New tank... Questions... Lions, puffers, eels,

[starr]

Hey I am new to this salt water thing, this is our first tank, I have done a lot of reading and I know some, but not much, lots of things conflict when your trying to learn about salt water tanks! I have a few questions and wasn’t really sure who to ask them too. I will put the numbers beside them so its easier to reply to. I have just recently started a 44 gallon tank. It cycled for four plus weeks with just live sand and water, every thing was perfect for pets so we decided to go to the local fish store and start our tank. We just added about 25 lbs of live rock and a small lion fish, this is there second day in the tank, today we added a few (4) small hermits to the tank and fed the lion a goldfish, we also bought frozen krill to feed him but have not tried it yet. We are working on the ammonia and the nitrite, which I knew would go up when we added to the tank but every thing else is good  yay! So.. question one is… are goldfish ok to feed him? Pet store said yes but I have heard a lot of no’s. We want to get a small porcupine puffer, a blue ribbon eel and a banded snake eel. Question 2 both eels are supposted to be non aggressive is this true and question 3… are these 4 fish selections ok to put in the 44 gal tank together? I would like to order the deep sea yellow gorgonian, an anemone (not sure which kind), an electric flame scallop, and maybe an urchin (again not sure which kind maybe purple). This is question 4 with the fish we want are all of these things ok to have? And question 5 is about the hermit crabs, like I said we have 4 small ones and the lion has not bothered them yet but I’m afraid the puffer (when we get him) will, we would like to order the 10 blue legged hermits but are not sure if they will be dinner. I would love to hear any suggestions and comments, like I said we are new and I value wiser opinions!  THANKS!!!!!!!!! Starr

 

[cartman101]

:happyfish Well first off you should have no fish in the tank with ammonia or nitrite(a damsel would be the best fish for that). Dont feed your lion goldfish!!!!!!!!NO GOLDFISH! Feed him saltwater food. A ribbontail eel is very hard to keep so i would say no to it. The most important thing to do is NOT TO RUSH!!! No porc puffer in a 44gal, that tank is way too small. If you want a sea anmonea(sp?) dont get a eel cause when a eelgoes into a feeding frenzy mode it might run into the anemone and get a bad injury. SLOW DOWN in this hobby and i'm sorry if i sounded a little mean but you gotta keep reading

and SLOW down.

 

[sandlot13]

Starr.......
Im somewhat new to this hobby as well (having only one 37 gallon tank), but from what i know, SLOW IS BETTER! Its good you let it cycle with just water and live sand, but adding 25lbs of live rock and a lionfish is going to add alot of ammonia and nitrates. Dont plan on adding anymore fish for a bit, cause every time you add to your bioload your tank must start a whole new "mini-cycle" if you will. I dont know much about lionfish, so i cant help you there, but listen to the people on this forum, they know their stuff! good luck, and post some pictures once you get it all up and running so everyone can see!

 

[cartman101]

what kind of lion do you have???

 

[fallinmor]

ok lions r great but hard to medicate. i wouldn't have recomended getting it to start with but u already did so it doesn't matter now, lions should not eat goldfish can make them sick and it's not natural goldfish r fresh water and lions r salt. Krill is the best i found so far silver's and other small meaty fish items r good to, but the ribbon eel is not the best eel go with more of a snowflake or ghost moray they r much better. the main thing is to read go slow and get multiple opinion on stuff the, if u wanted to get some small fish now u have to seperate the lion so that is normally the last to go in but the live rock and live sand should have gone in first cuz now the live rock mayy not have been cured all the way and now it will finish in ur tank and ur gonna get amonia and nitrate spikes and it's gonna b a little stressful fer a while. keep ur temp at around 80 degrees to keep ich away cuz if ur lion gets it medicating it makes it worse. i know this cuz just last week i had that happen to me me i got a black volitan lion and he started to go down hill from medication. but othe then that lions r great and r reef safe if u watch them and feed them right. if u lion is small give him small krill like one or two a day keep him satisfied but not full cuz it will get gut rot if u feed him too much. Then again i'm a newb as well and my tank has been runnin fer only a month or so so to most of the long time reef keepers and fish freaks so my opinion doesn't matter in their eyes but take my post and learn from it don't use anything as law if it says what u like most of the time it's half truth of whole lie. good luck with ur tank

 

[tnt]

I don't think goldfish are the best thing to feed your lion. Use ghost shrimp if he won't eat dead food, but then keep trying with the other food. We tricked ours into eating raw seafood from the grocery store (squid, mussels, crab, shrimp, fish) by putting it in front of the powerhead and letting it "swim" around the tank. He eats anything offered now. We feed an occasional ghost shrimp for a treat, and then silversides, and the above mentioned seafood. We only feed him 3-4 times a week, and he does wonderful. He also knows this schedule, and knows when he's gonna get fed. They are like puppydogs. I really enjoy ours. good luck!! :joy:

 

[starr]

Thanks! Yall have been very helpful! I just have a noraml lion, the ones at the pet store, not a fuzzy or anything like that, he is really pretty though, hes mostly brown with light and dark orange. I love him already! His name is chocolate chip, because of the brown and also because his cheeks puff out like a chipmunk when he ate the goldfish, which I will NOT be feeding him any more! The guy at the fish store said that the fish (lion and puff) will grow to their environment and no bigger and that my tank would be fine for now, will it be fine for now and if so then for how long? He probably just wanted my money but hes pretty good about giving us the facts. Are there any other eels beside ghosts and snow flakes that would be good? have yall ever heard of a dwarf moray? What about different kinds of puffers, just not a porcupine one? are there dwarf porpupine puffers? Today will be the first day I try the krill so I hope he likes it, if not then I have alot of good suggustions for other food! Im going to try to train him to eat out of our hand like some people on here have done, I think that would be awesome! I dont want to get anything and kill it so like I said earlier, all the opinions of the wiser are greatly appreciated! We dont want smaller fish the only fish we wanted were the lion, puffer, and eel and maybe a large angel later but for now just the lion, puff (hopefully), and the eel THANKS!!!!!!

