Some questions about fish! :D

[Sharkie]

Aloha all!

I'm just getting ready to start adding fish to my very first salt-water aquarium here at home and wanted to know some basic tips you all might have?


I have a 29gallon tank and have the live rock and live sand all set up in my tank...

When I got my live rock i had a few extra "goodies" as the guy at the store called them and discovered a baby clam, a tiny brittle star, and a crab.

I then went to another pet store to get another live rock only to have the gal there tell me to first get rid of the crab because he will soon become a nussiance and eat my sea star!:shock: from what i can see of the little guy (he has yet to come out of his rock fully and he is staying very close to the back where the flashlight doesnt reach) he looks sorta like a sally lightfoot crab, but i am not sure if that is the case? i have been trying to get pictures of him.

I also have a small 1in 4-striped Damsel to get the process moving but I have been thinking of eventually getting a Black Percula Clownfish. They seem a little different than the orange variety and i'd love to know more info about them... are they harder to take care of and how long do they live?

Also, I had seen a very small Blue Tang (you know, a Dory! ;D) in a petshop for $40. I didn't purchase him because there is first off not enough of my tank time to process and be ready for that type of fish but also how big/fast do they grow? I don't want to get fish i won't be able to house comfortably so what is good for smaller tanks?


Is it good to buy aquarium fish online? I have found quite a few sites that guarentee their fish and where i live there is a very very sad selection of healthy looking fish and not much variety. They also don't guarentee their fish either.. is online a good safe way to go? or will i just be getting the whatever fish?

edit: forgot to mention the water has been cycling for 3 weeks :)

 

[dustin_P74]

ok lots of questions to answer here. first off welcome to the site. second, take the damsel out, you dont need a fish to cycle a tank. third black clownfish are just a different color variation from there orange counterparts. fourth i wouldnt worry about the calm eating anything but i would take it out because you dont have stable enough water or the lighting to keep it alive. fifth and most importantly you tank is way to small for any type of tang no matter how big so let the thought of having a regal tang go. and lastly there are a few good places online to order your fish. liveaquaria.com, liveaquaria.com/diversden, reefhotspot.com, and bluezooaquatics.com are all good sites

 

[Sharkie]

okay, actually i have all the right lighting for my fish/clam/and was told for a lot of different corals.

i know the damsel is not needed for cycling the tank but its been up and running long enough for me to have a few. I only purchased one for now though because I wanted to see what it was going to do. My tank has been established for about 3 weeks.

I also am aware the black is just a different color but was wondering if the particular species of clownfish that they are is harder to care for being there are quite a few different types of clowns out there.


if I was to take out the clam it would kill him correct? I don't want to kill anyone just because i need to take them out which results in like.. instant death right? hes just a tiny guy, about the size of a pea if even that.

 

[dustin_P74]

just taking the clam out of the water wont kill it as long as you put back into some more tank water. the clown fish is very hardy and easy to take care of, but make sure you keep no more then two in your tank and make sure they are the same species. with the damsel you should know that they are very aggressive fish and that one damsel may kill all fish you add from now on since it is established. what kind of lighting do you have? and you also wont be able to keep the clam because they need a mature tank which means being established for upwards of a year

 

[Sharkie]

hmm, what should i do with the lil guy then? :( hes awfully cute but I don't know anyone who has a saltwater aquarium that would take the lil guy for me...


and yes, I know the damsel will become aggressive which is why I only got the one fish for now, i heard if i introduce him after i add the other fish and re-arrange the tank setup he might do okay but I dont want to risk it, i'll get the clown when the damsel goes to fishie heaven :)


and i'm not quite sure what type of lighting but the guy at the petstore said it would be perfect for corals and rocks and most marine animals. its the same bulb they have for their fish there, i will find the box and see what it says

 

[Bifferwine]

Just leave the clam in, it's a hitch hiking clam and it's not going to do any harm.

A 29 gallon tank is waaaay too small to keep a tang (Dory). Even the small ones need at least 75 gallons. They have a very high metabolism and need to swim constantly. Your tank doesn't have the swimming space they need to keep it alive. Plus they are not hardy fish and are very susceptible to disease.

Damsels are highly aggressive -- one of the most aggressive types of fish you can keep. If you want to keep other fish in your tank, I suggest catching the damsel and taking it back to the store. It will likely try to kill any other fish you to add.

Clowns are very hardy and easy to keep. It doesn't really vary by species -- they are all good beginner fish. But clowns can also be aggressive. For a tank your size, you can plan on being able to keep 3 small fish (usually one fish per every 10 gallons of tank size). Try and pick out the fish that you want ahead of time, research them, and add them carefully. The order that you add them does matter. Do not add more than one fish every 3 weeks or so. It will take that long for your tank's bacteria to catch up with the additional load of fish waste.

