New To This, A Couple Of ?

[r's 75tank]

We just finished cycling last weekend and added 3 blue/green chromis, 3 small snails on Sunday. A couple of ?'s, the snails are doing great so far. One of the small Chromis is hiding most of the time and when he does come out gets harrased by the biggest one, the other two swim around together all the time and the small one does'nt come out to eat either. What can we do for the little guy?
What should we add next? we were thinking of adding a bunch of snails, crabs, a shrimp, and possibly a brittle star and next weekend adding 2 clowns. Is this ok and how many inverts?
Is it too soon to start my weekly 5gal. water change?
Thanks, Any help would be great

 

[fishmamma]

Welcome!
It is never too soon to do a water change if your cycle is over.

Not too sure if I have any good advice about the little picked on chromis. Hopefully the other two will stop bullying him in the next day or so.
Maybe add a couple of hermits next. If you add too many snails some may starve, especially in a new set-up. What kind of snails did you get? Some clean the algae off the glass and live rock while other s will burrow and sift the san bed. Myabe get a couple of each kind and see how it goes from there.
If you just added 3 fish I would wait 4 weeks before adding two more just to be safe. If your parameters are stable adding inverts right away should be OK. What size tank do you have....75? How much live rock?

 

[benj420]

Your water changes are going to be dictated by your water test results. If you have a measurable amount of nitrates, it is time to start water changes.
IMO, you should not add anything new for another month as you tank will go through another "mini cycle" from the addition of the Chromis (which is natural). After that, you can slowly add new things, but I would not do them all at once. I would also wait on the star and shrimp at least a few months until everything is leveled out.
Remember, only bad things happen fast in a reef tank.
For the smallest chromis, you can try to direct feed with some frozen brine shrimp in a turkey baster or syringe. The other option is to seperate it and move it to another tank or fuge if you have one.

 

[r's 75tank]

75gal tank, 80lbs LR, 60lbs LS
The snails seem to eating a lot of the green plant growing on our live rock, but there is tons more. We were thinking then just getting maybe hermit crab and a few more little ones (don't remember what they were called).

 

[wax32]

I've read that Chromis do better in groups of 5 or more, disperses the aggression some. But it also fills your tank with fish you might not really love.

 

[r's 75tank]

True, we were hoping by limiting the chromis to 3 we would have more room for other cool fish, but 5-6 was our original plan. Maybe we should stick to it.
is it too soon to add 2-3 more this weekend?

 

[wax32]

IF they are small and you take it easy on feeding them it would probably be ok, although other people would say it's too soon. Main thing is you don't want to overpower the bacteria that is building up in your new tank. If you start seeing high nitrates or ANY nitrites or ammonia, do a water change.