Friend lost aquarium! How can I help out?

[Rhetoric]

Over the weekend, a friend's powerstrip caught on fire and destroyed everything plugged into it including lights, heater, skimmer, pump, etc. She can't afford to replace everything right now and is looking for a home for her fish and shrimp. I really want to help her but am not sure how much more my tank can handle and whether or not her fish would get along with mine. Can you all give me recommendations? Which fish/shrimp can I take? How many can I take? What are the chances that hers and mine will live together in peace?

What I have:
75g tank w/38g sump
2 Ocellaris Clowns
1 Diamond Watchmen Goby
1 Bicolor Blenny
1 Sixline Wrasse
3 Green Chromis
1 Cleaner shrimp
Misc crabs and snails

What she needs a home for:
1 Clownfish (EDIT: Sounds like this is an Ocellaris or a Percula)
1 Blue Hippo Tang
1 Other fish; she says it looks like a Yellow tang but the back half of it is blue (working on an ID for this one too)
2 Cleaner Shrimp

If I can catch the Chromis, I can remove them and take them back to the pet store to make more room for hers. I'd really like to help her out, what do you guys think?

Thanks for any advice!!

 

[Fluff]

Adding another clown to your tank could be a problem since you already have an established pair, the new one would get picked on.
The blue tang may be ok for a while depending on it's size.
Not sure on the yellow fish since you don't really know what it is. The cleaner shrimp shouldn't be a problem. Your tank isn't heavily stocked in my opinion and I really see no reason to get rid of the chromis but that's up to you. The only problem I would caution you on is adding so much at one time. You'll really want to watch your parameters and be prepared to do extra water changes if your numbers swing with the added bioload. Good luck.

 

[Rhetoric]

Hi! Thanks for the tips! Glad to hear that most of it might not be a problem.

I just found out that the other fish is actually a Bicolor Angelfish. I don't know anything about angels, so any recomendations or thoughts?

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Fluff]

The only problem I can see with the bi-color angel is, the dwarf angels are hit and miss where corals are concerned. It may or may not nip at them so it would be a gamble to add it. Sometimes they can be fine for years then completely do an about face and become terrors in a reef tank. Just keep in mind that possibility while making your decision. Personally, I'd skip the angel. Maybe your lfs will take it.

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree with Fluff! The angel could cause you problems, the other sound fine with the excpetion of the other clown. I would see about taking that to the LFS as well. Sorry to hear about your friends loss I know that is a major blow and I would be devistated if it happened to me!

 

[melosu58]

I agree that everything else seems OK but as Cindy mentioned the bi color angel will/might be a problem with your corals. You`ll probably might need to do frequent PWC`s to cope with the bio load change as Cindy said also.

 

[Rhetoric]

I really appreciate all your feedback. The consensus seems to be that the shrimp and tang will probably be ok, but the clownfish is questionable due to territorial issues with the other clowns and the angel is questionable due to possibly nipping at coral.

Hmmmm. I did talk to my LFS and they said they'd take the Angel. I'm going to speak with my friend this afternoon and get her feeling on this. Thanks again!

 

[stainless_wm]

How well established is your tank? (how old is it?) How much liverock do you have? Does she have any that will also need to go into your tank?

The amount of live rock and subsequently coralline algae will determine how much of a bio load your tank can handle.

As for the clown, you could try rearranging your tank, sometimes this helps break up the territorial boundaries that are already set, long enough to sneak in a new guy.

On the Angel, as far as it nipping at coral, you dont mention any coral. If you dont have any, would it be possible to hang on to the guy for a while for her?

 

[Fluff]

How well established is your tank? (how old is it?) How much liverock do you have? Does she have any that will also need to go into your tank?

The OP's tank IMO has a very light bioload and adding three or four new fish will increase it substantially enough to need watching. Adding liverock from a crashed tank would insure a cycle of some sort with all the die off so if intending to use it, I'd cycle it in another container before adding it to my tank.

The amount of live rock and subsequently coralline algae will determine how much of a bio load your tank can handle.

The amount of live rock will help but coralline algae has nothing to do with bioload.

As for the clown, you could try rearranging your tank, sometimes this helps break up the territorial boundaries that are already set, long enough to sneak in a new guy.

This may work if adding another established pair but with one pair and an outsider there will always be an odd man out. I don't believe a 75g tank is big enough for them to not find and harass him eventually even with rearranging the liverock.

On the Angel, as far as it nipping at coral, you dont mention any coral. If you dont have any, would it be possible to hang on to the guy for a while for her?

His corals are listed in his sig. Softies and sps... a bicolored angels dream buffet.

