First saltwater tank..

[corinne118s]

Ok thanks. I don't know what any of that is so I better get to researching. Luckily I have plenty of time while my tank cycles. Going with a fishless cycle does that take longer?

 

[wvanderborg]

The cycle can vary due to many things. Ie. Size of tank, filtration, ammt of substrate and lr, but for the sake of the animals a fishless cycle is the safest be. I'm going to cycle my 55 for at least a week or until the ammonia is not present and the nitrates/trites break down to .05ppm max. Then, and only then will I even attempt to add fish. Toss a fish in a tank thats not completely cycled you might get lucky. But probably not. Better safe than sorry.

 

[corinne118s]

Ok can anyone answer my question about ghost shrimp. I want to put my FW ghost shrimp in my nano reef I heard they could be adapted is this tryr

 

[wvanderborg]

Best bet would be to try and find ones that are already acclimated. If not. Look up drip acclimation. That would be the only way id see it being possible.

 

[corinne118s]

Ok thanks I have 3 already from an old tank and don't want to put them with my goldfish.. Heard they will eat them

 

[wvanderborg]

If not eat em the ammonia levels in a goldfish tank ntm the tank temp might kill them off too. My personal fav freshie shrimp are the flower(bamboo) shrimp. Doubt they would survive in sw tho. Lol
As far as that drip acclimation goes I know it works. Done it w/ several species like mollys silvertip sharks and believe it or not my girlfriend has 3 guppies in her 12 biocube. With a blue chromis damsel. Its insane.

 

[corinne118s]

lol that's crazy. i know its silly but i love my little shrimp wouldnt want anything bad to happen to them

 

[wvanderborg]

Avoid goldfish tank. Lol.

 

[Freshie In Disguise]

My betta ate my ghost shrimp... After completely ignoring them for 2 weeks. I woke up one morning and 3 of them were gone.

 

[corinne118s]

Yea I heard bettas do that. Apparently as long as they have places to hide they will b ok

 

[corinne118s]

hey guys i just got a testing kit so i tested my water for the first time..

ammonia: 1.0ppm
nitrite: 2.0ppm
nitrate: 5.0ppm
ph: 8.2


does this mean my tank started to cycle in only a few days? what do i look for now? i'm worried those numbers are too high..


thanks for the help!

 

[bskerrichard27]

If your tanks cycling those numbers are normal nothing to worry about ... It's doing exactly what its supposed to

 

[Freshie In Disguise]

High numbers are only bad once you have fish. You're doing good.

 

[corinne118s]

ok cool. I have started thinking about stocking options. today at my LFS i saw a mandarin for the first time and i am IN LOVE. the guy at the store said they really don't need much space but they are very picky eaters. however, most can be trained to eat frozen foods, and i should be able to grow/breed copepods easily because this would be the only fish in the tank.

i have not done much research but i have seen this.. Updates on a Mandarin Fish in a Nano

as well as a few other blogs that claim they've held mandarins in 10gal for years.

any thoughts are appreciated.. i haven't jumped the gun or anything, just curious. i would love to have one of these guys..

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Yup mandarins are great and just about everyone would love to have one, but they dont ecause o how hard they are to keep alive. They are not easy to train to eat frozen foods, and it is difficult to keep a sufficiant of pods unless its a large tank. Sadly, most starve to death

Also, i dot no if i would subject a mandarin to a 10 gallon tank..they need 30

 

[corinne118s]

ok, i thought ORA had some good captive bred kinds that are used to eating frozen food. thanks for the input!

 

[joy13]

They can revert back to eating pods. Have you thought about a goby and pistol shrimp combination? They are very interesting I have a pair in a 24 gallon aquapod and know the footprint isn't that much different than a 10 gallon.

 

[corinne118s]

no but after reading up they sound cool.. are there different colors?

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Ya the goby and pistol are cool, but you should get non agressive pistol shrimp like micheals or tiger or randalli (spell check)

For the mandarins, ya they have red, spotted, and green. Also, scooter blennys eat pods so i wouldnt get one of those...

 

[corinne118s]

ok. any other advice for stocking? when do i add hermits?