As for the crab, if it's a sally lightfoot, they are known to be fish eaters. I had a pair that killed and ate 3 of my fish before I was finally able to catch them and get rid of them. If you can't ID the crab for sure as a reef safe crab, you should take it out. There are a lot of predatorial and destructive hitch hiking crabs out there, and the last thing you want is your "freebie" crab to kill hundreds of dollars worth of fish, corals and inverts.

 

[dustin_P74]

if its just the light they use to light a fish tank then its not good for keeping any corals, since fish dont need light to live but only to simulate day and night. with the clam you can bag him and take him to a good LFS, even if they wont give you store credit for it you should give it to him since itll have a better chance of survival. with the damsel it could be a LONG time before it dies so be prepared for that. as for re arranging the rock when you add another fish that could work but its only a 50/50 shot

 

[Teixeira29]

I agree you cant have a tang in that size of aquarium, they need alot of room to swim and a 29 g tank is not big enough. The only website that i know of for good and healthy fish is liveaquaria.com. I have got fish from there havent had any problems so far. That website sells everything!!
Good Luck!!

 

[Bifferwine]

PS -- if your light only has one bulb, then it is not suitable for corals, anemones or clams. There are very specific types of lighting in this hobby, and unfortunately a lot of people are misled into buying inappropriate lighting, only to spend even more when they realize that and have to buy new lights again a couple months down the road. If you can take a picture of the light and post it here, we will be able to ID it for you. If it's no good for a reef tank, maybe it's still early enough to take it back to the store and get a refund. We can help you out with equipment and lighting and stuff too, and can recommend lights that would be perfect for your tank, not break the bank, and allow you to keep anything you want.

And...I don't know why Dustin is making a big deal about the hitch hiking clam. It's the size of the pea. It's not a valuable, expensive decorative clam. It's just a hitch hiker. Leave it in the tank, there's no reason to remove it.

 

[Sharkie]

okay :) I'll get some pictures as soon as my camera comes home (my sister has it right now) and will show off my lil Swimmy (hes my damsel) and see if i can find that stinker of a crab. I'll also post a picture of the light. they said at the store it was what i would need to have the kind of corals i was pointing out to them for later on down the road, the LSF i bought it from has all live corals and inverts in the tanks with their other fish so I figured that the know what they are talking about, they are the only ones around here that sell any type of saltwater fish (and they are still about an hour away from me).

Thanks for all the help so far! I can't wait to get this thing up and going, it started out as a school assignment for my marine bio class and now i'm just ready to go full boar! Workin at the aquarium had given me lots of info, but not really the kind i needed to set up a tank, more so about educating other people lol... sharks are more my speed so all the help here with my lil reef gang is awesome~ :D


what do you suggest as far as good tankmates for clowns? I am hoping to be getting a 55 gal tank within the next year when i move and would love to have a couple different things :)

EDIT: AHH!!!
I just went into my room and saw.. this thing hanging out of my rock! D:
is it a brittle star leg (i know for a fact its not my brittle star because he is tiny and white) or is a bristle worm?

I know the pictures are horrible but without my good camera i cant get anything D:

 

[yote]

Welcome to the site Sharky
Like Biff said,those little hitch hiking clams will be alright.Weather you've got reef lighting or not.They're non-photosynthic filter feeders.
That damsel may make it tough for you to add more fish.They can be extremely aggressive.But a pair of clowns should be ok.But I wouldnt push it any farther than that.

 

[Bifferwine]

That picture you posted is of a bristleworm. They are ugly, but they are excellent cleaners. I guarantee that you have a lot more than just that one in your tank. Leave it alone and it will help keep up your water quality.

 

[Sharkie]

oh really? the girl at the LFS told me to take him out and i managed to find him under a rock, we measured him and he was almost 5 inches long!! EWWW!!! lol. i found a few tiny ones on my other rock but left them since they are small, how do i know if they are bad or not? I have read they are good and bad but are good cleaners but can eat my brittle stars? i now have found 3 that are quite large and 1 that is very small and i fear for the brittles being i'm not sure if the worms will eat them

 

[Bifferwine]

They will not eat your stars. That's for sure. Bristleworms are scavengers and detritivores and will only eat an animal if it's already dead.

There is a type of worm called a fireworm that is bright red, and those are bad. But they are extremely rare to find in tanks. I've never known anyone that actually had a fireworm; they have all been safe, helpful bristleworms.

 

[Sharkie]

ahh thanks, i'll keep that in mind, the little one i've seen living in my buttons is sorta redish so i will keep an eye on that one