Finially cycled my 30 gallon fowlr tank

[Antonio718]

 

[Antonio718]

Tomorrow two clowns going in, cant wait

 

[Antonio718]

2 percula clowns
3 snails

 

[Antonio718]

3 hermit crabs

 

[Beengirl]

Looks really nice!!! who doesn't love clown fish?

 

[Antonio718]

Looks really nice!!! who doesn't love clown fish?

Thank you, i kno they r great, funny too, thinking about getting a blue mandarin goby next week and myabe this friday sumtype of shrimp to help my CUC, any suggestions?

 

[bettaowner]

I love the clown fish. So cool.

 

[Beengirl]

Thank you, i kno they r great, funny too, thinking about getting a blue mandarin goby next week and myabe this friday sumtype of shrimp to help my CUC, any suggestions?

I wouldn't get a mandarin yet. Your tank should be up for a while before you do cuz they eat pods, only pods, and LOTS if them. Your tank won't have enough yet and it'll starve to death. Personally, I love my cleaner shrimp. He'll help keep the fish clean too, which is very cool to watch. Here's pic of him cleaning one of my fish.
She'll swim up to him every couple days and he'll spend couple minutes cleaning her head to tail. (Almost said toe. Lol)

 

[Antonio718]

I wouldn't get a mandarin yet. Your tank should be up for a while before you do cuz they eat pods, only pods, and LOTS if them. Your tank won't have enough yet and it'll starve to death. Personally, I love my cleaner shrimp. He'll help keep the fish clean too, which is very cool to watch. Here's pic of him cleaning one of my fish.
She'll swim up to him every couple days and he'll spend couple minutes cleaning her head to tail. (Almost said toe. Lol)

Niceee, sorry if im asking a dumb question but what are pods? And will the cleaner shrimp eat the left over food on the bottom, my clownfish dont eat much, when i feed them the flakes they eat it then spit it out then take another bite and spit out, i also have lil pellets that i heard were made for them and they do the same with it, and how often should i feed them? I have 3 snails but they dont move much and i have 3 red leg hermit crabs, i was thinking of goin to get a shrimp or two friday to help clean

 

[Beengirl]

The shrimp will pick at the rocks some and eat pieces of food that get caught on there. Hermits are great at getting food that falls to the bottom. My cleaner doesn't really go in the bottom (which is good cuz the pistol shrimp has a bunch of burrow openings. Lol)
Nassarius snails are great for cleaning up food off the sand and rocks too- they hide in sand but come up later and eat whatever food they can find. They're also great for gently keeping the sand stirred.
It's best to get different types of CUC members, as they each kinda serve different purposes. Here's an article I found when I was starting out about the different kind of snails:

Nassarius Snails - Nassarius spp. They mostly stay in the sand, but will sometimes make short trips up the glass. They are mainly detritus eaters and do an excellent job cleaning and shifting the sand. These are also some of the most hardy snails available. They can flip themselves upright very easily. They are fun to watch as they come bursting out of the sand bed at feeding time.

Onyx Nassarius -Ilyanassa spp. (Black Mud Snail, Black Nassarius Snail ) snails are very good at keeping sand beds completely clean of algae as well as other organics. They may occasionally strip a sand bed of enough nutrients that there will be none left to support copepod or amphipod populations. If you keep dragonets (e.g. Mandarins) that rely on healthy populations of copepods and amphipods do not get these. They are also a cooler water species and may not last that long in higer temp tanks like reef tanks.

Cerith Snails-Cerithium spp. (Cortez) - Good algae and detritus eaters that forage rock, glass, and sand. Some can pick themselves up and some cant.

Cerith Snails (White)- Good algae and detritus eaters that seem to stay in the sand more than the cortez, but can be found on the rock and glass. Once again, some can pick themselves up and others cant. These are good sand bed snails.

Fighting Conch Snails - These guys are all about the sand bed and are very cool to watch. They usually dont get flipped over, but if they do, they can kick around and turn themselves back upright.They very hardy too.

