Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
I know I'm supposed to wait a year before I can get an anemone but do you guys think that I would be able to get one in a 3 to 4 month old tank?
Anemone in 3 month old tank?
- Thread starter Sir Alex
- Start date
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Maybe. You'd need good lights. And excellent water parameters.
BL1
.............
Also depends on what type you want to keep.
Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
Bubble tip.
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
+1 guys
Bubble tip SHOULD be okay. What are your water perameters and what kind of lights do you have?
Do you know anything about anemones?
And can you hold off from getting it now or is it something that you jsut have to do?
Honestly, I had them in my tank after 4 months, no issues, but, they are not for the feint hearted. You cant drop your water changes you have to keep your water perameters perfect. Are you ready for that?
Bubble tip SHOULD be okay. What are your water perameters and what kind of lights do you have?
Do you know anything about anemones?
And can you hold off from getting it now or is it something that you jsut have to do?
Honestly, I had them in my tank after 4 months, no issues, but, they are not for the feint hearted. You cant drop your water changes you have to keep your water perameters perfect. Are you ready for that?
Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
Actually, the tank isn't running yet, I'm just thinking ahead of time. I'm going to get current nova extreme pro T-5 fixtures. I won't be getting an anemone unless the nitrates are zero. The thing is, there's this big place an hour and a half down the road so I'm going to go down there and get all of the livestock I can't get from petco. That includes: red mandarin, tail spot blenny, blue tuxedo urchin (maybe), porcelain crab, derasa clam, and hopefully a bubble tip anemone.
Toolman
RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH
Just one question even though they are cool, Clowns will not always host them and it has the ability to kill everything in your tank if you are not super vigilant. Why get it? Get some nice corals, I know there are no guarantees as to how strong anything is in the tank but at least with a fish you got some time If you go away for a weekend and something happens it can be disastrous :twocents: IMO
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Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
I was also planning on getting some hard-to-get frags on liveaquaria, so maybe I could buy one then? I see what you mean though, I don't want to leave a couple of days and come back to find my tank nuked... Do anemones tend to die for no reason? As in dieing even though they have plenty of light and perfect water quality?
Toolman
RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH
I will let the MODS weigh in I decided not to buy one for the reasons stated and I am too new to hoby and I am still expanding tanks I go to my LFS to look at them
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
Ok, Alex, im not meaning to be rude here, but your already setting yourself up to fail. (from my point of view, I also do not know how much you know or how much experience you actually have with reefs)
First off, your tank has to be running for the first month with NOTHING but rock, flow and lights really, you can run your skimmer, which is recommended to get it run in and setup.
Next, I would suggest that you do not add more than 1 fish per month.
With your first fish choice, mandarin should not going a tank that is under 1 year old, it will die from lack of food, so please do not purchase that fish. From what I can see you are very active here. But just go as slow as your can. In saying this, I would suggest that you do not get an anemone in the '3 months down the track' time period you are looking at.
With your livestock try and start off with 1 nice fish, nothing that requires live food and nothing that can be finicky. Then get your Cleaner crew going. Get maybe a handful of a few different types of snails. Hermits if you want some. and try to get maybe 1 coral per week. This will set you up very nicely and allow you to learn how to control the bio load in the reef tank.
So, the basic thing I would be saying is this:
month 1: let the tank run in and have nothing in it. Can run over to month 2 but suggest the cycle ends here.
Month 2: Add 1 fish and 1 coral per week
Month 3: Add another fish and 1 coral per week
Month 4 Add 1 fish and corals
Month 5: Monitor and maintain levels.
Month 6: After all the algae blooms and begins to disappear you can then have a look at a few other items that are hardier.
Month 7: Add 4th fish and more corals
Month 8: If you choose so you can add some harder to keep items including a clam if you can keep the calcium at the required levels.
This is the basic thing I would say, so I would honestly not suggest buying things all in one hit and not just putting them all in. Do it incredibly slowly because as they say, nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.
First off, your tank has to be running for the first month with NOTHING but rock, flow and lights really, you can run your skimmer, which is recommended to get it run in and setup.
Next, I would suggest that you do not add more than 1 fish per month.
With your first fish choice, mandarin should not going a tank that is under 1 year old, it will die from lack of food, so please do not purchase that fish. From what I can see you are very active here. But just go as slow as your can. In saying this, I would suggest that you do not get an anemone in the '3 months down the track' time period you are looking at.
With your livestock try and start off with 1 nice fish, nothing that requires live food and nothing that can be finicky. Then get your Cleaner crew going. Get maybe a handful of a few different types of snails. Hermits if you want some. and try to get maybe 1 coral per week. This will set you up very nicely and allow you to learn how to control the bio load in the reef tank.
So, the basic thing I would be saying is this:
month 1: let the tank run in and have nothing in it. Can run over to month 2 but suggest the cycle ends here.
Month 2: Add 1 fish and 1 coral per week
Month 3: Add another fish and 1 coral per week
Month 4 Add 1 fish and corals
Month 5: Monitor and maintain levels.
Month 6: After all the algae blooms and begins to disappear you can then have a look at a few other items that are hardier.
Month 7: Add 4th fish and more corals
Month 8: If you choose so you can add some harder to keep items including a clam if you can keep the calcium at the required levels.
This is the basic thing I would say, so I would honestly not suggest buying things all in one hit and not just putting them all in. Do it incredibly slowly because as they say, nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.
Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
Didn't waddi get his mandarin before his tank was a year old? I don't plan on getting one unless it is already eating frozen food.
This my spreadsheet (doesn't include corals):
I'm doing this ahead of time so I don't set my self up to fail. Can I get 13 soft corals after the tank has been running for a couple of months? Each frag is $10 and if I spend $125 then I get free shipping.
I want to get the mandarin that early on the list since I want to add it before the more aggressive fish. (tang, wrasse, clowns)
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Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
Is this better?
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Waddi did, but I think it was a bad decision, and I pointed that out. :)
Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
So how does the second spread sheet look? Do you think the mandarin will get bullied by the tang, the wrasse, or the clowns?
Bifferwine
I am a girl
I can't see it at work. I'll have to look at it when I get home. Sorry. :(
BL1
.............
You can add as many corals as you want at one time. Have you ever kept corals yet? I think you should start off with The easy soft corals and slowly work your way into the harder to keep corals and then when you successfully kept them for a while start looking into anemones and reading up on them. IMO the mandarin will be fine if added after the tang, clowns, and wrasse. Mine was and none of my fish have ever showed any aggression.
Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
I've never kept any corals. I do plan on starting with soft ones.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Corals are way easier than anemones. In fact, I think corals are easier than most fish!
BL1
.............
I definitely think you should start with corals for a while before thinking about stepping up to anemones then.
Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
Alright, I'll wait on the anemone. But in the future if everything's going well I would like to get one.
About the mandarin. So it wont completely wipe out the pod population even in a mature tank? I did see a nice looking one on youtube who wasn't being fed at all, the guy just had lots of pods.
About the mandarin. So it wont completely wipe out the pod population even in a mature tank? I did see a nice looking one on youtube who wasn't being fed at all, the guy just had lots of pods.