 

[dougai]

take it slow
ask on the board if you have a question
and dont always trust you LFS

 

[carshark]

Originally Posted by dougai
take it slow
ask on the board if you have a question
and dont always trust you LFS

almost never really...lol half of them learn on a as needed basis, and money is in their minds more than anything else...just a thought

 

[starr]

Thats what I thought about the lfs but I hoped for the best, guess i shouldnt have! No more advise on the tank? One more update the ammonia is down and safe and he ate a piece of krill, only one though, the other 3 floated around and just as he was going to eat them when they settled on the bottom so I took them out, well 2 of them the third piece a hermit dragged into the rocks!

 

[cartman101]

if its a volitan lion i hope you will upgrade

 

[unleashed]

you should have no problem with the hermits and your lions.as far as tank size goes yes an upgrade is a very good idea if you intend to keep lions at all volitan lions can get to be a very heathly size very quickly at that,my smallest lion was 2 inches when purchase in feberary and is now 7 inchs in just a few months was upgraded to a 90 gal from a 55,the ribbon eel isnt in your best interest as a beginner species.ribbon eels have a very high death rate for even the most experienced of fish keepers.very few will eat in captivity.most of the fish you have named off require a much larger tank .you already have the lion but dont add to many too fast and please read up on compatibilty and tank requirements for each species.this can be a very rewarding hobby but if you try to hard to fast you will find it to be more of an expencive chore.the novilty wears off when you move to fast and things go wrong.ps silverslides, scallops ,krill. squid and shrimp.chuncky type foods are best for your lion.if the food is too big for your fish you can break it a little for him so he doesnt choke.but never ever feed your fish gold fish.although alot of pet stores do it and say its ok,its not ok.fish stores dont intend to keep fish for years at a time yes your fish will eat them.goldfish are fresh water garbage disposals they are what they eat.if you must feed live fish i suggest black mollies acclimated to salt water they are brackish fish and can survive in salt if acclimated properly.but this is a very costly menue .

 

[sw65galma]

Originally Posted by Starr
:The guy at the fish store said that the fish (lion and puff) will grow to their environment and no bigger and that my tank would be fine for now, will it be fine for now and if so then for how long?
You can explain it to you LFS guy like this
This is FW fish only...and not all of them either.
There are small ponds and lakes that fresh water fish live in..so fish grow to the size of their environment.
Have you ever once seen a small Ocean? It's not in a Saltwater fish's genetic makeup to grow to it's environment size, because it's environement is ALWAYS BIG
I'm not an expert on lions and puffers, but they'll get big and fast..
Originally Posted by Starr
: He probably just wanted my money but hes pretty good about giving us the facts.
Yes the Wrong facts. Everything you have said is just about wrong, this is a normal situation with Pet stores, so don't be alarmed or surprised. Anyone who would sell you a lion as your first fish should not be listened to..I know you really wanted it...but...there are procedures you have to follow in order to have a successful tank.
Ask your questions here before you BUY ANYTHING.

Originally Posted by Starr
:Are there any other eels beside ghosts and snow flakes that would be good? have yall ever heard of a dwarf moray? .

Sorry eels in a 55 is gonna be tough...You'd need to have an extremely heafty system to handle thier bioload...I'd wait till you have Saltwater for a year before trying them. You also have to seal your cover as they get out all the time. They also can get over 3ft long.
There is a dwarf moray and it's about $300+ if you can find one..again I'd wait till you learn the ropes
Originally Posted by Starr
: What about different kinds of puffers, just not a porcupine one? are there dwarf porpupine puffers?

Most puffers will get the size of a Football fast..again you're gonna need a great skimmer and filter combo to handle the bio load.
Don't rush, you have a month or 2 in between adding fish, Don't add anymore till your readings stablize for atleast 2 weeks..
Also keep in mind newer tanks are alittle easier to handle at first as all your chemicals are FULL, once things get depelted and you have to start adding things or doing more water changes, then you'll know what's in store for you...it's a great hobby, but not an easy one by any means.
One last thing is that SW fish because they are brought up in the Ocean are bigger and require huge tanks. Your 55gal tank in a freshwater scenerio would be consider quite large. In SW standards it's very small (not that it's bad) but you are VERY limited to how many fish and types you can keep in it. Saltware fish will stress out and die if they are enclosed in a small area (or what they percive as a small area)
Tangs are one of these, large angels.
Originally Posted by Starr
:Today will be the first day I try the krill so I hope he likes it, if not then I have alot of good suggustions for other food! Im going to try to train him to eat out of our hand like some people on here have done, I think that would be awesome! I dont want to get anything and kill it so like I said earlier, all the opinions of the wiser are greatly appreciated! We dont want smaller fish the only fish we wanted were the lion, puffer, and eel and maybe a large angel later but for now just the lion, puff (hopefully), and the eel THANKS!!!!!!

The next time you buy a fish...you should have asked all these questions and go into the LFS knowing more than the LFS guy

Forget about the angler for now......