Astrea Snails -Astraea tecta: Most common of all saltwater tank snails. They are excellent algae eaters and will forage all over the rock, sand, and glass. These guys fall very easily, can not right themselves, and then die. 1 per 6 gal.

Margarita Snail - Margarites pupillus. (Stomatella Limpet Snail, Pearl Snail, Little Margarite Snail, Pearly Topped Snail ) Another snail to add to the algae eating aresnal. Will cruise around on the rock and glass.

Fighting Conchs - Strombus gibberulus. Little vacuum cleaners. One per 2 sq. ft. of sand. They'll eat diatoms and, sometimes, cyano. Get one per 2 sq. feet of tank is what was recommened to me. They tend to disappear behind the rocks for a few days then come back around to the front again. They usually dont get flipped over, but if they do, they can kick around and turn themselves back upright.They very hardy too.

Nerite Snails - Nerita spp. Mostly a rock and glass snail that are all about the algae. They may crawl above the water line of your tank as they often become exposed in the wild during low tide. Mine usually end up in the sump where they can get above the water line and come back down when they want to.

Turbo Snails : They are big and clumsy. They'll knock over or move anything that isn't glued/nailed down. Actually I had one knock a coral frag that was glued to a a plug right off the plug. But, they will attack hair algea. Mine are now escargot size and I moved them to the sump because they were always knocking corals off the rock and plugs they were attached to.

Banded Trochus - Trochus spp. (Tiger Trochus Snail, Banded Trochus Snail, Black and White Snail, Spiral-Top Snail ) Algae eating machines. Ideal size, won't knock over corals/rock, and can move very fast. Will also eat hair algae. 1 per 3 gal.

Stomatella Snails : Will breed in your tank! You will only need to get 4 or 5. They're great algae eaters and stay very small.


BTW- Pods are Copepods, tiny little crustaceans that live in the sand. Fish love them, but they have to have time to accumulate. At night they'll come out and look like tiny fleas near the sandbed.

 

[Beengirl]

One other thing, my clown loves mysis, I buy the frozen cubes.

 

[Antonio718]

One other thing, my clown loves mysis, I buy the frozen cubes.

Thanks im gonna look into all that stuff, i do my research everyday trying to learn new things about saltwater aqauriums

 

[Antonio718]

Got a lettuce nudibranch and a coral banded shrimp

 

[Antonio718]

 

[bettaowner]

Beautiful shrimp.

 

[Antonio718]

Beautiful shrimp.

Thanks i love it lol, i like when he catches food

 

[54seaweed]

I'd hold off on the mandarin for at least another 6/8 months
your tank is still to new to maintain a mandarin
unless you plan on buying pods every month till the tank is able to sustain a stable pod population its not cheap! I averaged around 2000 pods a month to feed him
I got lucky I had a established breeder tank and I was able to buy pods and breed them along with brine shrimp and mysiss and my mandarin is also trained to eat frozen mysiss and pellets and that was no easy task
just a fyi most mandarins will starve in a new tank thats why most people with experience try to steer you away so you dont have any casualty's and try to save you the heart ack
once your tank is established youll have better chance of having a happy mandarin
and you can enjoy your mandarin for years to come

 

[Antonio718]

I'd hold off on the mandarin for at least another 6/8 months
your tank is still to new to maintain a mandarin
unless you plan on buying pods every month till the tank is able to sustain a stable pod population its not cheap! I averaged around 2000 pods a month to feed him
I got lucky I had a established breeder tank and I was able to buy pods and breed them along with brine shrimp and mysiss and my mandarin is also trained to eat frozen mysiss and pellets and that was no easy task
just a fyi most mandarins will starve in a new tank thats why most people with experience try to steer you away so you dont have any casualty's and try to save you the heart ack
once your tank is established youll have better chance of having a happy mandarin
and you can enjoy your mandarin for years to come

Ok thanks yeah everyone keeps tellin me to hold off, how about a blue spotted goby?