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open for 54g suggestions....


dunl
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Okay, it's going to have a pair of clownfish for sure, as that is the reason I bought it, and my kids as well as my wife will divorce me if I don't. If it's a condition of having the tank, then I can live with that. B)

Otherwise, looking for suggestions of what people would put in there with them. I was thinking of taking kellehar's pairs of 4 stripe damsels and scooter blenny's if someone can bring them down for me, but otherwise, I haven't really thought about what to put in there.

Parameters: 54 gallon bowfront, 15 gallon sump, couple of powerheads, and a Mag 12 pump running the sump.

f1d3b5a7.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, as of now, it currently houses:

2 clowns

2 four-stripe damsels

1 yellow tang

3 green chromis

1 lawnmower blenny

1 mandarin goby

1 cleaner shrimp

Need more clean up crew, but didn't see a lot in Calgary today.

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Hello,

Congrats on the fine shopping in cowtown today.

If you add all those fish at one time, monitor your water, as that much livestock at one time can cause spikes, as the bacterias compensate for the increased bioload.

Watch your mandarin, as they usually require a mature reef tank full of pods and such for them to munch on. Some mandarins wll accept pellets or flakes, but this is the exception not the rule with these fish. Have to train them over from the live food side. Cant really comment on the lawnmower, as I has never kept one, but I do believe they need algeas of some sort and not sure if they accept substitutes.

Final word of advise, add nori (or some form of seaweed, kelp) to the tank for the yellow tang to constantly pick at, sadly I lost my only yellow tang to not knowing this and starving him. I know, should be shot, forgot to research properly and it cost a good fish its life.

The clewup crews are kindof touchy as some peep wil state as much as 1 hermit for every 1-2 gallons and same for snails, depending on type. I find the best way to introduce your cleanup crew in a bit at a time, less chance of overstocking then. In my 77 gallon reef I started with 5 astrea snails and 3 turbos. As they fell behind in the cleaning I added more. Now the tank has 3 astrea snails, 10 nassarius snails, 2 electric blue hermits and 4 scarlett red hermits, may need to add a few more as they arent quite keeping up with the algeas. Bassically start with and few and watch, add as neccesary.

HTH

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I'm currently heading out the door, so I'll only respond to this one post:

Hey duml, why don't you sell me the lawnmower and mandarin before they die on you, I'll even pick them up.

Let me get this straight.....this past summer, you put all your saltwater fish in a rubbermaid container, neglect them, slowly kill them all off except for one clown......plus you let your trigger eat all your corals.

But you want me to hand these fish over to you because you assume you're going to do a better job with them? :bang1: :bang1: :bang1:

I think you need to find a better target.

Edited by dunl
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Okay, back now....

Thanks for the good suggestions Paul. The mandarin, which seems to be the biggest concern of all I talk to, WAS reserached heavily before I bought it. I was told it was eating well, and it was in a bare bottom tank, so I assume the owner wasn't feeding it pods? Maybe it was eating well, maybe not, but I'm going to do my best to keep it. It's a challenge, and that was why I bought it.

The blenny and tang certainly have enough algae to mow through for a while, and I will supplement with nori as well, as I saw the tang having what appeared to be nori at Gold's. I assume this can be bought easily at a local grocer, or am I thinking of something else?

As for the tang starving - the thing is a pig. It hoovers down the NLS like no tomorrow, so hopefully it will be getting all the nutrition it needs.

The water conditions are a concern, for sure, but hopefully with careful monitoring and filtration of approximately 20 times per hour I can keep it in check.

Thanks for the suggestions on the clean-up crew....I'll be looking at them next. :)

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Hope it all works for you.

Did you pick up some marine NLS or are you using the freshwater stuff.

My mandarin loves the marine NLS, try target feeding yours and cross your fingers, cause these are such beauties, its great when they accept non-live foods.

Good luck and keep the pics comming.

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I'm just using the freshwater cichlid formula, as there is very little difference in the forumlas, according to Pablo. So far, he's been in the back of the tank, so I can't monitor if he has been eating, but today he was edging towards the front. In a day he should be zooming around so I can check him out. :) Target feeding sounds good, and I have some mysis which supposedly he was eating before.

Nori - where do you get it from?

Thanks again,

Darcy

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