What next?

[clownfish]

Need some thoughts on what to add next to my 29 g. I presently have 2 tank raised false percs swiming around with about a dozen turbo snails. I've had the clowns for about three weeks, first fish since the cycle ended. Chemistry is fine.

In the end, I'd like to have 1or2 shrimp and some other fish. I really like flame angles, but want to add that last.

So, need some creative thoughts on other fish to add and opinions on adding shrimp now, or waiting until the tank is better established?

What would you do? :?

 

[fishfreek]

When you say chemistry is fine I hope your meaning.

Ammonia = 0.0
Nitrite = 0.0
Nitrate < 10

If so then I would say your tank would be find if you wanted to add some shrimp now.

What type of shrimp are you thinking about?

 

[clownfish]

yup, that's what I mean by good chemistry.

I was thinking a cleaner shrimp, but I'm still researching and am open to suggestions.

 

[loganj]

shrimp

Peppermint shrimp are neat. They will come right up and take food out of your hand. A couple of them might also head off an apitasia outbreak before it could get a hold on the tank. The Blood shrimp are pretty although the ones I've seen liked to hide behind the rocks.
Logan J

 

[clownfish]

Thanks. Yeah, I like peppermint shrimp. Good to know about the Blood shrimp, they are vivid, but would rather them out.

Here's question: do i need to quarantine them, before introducing to the main tank?

 

[New2Salt]

We are doing a 29 gallon too was close to end of the cycle but unfortuately we are back to square one after adding rock we thought was fully cured, anyways that's something else, we are going to do basically what you've already done, different snails though, but have done some reading on cleaner shrimp, read on one site where one person said that the cleaner shrimp if they get ick, the other cleaner shrimp will clean it off of the infected one, and that they will pick the parasites off the fish. Thought that was pretty cool.

 

[clownfish]

Yeah, one of the reason I was interested in cleaner shrimp was that they will help-stress 'help'-keep other fish clear of ick.

The turbo snails are doing an awesome job of cleaning and keeping my tank clean. I asked for a magna-float scraper for x-mas, 'cause before the snails i had to clean the glass once or twice a week. Haven't had to do it since the snails. May not even need the magna scraper now

What other fish are you considering??

 

[New2Salt]

We'd like to get a Mandrin, but we have to wait For the snails we are thinking of getting either Trochus or Astrea, not sure if we can mix the two, I see everyone seems to get the Turbos but I read somewhere that the Trochus or Astrea if they get knocked over they can right themselves back up.

As far as fish, probably just two clowns, we are finding most of the fish out there get too big, and because our place is small we can't expand into a bigger tank. I would like to get into the corals later though, already got a calcium test kit just to make sure the calcium is ok for the living things on the live rock.

We probably should have scrapped the sides of the tank, we can barely see in there now but I didn't want to harm the little white things that I've been told provide food for the fish plus it will make the snails happy.

I need to find out when we get the snails how long they need to float and if there is anything special we do or do we just let them float down to the bottom and do their thing.

Have you decided on any other kind of fish?

 

[clownfish]

Don't knnow what the wisdom is on turbo snails righting themselves, but a few of mine fell upside down and righted themselves, just fine.

I acclaimated the snails the same way I did the fish. Following the advice here, I slowly added my tank water to their bag using a very slow drip -- over the course of an hour, after I had floated the bag in my tank of course. Then, I put them all in a net, gave them a fresh water dip of about 3 minutes and gentlely dumped them in my tank. Within about 30 minutes they had all separated and were hard at work on my LR and glass.

Have not decided on which fish next. Definitely a shrimp, probably soon. Thinking about a lemon angle. Right now, just enjoying shopping around, actually. but my clowns are small and look a little lost in there now...

 

[fishfreek]

I would not freshwater dip a snail. Snails are VERY sensitive to salinity changes.

Once you acclomate them I would hold them to the glass just above the water surface and let them attach and move down into the water on their own.

I do wish the best health on your turbos but overall they are not known to be able to right themselves very often.

 

[loganj]

shrimp

AFAIK, shrimp and other small inverts do not add much to the bioload in the tank. At least not nearly as much as another fish. My peppermint shrimp comes out to eat anytime I feed...the rest of the time, he picks around on the rock and substrate.
Logan J

 

[clownfish]

I know that Turbo snails are very sensitive to ph changes, so I took pains to ensure the freshwater chemistry & temp was as close to my main tank as possible. The dip is only about 3 minutes, so the salinity sensitivity is not really an issue.

I got a dozen turbo snails and had no problems with the freshwater dip. Also several of them have been able to right themselves with no problem. Because of their shape, they never really go all the way upside down, though.

In any event, I think it's smart to observe your tank on regular basis, so if one does invert and can't get right itself, you can quick help.