Tank is cycled....now to put the really cool fish in

[wnysaltnewbie]

I have a 90g "bottom drilled" tank with a wet/dry filter. I also have a protein filter. It's a fish-only setup with no live rock, but I did put in about 8lbs of live sand a week ago. The live sand seemed to help finish off the cycling. During the cycling stage I had 3 small clowns, 2 small striped damsels, 2 small domino damsels (semi-aggressive little

[hr]
), 2 med-sized green chromis, and two small yellow-tailed blue damsels. About 3 weeks ago when my ammonia levels dropped, but my nitrite and nitrate levels were very high, I lost both dominos, one striped, and one yellow-tailed damsel all in about a one week period. The tank finished cycling last week, so this weekend I traded in the 7 "starter" fish that were still flourishing and purchased the following: 1 med/large yellow tang, 1 med sized sailfin tang, 1 small/med sized porcupine puffer, and 1 med/large gold-striped maroon clownfish. So far they seem to be doing well together. I was most worried about the two tangs fighting. I'm guessing the 4 fish I have in there now are equivilant to the 7 smaller fish I had in there before. We're have alot of people over next weekend, and I'd really like to put in a picasso trigger fish just before that. OK, everyone line up and tell me I'm being too aggressive with the population so I won't do it. ...LOL. I'm a newbie, so any comments about anything in my setup would be appreciated. Also, I have a pretty cool setup for cycling my water, and can do a 1/3 water change in just a few mins. However, is that too large of a water change? I did two changes when I was cycling. One local fish dealer told me I should NEVER do a water change during the cycling, and another dealer told me I should. It's irrelevant now, but I'm still curious to know what people think about that too. Thanks all.

 

[swilbs83]

slow down man....You don't have near enough biological filtration to handle that bio-load...Just because the tank is cycled, that doesn't mean you can add as many fish as you want....Also, the porcupine puffer is extremely messy and produces alot of waste, so his addition isn't helping things....porcupine puffers are notorious for nipping other fish, and tangs are not very good tankmates for it in such a small tank......Tangs are very sensative and there is no doubt in my mind that your water will be very toxic, very soon, and will cause them to die..........After cycling you are supposed to add one fish then let the bio load catch up (about 2-3 weeks).....and so on until you are done adding...............................................I'm sorry to say, but I am pretty sure that you will lose most, if not all of the fish you have in there.....I hope you are not adding fish just so "it looks good for the guests you will be having".......You need to slow down, and reconsider your choice of fish....Take the fish back except for the clown and get some Live rock to help with biological filtration......Read this board before doing anything else, you will lose alot of fish and alot of money if you keep this up

 

[ophiura]

I agree. I think I would only have added the clown right now. The others are BAD choices indeed. Keeping fingers crossed, but odds are pretty good that the tangs won't survive. Bad choices (and too many of them) for a newly cycled tank
Let me ask you, does your LFS have a warranty on their fish?

 

[swilbs83]

also, you do realize that picasso triggers, like most triggers are very very agressive and will go after pretty much anything right? There is a difference between a "community tank" and an "agressive" tank......Triggers and puffers belong in agressive tanks, along with other agressive fish(large angels, groupers, etc) and should not be kept with community fish such as clowns and tangs because the agressive fish will kill the passive ones.......Decide on what type of tank you want and then add your fish accordingly.....Just because they are all saltwater fish doesn't mean that they will all get along......as i said...read everything on this board before doing anything else

 

[swilbs83]

Also, you say you are doing a FO tank which is fine, but you can do a FO tank and have Live rock in it, it will greatly benefit your tank, not to mention looks nicer, and provides your fish with a "natural environment" with places to hide.....When you said 8lbs of live sand, did you mean 80lbs?

 

[moorishidol]

Exactly what I was questioning. 8lbs or 80? 8 lbs really aint doing anything for your cycling. 80 lbs yes. However, just like the former fish fanatics explained, its way to much of a bioload for your tank. I have seen triggerfish eat tangs away to nothing. Never a good idea. Things have to be done right if you expect right things. I have a all glass 125 gallon with the predrilled and the bulit in dual overflows( i would never go without these again) and I had that thing running with no fish for 1 month. I added 50 lbs of live rock every 3 months so I now have 110 lbs. I have 100 lbs of live sand. I have a protein skimmer and a UV and I still only add 1 fish a month. I have had my tank running for 6 months and my fish look awsome. I was exactly like you where I couldnt wait to set up the tank with all the fish so people could be impressed but I waited and now its impressive to them and to me. ITS WORTH THE WAIT!