Advice needed please

[philw307]

Hi

As you can see this is my first post, a virgin, and as you can probably tell by my user name I pretty inexperienced at keeping marine fish.

I have just settup a 53 gallon tank with a sand bed and approx. 26Kgs of live rock.

I now need to know what I can and can't put in it.

I would like to keep some corals, both hard and soft.
My little boy wants to see 'Emo' in the tank, I keep telling him he is called 'Nemo' and that he is a clown fish, so a couple of clowns and an anenome. I also like the look of the fire shrimp, I think this is a beautiful coloured shrimp. Obviously some Damesels, one of the Tang species,a startfish if possible, and anything else you may wish to suggest.

What would you say the max. number of fish I can keep in my tank is?


Your help for a newbie would greatly br appreciated.

Cheers

[dedger]

You need to let your tank mature first,you should notice a nitrate spike when this has come down you could probably add a common clown or a pair as these are quite hardy and will help your tank to mature quicker.
a Anemone is definately out of the question yet as these need a well established tank,minimum 9 months.
fire shrimps should be ok in a month or so,as these do not effect the bio-load in the tank.
corals depend on what lighting system you have in place,again these will need about 3 months before they are added.
The secret is to take your time,only add one fish per month and research each one first before you purchase as you can easily have trouble with incompatability.
A good tank takes time but is worth the wait.
Hope this helps.

[ChrisBFish]

Hi notgotaclue!

My hubby and I are also fairly new to this, so in the interval before Someone Wot Knows Lots comes along, I thought I'd share the benefit(!) of my rather recent reading! :D

Damsels can look stunning, but can also get very territorial and aggressive, so it's worth checking this out further before getting any. Some species are apparently worse than others, and much depends on the other kinds of fish you want to keep with them.

Although pictures of clowns peeking out of their anemone are really sweet, it's worth knowing that particularly for captive bred clowns, an anemone isn't actually necessary. You hear of them hosting all sorts of other things, often corals or powerheads. Or, in the case of our pair, the ammonia alert tag! :rolleyes:

Tangs generally need lots of swimming space, and can grow very large - depends on species but a regal tang like Dory can get to about 10", I think. Yellow tangs are popular as they're a couple of inches smaller, but do still need lots of swimming room. Fortunately for us, our 4-year-old accepted fairly easily that Dory would be too big for our tank, so chose as her fish a royal gramma, like in the dentist's tank!

Agree on the fire shrimps. Absolutely stunning creatures! Reputed to be very shy, particularly if kept singly - braver if there are 2 or more. I wouldn't know about this; ours haven't read the book that says they'll not often be seen in daytime, and spend most of their time peeking out of their cave or climbing around it, and come up to investigate in the hope of food whenever there's a hand in the tank! :p

The main thing, IMO, is to work out before you start stocking exactly how much space you've got, and what you really want to keep, so that you can avoid incompatibility issues before they arise. I can't remember offhand the fish inches : gallons ratio, but I know it's very low for a reef tank.

All that said, have fun! We've all enjoyed the past 4 months since our tank arrived - even the small children love it (and if all else fails, when they're driving me mad, I can set them to counting snails and see how long it keeps them quiet! :D :D :D )

[Wilfy]

Don't buy on impulse, even if you are tempted, put down a deposit then do some research, ask in the shop for advice, a decent shop will enquire as to what you have in your tank and what the set-up is and advise accordingly.
You need to decide if you are going to have a calm relaxed tank ie common clowns, fire fish, rock gobies, royal gramma, blennies, chromis, etc, or go for something a bit livelier (more boisterous) dwarf angel fish, tang, damsels, dottybacks, etc
Yellow tail blue damsels are ok (better than most) if you keep 2 or three as they will fight amongst themselves.
You also need to think about the order you are going to stock them with the most boisterous/territorial going in last.
True star fish are a no-no for some time but you could get a brittle star as you can target feed if necessary.
You firstly need to get a clean-up crew, (hermit crabs, snails, cleaner shrimp,) acclimatise very slowly, about 45mins to 1 hour.
Make a list of what you want to put in, post it in a thread and ask what order should you stock them.
As for your tank, it should mature quite quickly as you have added live rock, keep your eye on your testing and stock very slowly so the bacteria can increase to cope with the new bioload being thrown at it.

[cajen]

Hi and welcome to UR.

The last 3 posters have said it all, really - patience is the watchword and make sure you know all you need to before making any changes (introducing new stock, pumps, lights, etc). And if you're not sure, don't do it! You can ask anything on here - no question is a stupid question if you don't know the answer. Also have a look at the various stickies (FAQs etc).