Tank Recommendations?

[Sneaker]

I have the following in my 30 gallon tank:

1 Flame Hawk 2 inches long
1 Blue Dot Puffer 3 1/4 inches long
1 Niger Trigger 3 1/2 inches long
1 Ocellaris Clown 1 1/4 inches long
1 Ocellaris Clown 1 1/4 inches long
1 Clarki Clown 1 3/4 inches long
1 Red Spotted Golby 3 inches long
1 Sebae Anemone softball size


I am satisifed with the fish for the moment, I wanted to get some other life in the tank, any recommendations, I was thinking 1-2 hermit crabs "larger size" maybe some fan worms "will the puffer and trigger eat them?"

Also what in your opinions is the best to help control the algae in the tank with the creatures i have, a yellow tang maybe?

Thanks in advance...

 

[HoopsGuru]

I have the following in my 30 gallon tank:

1 Flame Hawk 2 inches long
1 Blue Dot Puffer 3 1/4 inches long
1 Niger Trigger 3 1/2 inches long
1 Ocellaris Clown 1 1/4 inches long
1 Ocellaris Clown 1 1/4 inches long
1 Clarki Clown 1 3/4 inches long
1 Red Spotted Golby 3 inches long
1 Sebae Anemone softball size

I believe you are already well over the stocking limits for that size tank. Adding a fish will probably not help with algae, but actually create more as you have a very significant bioload in there. I would consider removing the trigger and blue dot puffer, as both will not have a whole lot of swimming room in a 30g (the Niger Trigger especially, you are talking the potential of a 10" fish! 8O ). This should also even out the bioload and reduce the nuisance algae, while allowing for perhaps one more small fish. Certainly, do NOT add a yellow tang to the mix, a 30g is just too small to accomodate this fish either.

 

[reefrunner69]

I am satisifed with the fish for the moment,

Your tank is woefully over stocked. Both the puffer and the trigger get to large for the tank, by themselves. Both are also not considered reef safe. In such a small tank, I would expect the clarki, at some point, to become aggressive against the ocellaris.

I was thinking 1-2 hermit crabs "larger size" maybe some fan worms "will the puffer and trigger eat them?"

Yes.

Also what in your opinions is the best to help control the algae in the tank with the creatures i have, a yellow tang maybe?

Snails and reef safe (sort of) hermits. Tangs should not be kept in tanks of less than 48" in length. Tangs are large full bodied fish (or at least they should be if cared for properly) that require lots of swimming room, and places to graze 24/7.

Since I am already "going there", Sebae anemones are very difficult to care for, they tend to come in injured and bleached (as yours appears to be). They will hang around for a few weeks to a month or two, then die. These anemones are virtually immortal in the wild, yet we manage to kill them rather quickly. I would recommend you take yours back, they have special lighting and water requirements. No anemones should be attempted until the tank has had a year to mature.

I am sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear, but it is info your LFS should have told you before selling you all this stuff. Before you go back to the LFS, you should research what it is you want, and go in forewarned and forearmed with the knowledge needed to successfully keep the animals you purchase. Also, never impulse buy at the LFS, livestock should be researched prior to purchase, impulse buying is one of the hardest things to avoid in this hobby, but it is also the most dangerous.

 

[EMS503]

Thats alot of fish for a 30 gallon tank. The Niger Trigger is recommended into a 70 gal. tank and can grow up to 1' long. I would think about getting at least a 55 gallon tank or bigger if possible. Watch the Flame Hawk I did not research them close enough and added 2 cleaner shrimp to my tank, That was an expensive lunch for the Flame Hawk They will eat small fish and worms. Neat looking fish though. This site is good for researching fish and Inverts www.liveaquaria.com
Good luck if you can't get a bigger tank now stay on top of your water changes.

 

[Sneaker]

Yeah Trigger is the first to go, I have a friend with a 125 gallon tank that will be perfect for him, I also have 125 gallon tank at my friends house that is empty but I won't set that up for another 6 months... I bought the trigger in mind of setting up the bigger tank but as the days go by he seems more of a problem then anything.

My friend also has a tank with a lion and a dog face puffer, would the blue dot work in there...?

Do you think I should move the Sebae into my friends tank as well, it has been established for over a year and has proper lighting...?

FYI I stick to a schedule for water changes and monitor water all the time...

