I am new to the hobby and starting out with a new 36 gallon tank with 5 lbs of live rock. I have had the tank and rock cycling for 7 days now, and am ready to add fish to it. Would an Oscellaris clownfish be a good fish to start with in the tank?
Need to know what a good starter fish would be.
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Yes clowns are wonderful beginner fish. I'd buy 2 of equal size and over time one will switch to a female. You will then have a pair. 7 days isn't long enough to cycle. Plus you need more rock. You want a lb to a lb and a Half per gallon. So you'd want 36 lbs. then you can begin to cycle with either a raw shrimp method or pure ammonia method
jeh1487
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Ya I agree clowns are awesome but I can normally have one pair is when I started my 90 gal tank I had 3 pairs of clown Picasso, white face clown and black and white one. And can you post your plumbing because I am worried u don't even have a protein skimmer. Your going to need more live rock like the post above stated
I don't have plumbing, I am using a hang on filter, and no I don't have a protein skimmer yet. The amount of live rock I purchased was what was recommended by the LFS. The live rock was pulled from their tanks, so it wasn't dry.
jeh1487
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Wow don't go to that LFS I think u should buy a good book on saltwater aquariums I have read a lot and that's how I gained a lot of my knowledge
ecancienne1983
Aquarium Advice Activist
Green chromis or a clown my yellow tail damsel seems pretty hardy they all survived an ich attack i had
Did you not take any of the advice given? Did you get more live rock? You will need to monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate very thoroughly for the next couple of weeks and do frequent wc to keep the clowns alive.
BigRedsReefs10
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If the cycle doesn't kill them, one might kill the other. IMO it's best to pair clowns of the same type. Hope you didn't spend to much on them....
baron1282
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Well, being you already got the animals in the tank, I would suggest getting a BIG bottle of this:
Instant Ocean Bio-Spira Start Up Nitrifying Bacteria Aquarium Additive at PETCO
Put it all in, and it should help. Make sure you do a five gallon water change every 2 days until the tank is cycled. Good luck!
I have done what you did, and I lost all my fish because I just didn't know. Most LFS will not guarantee saltwater fish, so you will be out of the money if they die. I hope they do not die and it can be corrected, but it's going to take a little more work on your part.
As stated before, you need more rock. This will give the fish more room to hide when they are stressed, and also your bio filtration will be better. You do not need to buy the expensive rock as you got enough to seed the other rock now, you just need to buy at least 15 or 20 more ponds of dry rock which will become live overtime.
Also if you have a friend that has a tank already established, see if you can get some of his filter material. See if the LFS will give you some of their filter material to put into your filter. This will have the good Bactria already on it and will greatly increase your fishes chances of life.
We all have made rookie mistakes, that's why we are here on this website. To help others not to make the same mistakes we made. So don't be upset if some here seem upset you didn't listen. We get new people here all the time, and they all think the same. It always ends up the same, we just get tired of repeating it. LOL
BTW, The fish are very gorgeous! Please take our advice so we can save them and give them the best possible life they can have for years to come! We don't want you getting upset because they die out of nowhere. This hobby has its ups and downs, I have already had 2 clowns, 1 flame hawk, and one Six Line Wrasse die on me. They jumped out of my tank! So no matter what you do, sometimes fish will just do unexpected things and you will lose one or two. It sucks, but it's are job to minimize that risk as we choose to take the animals into our homes and care for them.
Instant Ocean Bio-Spira Start Up Nitrifying Bacteria Aquarium Additive at PETCO
Put it all in, and it should help. Make sure you do a five gallon water change every 2 days until the tank is cycled. Good luck!
I have done what you did, and I lost all my fish because I just didn't know. Most LFS will not guarantee saltwater fish, so you will be out of the money if they die. I hope they do not die and it can be corrected, but it's going to take a little more work on your part.
As stated before, you need more rock. This will give the fish more room to hide when they are stressed, and also your bio filtration will be better. You do not need to buy the expensive rock as you got enough to seed the other rock now, you just need to buy at least 15 or 20 more ponds of dry rock which will become live overtime.
Also if you have a friend that has a tank already established, see if you can get some of his filter material. See if the LFS will give you some of their filter material to put into your filter. This will have the good Bactria already on it and will greatly increase your fishes chances of life.
We all have made rookie mistakes, that's why we are here on this website. To help others not to make the same mistakes we made. So don't be upset if some here seem upset you didn't listen. We get new people here all the time, and they all think the same. It always ends up the same, we just get tired of repeating it. LOL
BTW, The fish are very gorgeous! Please take our advice so we can save them and give them the best possible life they can have for years to come! We don't want you getting upset because they die out of nowhere. This hobby has its ups and downs, I have already had 2 clowns, 1 flame hawk, and one Six Line Wrasse die on me. They jumped out of my tank! So no matter what you do, sometimes fish will just do unexpected things and you will lose one or two. It sucks, but it's are job to minimize that risk as we choose to take the animals into our homes and care for them.
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MJSerik
Aquarium Advice Freak
+1 on bottle bacteria. Maybe it's just my experience, but it'll cycle a tank overnight.
What else do you have for filtration? How did you test and what exactly were the results?
BigRedsReefs10
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Your either going to need a huge skimmer or a lot more rock. You have practically no filtration on this tank right now
baron1282
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Skimmers are awesome! You would be VERY happy with a good Skimmer! I suggest the reef octopus HOB BH-1000!!!!
Amazon.com: CoralVue Technology BH-1000 Octopus with External 1000 Pump for Aquarium Filter, 100-Gallon: Pet Supplies
This baby will skim the crap right out of your tank! Literally!! LOL
look around, because I got mine cheaper! The Smaller Reef Octopus would be good for your tank! But the funny thing is the BH-2000 is cheaper than the 1000 on Amazon! LOL so look around! But the BH-1000 is the one I have and it has not let me down!
Amazon.com: CoralVue Technology BH-1000 Octopus with External 1000 Pump for Aquarium Filter, 100-Gallon: Pet Supplies
This baby will skim the crap right out of your tank! Literally!! LOL
look around, because I got mine cheaper! The Smaller Reef Octopus would be good for your tank! But the funny thing is the BH-2000 is cheaper than the 1000 on Amazon! LOL so look around! But the BH-1000 is the one I have and it has not let me down!
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