Newb.. HI

B

boogerschnot

Reefing newb
Hello everyone. I joined in with hopes that you guys could help to answer some questions I have about my new salt water tank and to learn as much as I can!

We have a 20 gallon salt tank with about 20 lbs of live sand, and 12 lbs of rock. We have a blue hippo tang, a green mandarin, and a cleaner fish (skinny, long, and blueish with a black stripe down his side).

Some of the rock is starting to turn orange, which I think is an algae, but the fish are doing good.

I have read that I should have a couple blue legged hermit crabs, a few snails, and maybe a peppermint shrimp to help with the cleaning.

Ill post a couple of pictures of the tank when I get home (working now). But please let me know what you might think about the setup and any suggestions.
 
Hi!

What do you have for a clean up crew (snails and hermits) now?
How much are you feeding?
How long has the tank been set up?
Did you cycle the tank before you added your fish?


I'm sorry to tell you that you absolutely NEED to take your hippo tang back to the store. Not only will it get ginormous compared to your tank, they need at least eight feet of swimming room (even when they are tiny).

Welcome to the site!
 
ErinCahir said:
Hi!

What do you have for a clean up crew (snails and hermits) now?
How much are you feeding?
How long has the tank been set up?
Did you cycle the tank before you added your fish?


I'm sorry to tell you that you absolutely NEED to take your hippo tang back to the store. Not only will it get ginormous compared to your tank, they need at least eight feet of swimming room (even when they are tiny).

Welcome to the site!
Click to expand...

I dont have a clean up crew now, thats why I was thinking about picking some up. The tank was set up for a week before introducing fish, levels all stabilized. Tank has been active since about mid July.

My hippo tang seldom comes out of hiding, she sleeps in the rock and stays hidden almost allways, the same with the mandarin. The cleaner is allways active.

We plan to get a 70 or larger gallon tank to put the hippo tang in later on, and then get into some reef and coral.
 
Keeping a fish that needs such a large tank in such a small tank even for what may seem like a short temporary amount of time can still cause a serious health problem or issue with that fish. It would be like asking you to live in a closet till your house got built a few months down the road. The fish isnt active because it is stressed and not in an environment suitable for its needs.

I'm not trying to bust your balls on it I'm just trying to give you some input on the current situation with your livestock. These fish are fragile and are at the mercy of our care with what we provide them. Please consider having the lfs take it back, or see if they can hold it for you till you can properly house it. There are a number of issues you will be dealing with in the coming months with how your tank has started and if you start correcting them now they wont be a headache later.
 
+1 Cathic.

Even a 70 gallon tank isn't even half of what she needs. There is a chance she is hiding because she is already stressed.

Not to jump on your case, but these fish (as the majority of saltwater fish) are taken from the ocean, they are not captive bred. Please take that into consideration.

You should definitely have a clean up crew in your tank. A variety of snails, crabs and other inverts does wonders.
 
Thanks guys. We are looking at a 175 gallon tank that may just come home sometime soon. If I brought the tang back to the store she would sit in a smaller tank than she is in now. Kind of a toss up.
 
boogerschnot said:
Thanks guys. We are looking at a 175 gallon tank that may just come home sometime soon. If I brought the tang back to the store she would sit in a smaller tank than she is in now. Kind of a toss up.
Click to expand...

You could also look into re-homing her with someone who has an adequately sized tank. Or another store with a large display. :)
 
Picked up a cleaning crew:

5 snails
5 hermit crabs
1 peppermint shimp

: feather duster fan worm and a green spotted puffer (tiny).. The mandarin died, he didnt want to eat and i couldnt figure out what to feed him. He would eat roe now and then but nothing else.
 
2012-09-03_17-22-11_225.jpg
 
The mandarin starved because in such a small and new tank, there is not an adequate pod population to support it. Most mandarins need to be fed live food because that is what they eat in nature and need to be trained to eat prepared foods.

Also, your tank is way overs stocked. With a 20 gallon tank, you should not have that many fish in it. You are limited to about 2 small fish. Remember that the displays in the fish store are just a temporary holding tank that they are using to display fish that they want to sell within the next few weeks. Where as the tank we put them in are their permanent home.

I know I just told you on your other thread, but I am going to mention it again here for emphasis.

Research first, then buy the livestock. Also, don't trust the LFS for 100% of your information. They are in it to make money, and many will sell you anything to make a buck. It is best to enter the store with knowledge to be able to weed out the misinformation they might tell you.
 
+1 on the research, none of the fish you have/had in your tank are suitable a 20 gal saltwater tank.

The hippo tang needs to be in at least a 6ft long tank, with 8 being preferable. Tangs are extremely sensitive fish and the intense stress of being in a tank too small for it will lead to an early death for that fish. Please try and rehome it as soon as possible.

the cleaner wrasse you have is an obligate parasite eater, it will starve to death in your tank. Although it might do better than most because im sure your highly stressed out hippo tang has quite the parasite issue and so he does have a limited amount of food.

The 8 spotted puffer you have is actually a brackish water fish at that stage in its life, it shouldnt be in full strength saltwater. Its also not reef safe.

And the mandarine was a very poor choice for reasons BJ has already explained.


Please research BEFORE you ever purchase any fish, coral, invert or equipment!
 

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