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?
+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?
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.
Yeah, I think you will be fine getting 2 fish. :smile:
I've never kept any corals. I do plan on starting with soft ones.