My 125 reef in progress tank

[mstrblstr33]

Just recently purchased this setup from someone in the classifieds. This tank had been established for awhile, however I needed to remove some fish that I didn't want. Now all I have is a Green Mandarin, 2 Engineer Gobies and 2 Green Chromis. Previous owner had no substrate, so I added a dsb and a cleanup crew to help control the mini cycle.

 

[hackteck]

so far so good what are your plans on what other fish you want

 

[carey]

Looking good! Lucky you with a mandarin, I'm so jealous.

What were you looking at adding? Theres some great fish for that size tank, I'm working on my 125g reef as well and have run into alot of great fish.

 

[mstrblstr33]

Well, here is the thing.... I have 4 kids, all under 13. Can anyone guess what fish they want? That's right...as much of the cast from Nemo tha can coexist in the real world. So after some research, 2 false percs, regal tang, yellow tang and a royal gramma for the immediate future. We also have our eye on quite a few corals although we are not good with the names yet.

 

[carey]

Sounds like a plan! You can add corals at your leisure, before long you'll know all you need to about corals. lol This site is great, just ask away.

 

[mstrblstr33]

Sounds like a plan! You can add corals at your leisure, before long you'll know all you need to about corals. lol This site is great, just ask away.

Yeah, I am trying to be patient and get things a piece at a time. We will see how that works out. Lol. Right now I'm waiting for the tank to level back out after I added the sand. Have to do 20 gal water change tomorrow. Carey, is your 125 stocked yet?

 

[hackteck]

Well, here is the thing.... I have 4 kids, all under 13. Can anyone guess what fish they want? That's right...as much of the cast from Nemo tha can coexist in the real world. So after some research, 2 false percs, regal tang, yellow tang and a royal gramma for the immediate future. We also have our eye on quite a few corals although we are not good with the names yet.

lol thats funny i have 4 kids all under 13 too their favorite fish are the clown fish

 

[carey]

Nope, I'm still waiting for the equipment to get here tomorrow. lol

I already have my stock list put together and it looks similar to yours. Just going with an atlantic blue tang instead, they require a tad less space than the regular blue one.

I would def wait a bit to put some fish in. Just monitor your parameters and make sure they stay stable. Those tangs are $$ fish so it's better safe than sorry.

Does your mandarin eat prepared foods? Thats my last dream fish i want to add to the 125g. I already have a scooter so I kinda know what I'm getting into

 

[mstrblstr33]

lol thats funny i have 4 kids all under 13 too their favorite fish are the clown fish

Yeah...lol. They all love the clownfish....Nemo!

 

[mstrblstr33]

Nope, I'm still waiting for the equipment to get here tomorrow. lol

I already have my stock list put together and it looks similar to yours. Just going with an atlantic blue tang instead, they require a tad less space than the regular blue one.

I would def wait a bit to put some fish in. Just monitor your parameters and make sure they stay stable. Those tangs are $$ fish so it's better safe than sorry.

Does your mandarin eat prepared foods? Thats my last dream fish i want to add to the 125g. I already have a scooter so I kinda know what I'm getting into

When I first purchased the tank, it was stocked with a sailfin, vlamingi, 6 lined wrasse, skunk clown, 2 engineer gobies, 2 chromis, coral beauty and a mandarin which didn't make the trip. My wifes favorite fish is the mandarin, so when it didn't make it, we got a new one. Well the clown and the wrasse weren't having that! The wrasse harrassed him and chewed off half his tail and the clown kept pushing him back out into the open. So, since the we wanted the tank to be a peaceful tank (since we already have the aggressive tank), we needed to get those fish out. Also since we wanted a regal and yellow tang, we needed to get the other 2 tangs out. I had to tear the whole tank down to get the fish out and hile I had it apart I added the sand, traded in the fish we weren't keeping and put everyone else back in. Ok well now that I got way off track, the mandarin eats live only. We were gonn buy a T/R mandarin but the lfs wanted $50 for him so we went with a wild one.

 

[carey]

Wow you've been way busy already. Good move on relocating those pesky fish, they probably would have just been more trouble than they were worth.

Are you feeding the mandarin or are there enough pods for him existing? I really really want one but I don't want him to rely on pods entirely. My lfs has t/r ones for $40 and wild for $20 so I may just go with the $40 one to make sure he at least should eat prepared lol

 

[mstrblstr33]

Well, I wasn't sure what the guy who had the tank before was feeding his mandarin, and I know that the wrasse will eat pods also, so I went ahead and bought some pods just in case and supplement them with phyto feast. So far he seems to be ok, I tried to feed him some mixed food, brine mysis ect with a baster but he wouldn't take it. I guess I wil have to rely on pods for now. In hindsight, I should have gotten the t/r one instead but you know how that goes.

 

[carey]

I wish you luck though! Some people have had success with them so it is possible.

Make sure you keep us updated with photos! I'd love to see the mandarin if he's not camera shy.

 

[mstrblstr33]

Thanks, good luck on your tank as well. He is pretty shy still, but if I get a chance I will snap a pic and post it.

 

[mstrblstr33]

I wish you luck though! Some people have had success with them so it is possible.

Make sure you keep us updated with photos! I'd love to see the mandarin if he's not camera shy.

Speak of the devil...I came home and he made an appearance..lol.

 

[carey]

he is beautiful! I love looking at them. You got a pretty nice shot too.

 

[mstrblstr33]

Well, I regret to announce that the previous pictures were my mandarins last hurrah. One final viewing.....he passed away about 5 min ago.

 

[carey]

OMG, I'm soo sorry. Any idea why? Did something get to it? That really really stinks. :-(

 

[mstrblstr33]

Thanks.....he has had a rough time since we got him. Was picked on for about a week before I could get those other fish out. Not really sure if he ever did eat. Next one will definitely be T/R.

 

[carey]

Good luck. He was a cute little guy, it's like he posed for the pictures.

Make sure you post when you get a new one if you do. I would wait a while anyways til everything settles and you get some life into the new substrate.
If he reverts from prepared foods which alot of them do, at least you'll have a good pod population.