not tank in a hex

[clown lover]

We had a sales person talk us into buying a tang. We had it over night and the darn fish had ick. We took it back. Our tank is a 53 hex. We have a lot live rock, one gramma, 2 damsels, 2 pink tip anemones, one horseshoe crab, hermmies, pinchusion urch., snails (10), and a goby. Lots of pods for the goby. What other fish would go well in this tank. We check all the levels and everything seems fine. I am sick and tired of sale people telling me what we should get and then it not working out. Any info will be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[karajay]

Well, CLOWN LOVER, how about a clown or a pair of them?

 

[ross]

I am very glad to hear you got rid of the tang. I'm glad some people do the responsible thing! I agree with karajay a pair of clowns would be really cool. They have really great personalties!

 

[aarone]

what kind of "goby" do you have?
aaron

 

[bdhough]

I would get rid of the horseshoe crab. They get much bigger than your tank can handle, if they don't starve from a lack of food first.
As for the goby is it a mandarin? or standard goby? A mandarin in your size tank may slowly starve to death. I just don't trust the long term odds for mandarins in anything less than a 100 gallons with at least 125lbs of rock.
As far as another fish to get, a clown would be nice, dwarf angel if you don't have corals, smaller wrasses such as the fairy or sixline, or cardinals. I would add one or two more fish and call it quits with the fish.
Another factor to take heed on is your ich problem. The tang you bought introduced ich into your system. Its very possible in the next couple days for your other fish to get sick. I wouldn't buy a new fish for your tank for a while to make sure nothing is wrong in there. In the meantime while you are waiting try setting up a QT tank. They can be done for cheap and youll be able to treat new fish like your ich covered tang before placing it into the display. CHeck the disease forum for the sticky at the top. Beth wrote it. If cost is an issue just remember a disease in your "sterile" tank can very easily wipe it out in a few days and a QT tank could have been bought instead of all new fish....

 

[clown lover]

The goby we have is a mandarin. So far it seems to be doing fine, eating the pods. The horseshoe crab, we did hear they get big. Now how to get rid of it? My daughter has a tank but it is too small. We tried clowns. For some reason we have had no luck. Those are my favorites. We did purchase a QT. Already have it set up and cycling. Nothing in it. We use the water from our other tank and put some rock in there. I did read and print out Beth's suggestions. We are new at this and learning so many things. We used to have fresh water for years and it is a lot different. The best thing we have learned so far, don't listen to every sales person. They seem ready to have you buy anything. This fish tank was my daughters idea. We hadn't had a tank set up for years. We have gotten so much enjoyment out of this. For a long time we sat and watched the live rock. We would like to get cleaner shrimp. Good idea or no? Then we are going to hold off in putting anything else in there. We probably will try clown fish again. This time we will put them in the QT for 2 weeks. That isn't going to happen till we know that QT has cycled. Thanks again for the help!

 

[bdhough]

Yes cleaner shrimp would be a good thing in your tank. They will clean your fish, hence their name. They are good at helping to control ich in fact by cleaning the spots off of the fish and eating them. If you HAVE to buy something for that tank they would be your best bet.
As far as the horseshoe i don't know y they are sold sometimes. Yes they are kind cool when small but i rarely see them live past that age after working in 2 LFS.... I really think its lack of food and the same can be said for a small tank... Unless you want to daily reach into your tank and spot feed him and also feed your fish then you can try. You may run into water quality problems by placing so much food in the tank.
EDIT: get the shrimp AFTER you clean your tank of the malachite just to be safe....

 

[fishyhubbyandwife]

your daughter sounds like a really smart and knowledgeable person.......is she not helping you?......if she has tanks then you should take her advise. A couple of clowns would really make a great addition, and your anemone's would benifit from them also. Good Luck!