Looks like i am starting over

[angrycrab]

Ok here is the story. Last year a good friend of mine had a awesome 12g saltwater nano tank that I would fish sit for a few nights a month. I became attached. I work a lot of hours and may or may not be the most responseable guy in the world. I figured I would start small and see where to go from there. I got a 10g at wall mart and started a my first fresh water tank. The next day I go to buy my fish (again I am new) and I was blessed to have a great LFS. The girl got me to return my tank and setep to move up to a 29g tank. I re set up with this and learned about how to cycle and acutally care for fish. I set up my tank around 2 nice sized barbs I got 2 months later and my little fish world was great.
A Year later I got a huge promotion at work that requires a move a good few horus and a state away. I buy a 10g tank to hold my fish for a 2 week layover and take water from my old tank. I took a lot of care moving them but sadly they all seemed to get sick from the stress and died one at a time at my in laws

So fast foward to when I get to my new house, I decide to set up my former "holding tank" upstairs and have just a neon tank for my son and that I would adventure into the wonderful world of saltwater. I go to my new default LFS and inquire about all the info I need. I buy a new filter, Salt, a new light, 20 lbs of live sand and about 8 lbs of live rock. I get it all set up. I go back to add 3 damsels about a week later and again all is wonderful. 2 weeks later and I test my water... and everything is GREAT!! all my levels are where the should be...I am so ahead of the game. I wait an extra month to make sure all is well and I decide to leap into my firsth three fish. THis is when my LFS jumps the shark. The guy recommends starting with a tang and "another" fish. Again being new and counting I could take his work I asked about a trigger. he said Huma triggers are very hardy and do well in newer tanks. I get a huma(3 inches long mind you) a sailfin (baby but still) and a scooter. All fish live happily for the next 6 weeks. (Me not knowing they are to large for my tank) I go and ask this store about adding another. I knew teh rule of an inch per 3 gallons and figured I have 10 to work with, my huma being 3 and my sailfin about 2. I then add a dogface puffer and a maroon clown. (begins playing taps)
My trigger and puffer have hate at first site...and puffer dies within 3 days. There goes 50 bucks. A week later I find my scooter bitten in half at teh bottem of my tank...
Now this past weeks I notice like chunks out of my sailfin, I assume my trigger is eating everyone and causing all this stress which my research leads me to this website. I learn how terrible my fish planning was and start making plans on what to do next. Then my sailfin goes belly up within the first 24 horus after my post, the next day my clown is dead. Before posting this I just lost my last dammsel. My trigger is moving around like he wont make it through the night. I feel like a big failure

So the point of the post.... When and If my trigger dies, what now, I wanted to add some more live rock, all my fish dig what I had and i guess i want to add a little more, but then what, wait a few days and drop some more damsels in there? I am going to change my filter and do a water change. I should say that I have a nice testing kit and all my levels have been perfect through all this. I dont want to go back to my lfs, so I am going to either go to one in my old home town or just start buying on line. What fish going forward should I have my eye on for a 29g tank, and what are some steps to making sure this doesnt happen again.
Thanks for teh input guys, this whole thing just has me in teh mood to give up

 

[nofish4u!!]

oh bummer! I am so sorry for your loss. Don't give up. I have been where you are. I found that the best thing you can do is just educate yourself and not rely on people like that. If I were you, I would look into getting a pair of clowns to start. What about building a cleaning crew? Getting some shrimp, snails, crabs, etc..? What kind of tank do you want to have FOWLR?

 

[grmreapr]

Hey im from jersey to so if you need help just ask. my questions are what type of filtration..what type of substrate....do you have a protein skimmer......do you use tap water or ro/di water......bigger is allways better smaller tanks are a little harder to take care of trust me i have a 10 gl nano that i monitor almost every other day

 

[rusting]

Look at the fish on this site, then look them up on line to see how big they get, before you buy. Hope things work out better for you next time around.