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Jesterrace

Jesterrace

Active Member
Just figured I would introduce myself. I started my first tank ever around late February and after a major noob disaster and a more minor one, my 36 Gallon Aqueon Bowfront Reef Tank is up and running and almost completely stocked.

Here is what it consists of:

2 HOB Filters (One is the stock Aqueon QuietFlow 30 and the Other is the Fluval 50 running a Chemipure media bag and carbon bag)
Aqueon LED White Light with Moon Glow Accents and added Blue Max Bulb
40lbs live rock
40lbs live sand
9 Snails (mix of Astrea, Margarita and one Turbo)
13 Hermit Crabs (mix of left handed, dwarf red and blue)
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 Scissortail Dartfish
1 Diamond Watchman Goby
1 Purple Firefish
1 Green Mandarinfish (yeah, I keep pods on hand at all times)
5 Corals

I also have a Helfrichi Firefish on order and that will complete the tank (along with a Protein Skimmer that I have coming)

I will post pictures tomorrow.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
welcome...and good luck with your tank...also Idk how much research you have done with your purple and helfrichi fires but hopefully they get along...my brother has a helfrichi and its amazing...I have an exquisite which also is pretty awesome very much like the purple but has some yellow in it and different purples
 
Jesterrace

Jesterrace

Active Member
iidylii said:
welcome...and good luck with your tank...also Idk how much research you have done with your purple and helfrichi fires but hopefully they get along...my brother has a helfrichi and its amazing...I have an exquisite which also is pretty awesome very much like the purple but has some yellow in it and different purples
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I really wanted an exquisite instead of the purple but I couldn't justify the price from *********** (shipping is horrendous and I get better deals from my LFS on just about everything else) and my LFS couldn't source them. They got me a brightly colored Purple for $25 so it was hard to justify the additional expense for an exquisite at that big of a price disparity. I am aware of the possibility that the Helfrichi and Purple may have some issues, but I will give it a shot
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Agreed. I have a lfs that gets the helfrichi but i can pull the trigger for a $70 fire fish lol
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Its looking good, Jesterrace, but that mandarin will likely starve to death in a newly set up tank. Is he eating?

Just to let you know, you can also post pics here by uploading directly from your pc. That will give you the picture directly in the forum post, rather than a link.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
To touch on beths comments. I didn't notice the mandy. Ova prawn roe is an excellent food for them
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
yeah for some reason the exquisite was the same price on divers den as the purple one when I got it...anyways goodluck with them both
 
Jesterrace

Jesterrace

Active Member
beth said:
Its looking good, Jesterrace, but that mandarin will likely starve to death in a newly set up tank. Is he eating?

Just to let you know, you can also post pics here by uploading directly from your pc. That will give you the picture directly in the forum post, rather than a link.
Click to expand...
Actually, I think it's a she since the dorsal fin is not present and yes she is eating (clearly pecking at the live rock and moving around quite a bit). I am currently adding about a quarter bottle of pods every 3-4 days (Tigger Pods) but I will switch once I find a good source of pods for a reasonable price. I was very hesitant to add her to the tank but the deal I got was too good to pass up. Trust me, I keep a pretty close eye on the fish and I will take it back to the store before letting it die of starvation. As for the pics, I did the link since they were too big for the file size allotment (yeah, I know I can re-size them with a couple of different programs, but it was just easier for me at the time to upload them and post links).
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Unless you have a refugium one mandarin will decimate the pods you add in just a few hours. They won't have a chance to multiply. You might set up a small tank just to culture them. I've seen directions on line.
Pecking at the rocks doesn't mean they are actually getting anything. They will do that in a sterile tank as well.
I'd look into the prawn roe Jay suggested to supplement its diet.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Its great stuff. Its high nutrition that imo all draggonets eat readily. That said pods, frozen foods, even pellets should be added over time. To start off tho I've never had a mandy not eat ova. All fish will eat it tho so target feeding is needed in a well stocked tank. My puffer loves this stuff lol
 
Jesterrace

Jesterrace

Active Member
jay0705 said:
Its great stuff. Its high nutrition that imo all draggonets eat readily. That said pods, frozen foods, even pellets should be added over time. To start off tho I've never had a mandy not eat ova. All fish will eat it tho so target feeding is needed in a well stocked tank. My puffer loves this stuff lol
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I always keep a bottle of pods on hand and add them every few days, I feed the tank in general Mysis Pellets and then every few days a half cube of of frozen mysis. I also recently picked up some Reef Frenzy that I will add every few days as well and work out a rotation. Between all this stuff all of my fish should get a pretty good variety in terms of diet. I also got my protein skimmer up and running and it has slowly started to break in.
 
Jesterrace

Jesterrace

Active Member
The bad news: The Mandarin is looking a bit skinny. The Good News: She is definitely starting to chow down on frozen mysis shrimp. Yesterday she swam up to a pretty good size piece gave it a sideways glance and took the whole thing in her mouth and chewed for a while and went after some I put in the tank today. I also decided to bag the Helfrichi as no one can get it on the stock list and waiting weeks/months to pay $70 for a firefish just sounds less and less like a good idea. Any ideas for a bright colored fish of a peaceful demeanor that will fit in a 36 gallon tank? Oh and be visible (The Diamond Watchman Goby is the only fish I want that burrows).

Thus far I have come up with:

A Regular Firefish
Zebra Dartfish

Two more that are big questionmarks:

Royal Gramma Basslet
Orchid Dottyback

I know the Basslets and Dottybacks in general are terrible tankmates for peaceful fish. The big question is whether or not these particular examples are the exceptions to the rule (which some sources point to).
 
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lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Orchid dotty back would be a good choice. They are brightly colored. Docile for a dotty back and captive bred specimens are readily available. Mine darts in and out of the rocks all day. Much more so than any royal gramma I've ever had. I really haven't had much luck with grammas. I had one for years maybe 15 years ago. Never had one survive QT since.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I don't think he'd want a wrasse with a Mandy in a 36 gallon tank. Might be an issue food wise since wrasses eat pods.
 
Jesterrace

Jesterrace

Active Member
lmforbis said:
I don't think he'd want a wrasse with a Mandy in a 36 gallon tank. Might be an issue food wise since wrasses eat pods.
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I definitely don't want a wrasse since they get too big for my tank and as mentioned they will eat pods and I already have a Purple Firefish and a Green Mandarin. Glad to hear about the Orchid Dottyback though.
 
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