA trips I've seen and experienced this...)
A damsel guarding an anemone in a small tank quite possibly would result in death to anything else you added.
 
joshradio

joshradio

Member
I've got 2 of the 50/50 compacts on there.... is that not enough? I was thinking about taking the LR to just below the surface and trying on there? Too stupid?
 
joshradio

joshradio

Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
A damsel guarding an anemone in a small tank quite possibly would result in death to anything else you added.
point taken!!! ::note taking:: n-o d-a-m-s-e-l-s-!-!-!-!
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Originally Posted by JoshRadio
Well I now have my mission... to get a damsel to host in a condi!!! :joy:
Actually, your mission will be a lot harder than you think... since it's the anemone that "hosts" the fish.
Sorry, but I had to. :hilarious
:hilarious
 
joshradio

joshradio

Member
So I'm taking it's safe to say that I should fill up with the LR I want and then let it sit and then add all the fish I mentioned?

-clown (1)
-purpleback pseudo (1)
-royal gramma (1)
-neon goby (1)
-coral banded shrimp (1)
-jawfish (1)
as well as a few snails (10?) and maybe the feather duster's (2 or 3)
 
uberlink

uberlink

Active Member
Originally Posted by JoshRadio
So I'm taking it's safe to say that I should fill up with the LR I want and then let it sit and then add all the fish I mentioned?

-clown (1)
-purpleback pseudo (1)
-royal gramma (1)
-neon goby (1)
-coral banded shrimp (1)
-jawfish (1)
as well as a few snails (10?) and maybe the feather duster's (2 or 3)

Are we still talking about your 15 gallon tank? I think that would be too many fish. I'd say choose one of those--at most two--and give that a shotI think you'd be fine with the snails and feather dusters, possibly even the shrimp (if you can really get good water quality).
Or better yet, buy a bigger tank...you could double or triple it in size for $50 or so, and the other equipment you'll need (skimmer, lighting, etc.) won't cost really any different for a significantly larger tank than for your 15.
Just a thought. Best of luck!
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
In that size tank, i wouldnt put anymore that 1 clown, and 2 neon gobies, or 2 clown gobies. the neons, and clown gobies stay really small.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
Clownfish, pseudochromis and royal grammas are all territorial. Adding more than one of those in a tank under 30 gallons is asking for a constant battle royale. ANY anemone is going to outgrow your small tank, that's if it survives with low lighting. I have never kept an anemone (I like my corals' health too much) so I can't say for sure if it would live under those lights. BUT if it did live, it could very easily move all over the tank, killing any corals you might want to keep.
Go bigger, OR if you are going to do that small tank get just the clown (no anemone) OR get a pseudochromis and leave it at that. I personally don't really like clowns (I've tried a few) and really DO like pseudochromis.
 
joshradio

joshradio

Member

Here's where "im at just as a set up...
Ok, so I'm going to put about 15-20 more lbs of LR in there this weekend, and then wait a bit while my peeled shrimpsets the cycle... (and also I'm waitin to see if I've got any of those freaky lice things I saw on another thread!!
) And I will then probably go with a cleaner crew and maybe 2 dusters, a clown and a neon goby, and purpleback....
Sound ok?
 
joshradio

joshradio

Member
I'm wondering why everyone seems to be downing the 15 gallon, but bursting at the gills about the nano's?
I envision this....
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
Instead of a jawfish, which needs a deep, mature sandbed, how about a watchman goby and pistol shrimp pair? That and a clown would be nice... stick to the smaller clowns. Your typical "nemo" ocellaris clown would be perfect.
Neon gobies, by the way, often don't live long. There typical "wild" lifespan is only a couple years, in tanks they usually live much less. They also tend to suffer from shipping problems and die a couple days after you get them in your tank. Not always, but often.
What you are invisioning looks good. That clown in the picture is an ocellaris like I mentioned.
 
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