Biocube 14, fish sizing issues

[Flake]

Agreed with Thom. Ditch the clarkii. Not only will he get too big, but too aggressive. A damsel would be equally aggressive, especially in such a small tank. I like the idea of the firefish and the gramma but not necissarily together. There is a lot of talk that these two fish do not get on too well together.

Mushrooms are good. My 14 has a lot of them, also xenia, gsp, daisys. Fast growers but hardy.

as for the nem, sounds like a condi to me.

 

[iDream]

thanks for the attempt at the anemone guess. it has the shape of a pink tip, but the colors are clear with white tips, reading error i guess.

but one more question about the mandarin(i'm extremely stubborn, sorry) if i bought one that ate prepared foods (brine shrimp maybe?) would i be able to have that?

and about my clarkii, if i were to get rid of it, where would i bring it? i bought it from petco, and they have a no marine return policy, what do i do? and for the clowns, if i bought two small, less than an inch clowns, could i get away with that? i'm getting rid of my damsel soon, and yesterday i bought the firefish (i've seen him once outside of the rocks since i got him) and a coral frag(i'll post a pic soon to find out what it is).

so yeah two small (perculas or oscellaris?) clowns, my firefish, and possibly a royal gramma, though i may give the mandarin a try, just because i'm extremely stubborn. but the first ones, do they all sound good together? i personally don't want to do any inverts, except maybe a small starfish.

 

[Flake]

It sounds like it's time for you to find a store devoted to aquariums. Not only will you get better quality stock but they will return fish.

This tank still sounds a little crowded to me, though I very much understock. My 14 biocube has 3 small fish in it. The firefish and the clowns might be okay, if not possibly a little cramped. Please don't try the mandarin. It would be a year before any tank was truly well established with pods, and in a 14, that mandarin would always be hungry. You can try to find one that will eat mysis, but unless you can see it eat, i wouldn't even look at the fish.

 

[misskeeter2766]

be careful buying corals that you don't research first... you may end up with something that will kill all your other corals in a tank that small.

 

[thominil]

Stay away from the gramma as they get agressive and territorial with age. You should be fine with two ocellaris clowns and a firefish, I would just stop there to avoid overstocking.

The mandarin would pick a 14g clean in just a few days, no matter how old/mature the tank is. You would want to find one that eats prepared right away at the store before you purchase one which is rare. Otherwise you would need to train it to eat prepared which takes lots of time and dedication and which should probably be attempted only by experienced aquarists that have a back-up plan. I got lucky when I trained mine to eat frozen. It doesn't always work either as sometimes they haven't eaten in so long that their digestive cycle just stops so they eventually die. Please don't attempt it until you are more experienced and have a bigger tank.

 

[skae310]

Keep in mind theres more to reef tanks then just fish. I find my corals and inverts even more entertaining at times. I have the same tank and im completely happy with just two clowns. I had the clowns and firefish combo a while back. Firefish seem to hide all the time. (or at least mine did) And it added soo much to the bioload it wasnt even worth it. The less fish the better your readings will be and that means better looking corals and less chances of algae. Personally I like having the ability to not do weekly water changes if I am really busy that week. Look into neon gobys at all? They are tiny and pretty cool fish. Thats the only way I would have more than two fish in my biocube. As for the mandarin? that was my dream too, but like said before its almost a definite gurantee he would die. One day when I have a big tank.....

