Started my 30 gal :-)

[milomlo]

bump

 

[milomlo]

Can anyone tell me if this is ok for the cleaner crew?
Maybe 2 dwarf Zebra, 2 dwarf red tips, 2 dwarf blue hermits, serpent starfish, 1 or 2 fire shrimp,
5 nassarius snails, 2 trochus snails???? Could I mix the shrimp? Maybe 1 sexy and 1 fire ?

 

[wax32]

Originally Posted by milomlo
Maybe 2 dwarf Zebra, 2 dwarf red tips, 2 dwarf blue hermits, serpent starfish, 1 or 2 fire shrimp,
5 nassarius snails, 2 trochus snails????
Sorry, had to go to walmart...
That sounds perfect!

Oh yeah. Skip the feather dusters, most of them that you buy on purpose die. I'd skip the sexy shrimp too. Go with two fire.

 

[milomlo]

Can I mix the shrimp? Have a sexy and a fire or cleaner or vice versa? Or is it best to stick with the same species of shrimp?

 

[wax32]

You CAN mix them but sexy shrimp are small and even more secretive than fire shrimp, you won't see it often. Plus, having 2 or more fire shrimp makes them more comfortable and they come out more often.

 

[milomlo]

Ok great that is what I needed to know. Let me ask you this. I have a Chromis and I only have 1. I did not know they were schooling fish. He just hides. Doesn't come out hardly at all. If I get one more will it make the other one come out some or should I just not waist my money on another one?

 

[wax32]

In a 30 gallon I wouldn't put more than 1, they get kind of big. You got two choices: get your next fish (ocellaris clown or whatever docile type fish you are thinking about) and see if the Chromis comes out more. Or, just trade him in and start fresh with something else.

 

[milomlo]

Can I trade him anywhere? The store I bought him from is kinda nasty and I don't want to get anything else there? Do you know?
Also let me ask you a lighting question. You seem to know all...LOL
Ok I know these aren't the best but right now I can only do what I can afford
So I ordered a 110 W compact Dual Fluorescent strip fixture with one 55W bulb 10000K & one 55W bulb actinic blue.
With that set up I will have to do major modification to my tank hood. After I ordered it I found a T5 fixture.
It is a 48W T5 HO Fluorescent Fixture with one 24W HO T5 bulb 12000K, one 24W HO T5 bulb actinic blue & one set of flip top leg
Which one would be the best? I just started my cycle last night on a 30 gal with 15# lr, 15# base rock. I am going to be making a reef tank. Please advise ASAP so if I need to change my order I can.

 

[fishmamma]

Hi and congrats on starting your tank cycle!!
I think your invert list sounds great, don't count out the skunk cleaner shrimp though, I have a pair in my 29 gallon. If you want sexies wait until you have a reef set-up going and are fully stocked fish wise. Just a tip....save some shrimp till the end cause one day you will be fully stocked fish wise and will not want to leave the LFS empty handed, this is when adding different shrimp species gets really exciting IMO.

The size of your QT (2.5 gallons) jumped out at me- will be super, super tough to keep a fish in there and parameters stable, but you probably are already doing major water changes with the chromis and know this. :joy: As for the lighting I am not too sure since I only have power compacts on both my tanks, but where the one you ordered has higher wattage overall it may be the better choice. But that is just a guess on my part, hope somebody else chimes in here to correct me!
There should be a locked topic on lighting somewhere on this site that would maybe help you decide.