 

[reefrunner69]

My friend also has a tank with a lion and a dog face puffer, would the blue dot work in there...?

Yes I think it will be fine, If I remember correctly puffers are social with other puffers. The lion won't be a problem either, since they contain a toxin in their tissue that would make them poisonous.

Do you think I should move the Sebae into my friends tank as well, it has been established for over a year and has proper lighting...?

I would have to know alot more about the tank to even hazard a recommendation there.

FYI I stick to a schedule for water changes and monitor water all the time...

I did not mean to imply that the conditions in your tank would be dirty, simply that the tank wasn't mature.

 

[Sneaker]

Since I am already "going there", Sebae anemones are very difficult to care for, they tend to come in injured and bleached (as yours appears to be). They will hang around for a few weeks to a month or two, then die. These anemones are virtually immortal in the wild, yet we manage to kill them rather quickly. I would recommend you take yours back, they have special lighting and water requirements. No anemones should be attempted until the tank has had a year to mature.

So you think even if I make sure the Sebae has iodine and trace elements in the water along with two 20 watt actinic 03 blue coralife bulbs and two 20 watt color max coralife bulbs he will still perish?

Does he look like he is dying already?

He is in a good flow area as well and looks a lot better thn he did in the fish tank at the store, I think I rescued him from that place "different place then I normally go" but it sounds like I didn't do him any favors.

 

[Sneaker]

I did not mean to imply that the conditions in your tank would be dirty, simply that the tank wasn't mature.

I know, this is all good advice, I try to do my homework but experience always wins, the Sebae was the only impulse buy I have made and it seems to be the worst thing I could of done.

I am not looking to harm any of my fish or creatures so all of the above advive will be taken into consideration and some changes will be made.

My friends tank is 125 gallons with proper filtration and lighting, a good amount of live rock, he has a porkypine puffer, 2 black damsels, 2 stripped damsels, 2 clarki clowns, 1 yellow tang, and 1anemone, the tanks has been up for a few years.

 

[reefrunner69]

So you think even if I make sure the Sebae has iodine and trace elements in the water along with two 20 watt actinic 03 blue coralife bulbs and two 20 watt color max coralife bulbs he will still perish?

Unfortunately yes, statistically, I'd say that anemone has a 3-5% chance of living more than a month. There really is very little you can do, the anemone looks bleached to me. A sebae anemone should be a straw base color, yours looks white. If the anemone lives long enough to build up it's zooxanthellae, then I would say it's chances go up to 40-50%. It is imperative that the anemone be fed, bbut especially now that it lacks the zooxanthellae to supply any of it's own food.

 

[Sneaker]

So what course of action should I take to save the poor thing?

 

[Sneaker]

would selcon help on the food I feed him for the mean time?

 

[reefrunner69]

Aside from feeding it, letting it move to where it is happy and keeping the tank water clean, there is little else you can do.

 

[reefrunner69]

would selcon help on the food I feed him for the mean time?

Possibly, I am not sure if anemones have a need for HUFAs.

 

[Sneaker]

Thanks for the advice eveyone, I am going to make some changes and we will see how it goes.

-your favorite idiot newbie-

 

[Sneaker]

Your tank is woefully over stocked. Both the puffer and the trigger get to large for the tank, by themselves. Both are also not considered reef safe. In such a small tank, I would expect the clarki, at some point, to become aggressive against the ocellaris.

One more thing, I keet reading that rule of thumb for a fish only tank was 1 inch per gallon, even if you add all of my fish up and add for gerth it's about 20 inches of fish...

Like I talked about before I am upgrading to a 125 gallon in about 6 months, do you think the trigger and puffer will grow a lot in that time?

 

[reefrunner69]

I keet reading that rule of thumb for a fish only tank was 1 inch per gallon,

FW rule of thumb you have there....

SW is 1" of Adult sized fish, per 5 gallons of water, which allows for 6" of Adult sized fish. I stress adult, because those fish will grow, so you need to know what the average adult size of the fish will be. The rule of thumb is really a guideline, with the right selection I would say you could go 1" per 3g. HTH

 

[Sneaker]

I am wondering how my LFS I usually go to let me have so many damm fish in the tank, they know my setup, I am going to talk to them and maybe have them take the puffer and trigger back... thanks again for the help.