 

[iDream]

well my firefish isn't doing too good, he's been hidden since i got him, and now he just came out, mangled fins and isn't looking too hot. today i will either return him, or my damsel since i think he's the reason for the fins (he's a real jerk)

and the coral i bought from skae310's website looks like his torch coral, btw it's only my first so it really has no corals to kill lol

but yeah i got to go, probably be on later

 

[iDream]

coral i bough, from skae310's website i looked at, looks like skae310's torch coral. didn't want any grammatical confusion

 

[iDream]

btw yes before i would consider a mandarin i would ask the lfs to feed it to see if it'll eat the food they give it, and atleast a good amount of it, before i buy.

but i hope my firefish lives by the time i get home (in high school) and i don't know whether to return my current firefish and buy a new one, and return my damsel, or just return the damsel and hope for the best with the firefish. i'm thinkin the first because they know more and can probably cure/heal it better than i'd be able to.

possibly getting a clown too, too much adding two fish on the bioload? thanks for the info on the gramma thominil, good to know. definitely glad i joined here before getting anything i was questionable about. will get mysis shrimp for the firefish, whether or not i get a new one

about the new clown, my lfs told me that the clarkii is a wimp, but you guys here say that's quite the opposite, which one? i'd like to add another clown, but if i temporarily QT'd my clarkii while my new one adapts, would i be good?

btw whoever said something about my lfs i only bought the clarkii from petco because they had the right size ones, i have two local lfs i buy everything else from, they are much more about the hobby and keeping happy fish =]

but yeah if someone could answer my questions soon i have to do something about my firefish/damsel today. i get out of school 3:30 PM eastern time (FL) so if i could get a reply by then that'd be awesome

 

[iDream]

btw my observation has shown my clarkii to be peaceful and doesn't like messing around with the other fish, he just swims happily against the current in the tank, and minds his own.

 

[Flake]

Clarkiis are big and aggressive, even if the aggression was not the case, it will get much too big for the tank it's in. As for that damsel, damsels are also very aggressive. Anything you put in there, the damsel will fight for territory.

 

[thominil]

Agree, ditch the clarkii and damsel. Keep the water as clean as possible for the fire fish. Don't add any chemicals and meds for it's fins, clean water is the key. Grab a pair of ocellaris clowns and get rid of the clarkii and damsel and you should be good to go.

 

[iDream]

okay so update here we go:

returned my damsel, relatively easy to catch compared to some of the horror stories about catching them i've heard. firefish is much happier and i finally got him some food he'd eat. what to do with my clarkii? like i said i bought him from petco and i'm pretty sure they have a no return policy on saltwater fish at all. i can always check with them since my clarkii is healthy and happy. i just kinda dont want to have that $20 wasted is all.

any options on what i should do? the clown pair is definitely going though, eventually lol

 

[Flake]

You say you returned that damsel? Return the clarkii to the same place. My fish store doesnt care if I bought the fish there or not.

 

[iDream]

yeah i did, but i don't know if they'll take it, they wouldn't take the firefish i bought when i tried to return it. i'll check petco again first and if not i'll try both of my lfs. i just don't want it to be $20 down the drain for a fish that i kept alive and healthy

 

[iDream]

btw any tips for keeping my firefish out from the deep depths of my rock lol? he hides for like 3 days straight and i drop sinking pellets down around where i think he is so i hope he ate, then today he was out in front for a bit, then skipped back in the rocks. i'm thinking of redoing my rocks so he can't hide, but has one specific place for his bolt hole, bad idea?

 

[iDream]

hey, i know no one's responded in a while but i figured i'd keep updating and possibly bump it to where someone will see it eventually.

anyway my update is that everything is the same lol. the firefish actually occasionally comes out now, just to look around, he's looking better.

so i've decided on what to finally get for my tank, and it's a much better choice. i'm going to keep my firefish, return my clarkii, and get one(possibly two, that's a big POSSIBLY) percula clowns, definitely small guys, my lfs recently got in quite a few small ones. and a red scooter blenny, he will definitely be easier to keep and feed him. and of course adding new corals as i go along.

i'm set on this so sorry guys, anyway i'm not gonna do anything until i find a way to get rid of my clarkii. yup that's all

 

[thominil]

Sounds good to me. Scooters are dragonets just like mandarins so you may have trouble feeding at first, but they seem to mostly eat prepared foods without much trouble from what I have read on them.

 

[iDream]

i know, maybe i just like the dragonets? anyway thanks for the input, and saying that i can try something right lol. seems like i've been getting shot down a lot