I'mmmm Back!

[Becki67]

Hello All,

Well, we're humming along with our tank. I can't get the BF to quit buying critters...I yell at him all the time. He works from home and spends a lot of time buying things for the tank...he's going to ruin it if he doesn't stop it. I might enlist someone on here to write him an email and tell him the proper way to do this. He apparently doesn't believe me. He overfeeds and buys new critters weekly.

Here's what we have so far: One percola clown, one tomato clown, 2 blue damsels, one watchman goby, one yellow tang, one coral beauty, one mandarin goby, 1 sea hare, 2 lettuce nudibranches, 1 bubble anemone, 1 yellow coral of some kind, 2 sea urchins, 5 emerald crabs, 1 purple lobster, 1 fire shrimp and 1 coral bandit shrimp.

Everyone has been doing perfectly fine up until now. The mandarin is acting funny today. He's just sitting there still for the most part today, the BF says. We added Copepods yesterday and he was chowing. BF added the two sea urchins and the anemones yesterday. He was hanging around the urchins last night...do you think he got stung or something?

Our water parameters have been perfect the entire time and we have to add about 5 gallons of water weekly with the new lights. It's amazing how quickly the water evaporates.

 

[cthegame]

Welcome back! Why doesnt he listen to you? Tell him to stop.

 

[Gooseman]

I would definitely get rid of the 2 blue damsels ...damsels are nothing but trouble ... also i would never add a mandarin to any tank until at least 6 months ... they require an infinite supply of copepods as they graze all the time ... keep a close eye on him as he could starve easily ... nice to see you back and tell the BF to slow down ... reef keeping is a journey not a race

 

[dustin_P74]

the mandarin could be getting bullied by the bastard fish, i mean damsels, i would also keep an eye on the BTA as they need a mature system like the mandarin.

 

[RyanG]

PM me his email if you want Ill send him a nastygram! haha. He really needs to stop though. What lights did you get?

 

[Bifferwine]

Usually supplying bottled pods to the tank isn't enough to keep a mandarin alive. They graze constantly and eat the pods faster than they can reproduce unless you have a fuge, a mature tank (at least a year old) or a huge tank. If the mandarin is acting listless or weird, it could very well be starving, which is extremely common in young tanks. Are his sides looking sunken in, or does he look fat?

The lettuce nudibranchs are animals that should not be sold, IMO. They don't live more than a month or two in captivity. People don't really know why they don't survive, but putting them in a tank is a death sentence for them.

You should try and figure out what the yellow coral is. Some yellow corals (like sun corals) are non photosynthetic and need to be hand fed every day or two. Post a pic, and we'll ID it for you.

Be careful of the coral banded shrimp too. They are not considered reef safe, as they often kill fish and other inverts. They are super aggressive and predatorial.

I doubt that the mandarin got stung by the urchins. The anemone has the potential to catch and eat fish (a risk you take with almost all anemones), but the mandarin would not likely have been able to get away had that been the case.

 

[simpleman]

I agree with biff and dustin. I know it's easy to get yourself excited and buy all kinds of new creatures. The hardest thing about reefin' is taking it slow. Good luck though and if the mandarin doesn't look happy see if you can take him back to the lfs. They're too cool of a fish to let die.

 

[mng777777]

I know you have already been told by the others and seem to have arrived already understanding the concept of overstocking, but I feel I need to add my 2 cents being a crab lover and all. I think you are pushing it with 5 emeralds. You are going to need to keep a close eye on the algae supply and keep some seaweed sheets near by just in case. Don't let those little guys die, they are way too cool.

 

[Becki67]

Hi Justin,

That was an old post. We only have 2 crabs now.

A couple of months ago we had a power outage for 3.5 days and lost everything. We even had a battery operated inverter on the heater and tried to put oxygen back in the water any way we could, but ended up losing everything except for a cleaner wrasse, some snails, the decorator crab, the urchins and the Sea Hare. We lost the angel, the goby, the tang, the clowns, wrasse, and damsels.

We've had to totally rebuild and this is what we have now.
Watchman Goby
Red Fairy Wrasse
Cleaner Wrasse
A brown tang (the name is evading me now)
A maroon clown
3 urchins
Sea Hare
Decorator Crab
2 emeralds
2 fire shrimp
1 coral banded

Everyone is getting along great right now and the parameters are staying steady.

 

[mng777777]

I have to get better about checking dates before I post... I am real sorry to hear about your losses. I hope your power co. can keep things working for you. As for the new setup, it sounds like you have a real good mix this time and should be very successful. Just keep an eye on the CBS and your hubby (BF, sorry can't remember which) and you should be great. Congrats on what sounds like a gorgeous setup!

 

[yote]

HAte to hear about the losses.That sux.But happy to see you posting.

 

[Piggy]

Sorry to hear about your losses. Do you have any recent pics? Good to have you back.