xterling
Member
My post will be rather involved, but I get the impression folks on this board are very helpful. I have a 72 gallon tank, that I’ve had for over a year now. I’ve had nothing but terrible luck with this thing, growing pains. Needless to say I’ve lost hundreds, and hundreds of dollars in fish over the last 14 months. These problems were brought on by my sheer ignorance of the intricacies of this wonderful hobby. First I was spraying cleaners, and air deoderizers all around my tank. Didn’t know that was a no-no. Then I wasn’t feeding my fish a varied diet. I lost an undulated trigger, Mineotus grouper, a porcupine puffer, and a banded eel. Due to one, or all, of the preceding problems. I also found out that you needed to maintain a certain temperature in the tank, so after a cold snap we had in S. Florida, I lost a few more fish. Then I kept replacing the dead (stressed-out, and Ich ridden) fish, with more fish. No quarantine, no waiting. Boom, there I was again with another batch of dead fish. So I got a water warmer, a UV sterilizer, and kept the tank empty for 4 weeks. I then put in 2 Blue/yellow damsels in there, and they didn'’ last a week (Ich again). Wether it was stress related or not, I don't’know. Water conditions during the last episode were excellent. So, I treated with copper for a month (this is a decoration only tank at this point), poly filtered the copper out, along with Chemi-Pure, then I obtained 2 more Damsels, they seemed to do alright for about 3 weeks, so I added a small Clown Fish, which the Damsels apparently killed, or stressed to death. So I took back the Damsels, and the idiot, I mean, guy at the store convinced me to buy a spotted Mandarin, and a Butterfly Fish, keep in mind there is no live rock or coral in my tank. Needless to say both fish perished in what I refer to as the tank o’ death. So here I am, starting over again, and wondering, is it all worth it? I mean I’m the type of guy that names his fish, so losing them really hurts. I’ve got my 72 gallon tank with about 10 lbs. Of Live Rock (now), a big wet/dry, UV sterilizer, excellent lighting. I always have 2 bags of Chemi-Pure, and a Poly-filter in place. My water conditions are perfect by any standards, and temperature is stabilized. I want to proceed with getting fish, and adding more live rock. But I love aggressive fish. Does anyone have any idea on how to proceed (ie,stock) with my tank. What types of fish would you recommend? How many, and often should I add fish. How much Live Rock should I get? Somebody help, I’m dying over here!