 

[Hara]

I hate to sound like an old grump, but I would be VERY reluctant to "help" in any manner that meant introducing fish into MY harmonious and healthy aquarium. You are taking a big risk to even consider it. JMHO

 

[Rhetoric]

Ok. Due to the time constraint I had to make a decision, I have decided to do what I could to help her without risking my coral. As cruel as it sounds, though I'd be thrilled if all the clowns got along, it wouldn't be the end of the world if they don't. So we introduced the clown, shrimp, and tang to my tank last night.

She had about 40 - 50 lbs of LR that I have put in the sump and I have temporarily put the Angel in the sump as well due to the warnings from everyone here.

Right or wrong, the deed is done. Now I just need to do my best to ensure everything's survival.

The OP's tank IMO has a very light bioload and adding three or four new fish will increase it substantially enough to need watching. Adding liverock from a crashed tank would insure a cycle of some sort with all the die off so if intending to use it, I'd cycle it in another container before adding it to my tank.

The LR from her tank was out of the water for about 4 hours. Is that enough time to get a lot of die off? I didn't read your recommendation about cycling until today and I had put it in my sump last night.... Do you think I'll be ok as long as I monitor everything closely and do frequent PWC's until the level settle down?

This may work if adding another established pair but with one pair and an outsider there will always be an odd man out. I don't believe a 75g tank is big enough for them to not find and harass him eventually even with rearranging the liverock.

I talked with her about the risks you guys mentioned with the clowns. We agreed to try it out and see what happened.

His corals are listed in his sig. Softies and sps... a bicolored angels dream buffet.

The coral in my tank is much more valuable to me than the fish. So I've decided to heed everyone's advice and keep the Angel out. It's currently in the sump but I think we will be taking it to the LFS.

 

[Fluff]

The LR from her tank was out of the water for about 4 hours. Is that enough time to get a lot of die off? I didn't read your recommendation about cycling until today and I had put it in my sump last night....

Four hours is plenty of time for things to begin to die off but I would think this should be minimal.

Do you think I'll be ok as long as I monitor everything closely and do frequent PWC's until the level settle down?

That's really all you can do. Do plenty of water testings and be prepared for water changes. Good luck.

 

[nycfatcow]

do you have a sump by any chance? if its not all full of rocks and stuff you can throw a smaller fish in there temporarly... thats what i did when my fish were getting picked on..... i kinda used it as a holding tank/hospital tank... also bicolor angels are really hard to care for... they are really picky eaters and almost never survive in a tank.. GL with that though... and some nip at corals

 

[Rhetoric]

That's really all you can do. Do plenty of water testings and be prepared for water changes. Good luck.

I can't thank you guys enough for your input. You'll really helped me out and undoubtedly saved a lot of my coral.

Now I've got a new problem. Well, new to me. The Tang looks horrible. I thought maybe it was just stressed out due to the change in environment but she says that is how it has looked for months. Here's a brief description. On death's doorstep.

Here's a little bit longer one. Around it's eyes it is white, I heard from the LFS guy that this could be a vitamin deficiency? His belly is white fading to green/yellow and then to blue and the belly is kind of odd shaped, not smooth. He has a hole in his tail...right in the middle of it. The fins on his back seem irregular as well, but I don't know much about this species.
I'm going to try to post a picture of him.

EDIT: Here are 2 pics of this poor fish (hope I did this right):

This is a full side view. Face & Belly really look bad.

From the side too but you can see the hole in the tail.

She says that it has looked this way for several months and if it was going to die, she thought it would have done it by now. *shrug*

It seems to be behaving normally. It hides when I come close to the tank but comes out after I stand there a minute or so. It wasn't shy about eating this morning either.

 

[nycfatcow]

ouch

 

[newfound77951]

Looks like the poor guy needs some good, nutritious food ASAP...I'm not an expert on what to give him but someone will chime in with suggestions. I know tangs are notorious for getting like this because of poor nutrition. Hopefully you can help him out with some better food. Poor fishie!

 

[melosu58]

I would get him some dried seaweed and some greens to eat. He looks pretty neglected.

 

[Fluff]

That looks horrible and I can't be sure what's wrong with it. More background info on the tank and her maintenance, etc may help. It would be nice to know how it started and what she's been feeding it, if anything has been added to the tank, etc. I would definitely QT this fish. Whatever it has may or may not be contagious. It may be a bacterial infection, and like newfound said, it could be from poor nutrition. Poor or improper nutrition could cause the fish to succumb to infection. Gonna bring this thread to the attention of some others to see if they can help as I have very little experience with sick fish. How sad.

 

[Rhetoric]

I just picked up some Ocean Nutrition Seaweed Select Green Marine Algae (Natural Dried Seaweeds) at the LFS. So hopefully I'm starting him in the right direction. I'll try to get more info from her. Thanks again.

 

[Steven Pro]

That tang has an advanced cae of marine head and lateral line erosion. See here for more information,
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/sp/index.php