Silly Nemo (Movie vs reality) question.

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Angel93PGT

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Messages
13
Location
Chicopee, MA
First off, I am going to guess that most of you have seen the "Finding Nemo" movie. Now the questions (there are more than one :D ). What are the species of all the animals in the tank in the Dentists office that Nemo gets put into? Is it possible to replicate such a tank in real life? I know that there are compatability issues and such.

I am asking because I have a cousin who is expecting a girl something in July and he got this crazy idea in his head somehow. I tried explaining to him about the tank size needed (he is looking for something small to put on the newborns room), the work that one puts into maintaining a salt water tank, that you can't just put all kinds of fish together, etc..

I am guessing that there was an Octopus, a star fish, a sea horse, a puffer fish and a clown fish. I don't know what the black and white fish with the scare is and I think there was one more.

I guess that this is the long way of asking what you guys would recommend for this instance. Maybe just clown fishes?

Any and all feedback is appreciated.

thnx

Angel
 
Octopus and seahorse are right out, they would both require a species only tank and an experienced owner. Moorish Idol, scar, is also out due to its terrible track record in captivity.

Nemo -False Perc? I might be wrong

I would say stay away from salt, and just do a FW tank with something large, colorful, and with a lot of personality. How large is he willing to go?

From expereince, you can't really go wrong with babies and bettas. They seem to love the bright colors and constant flaring. It would also be fairly simple to maintain a small tank (10g or so?) with a male betta and perhaps a few corries or ghost shrimp as a little bottom dweller excitement.
 
There is a lady at my work who has in a 12g tank the following:
- 2 x oscellaris clowns
- 1 x bi-color dotty back
- 1 x blenny (burower, not sure specific species)
- 1 x banggai cardinal fish

Personally I think it is overkill, but she claims to be very successful in getting this working, so I am going to see if I can get her to write up an article on how she did it so I can submit it to this forum.

She doesn't even do weekly or fortnightly water changes which is very odd to me given the size of the tank.
 
The dentist's tank had:

1 Moorish idol
1 porcupine puffer
1 yellow tang
1 cleaner shrimp (unknown species)
1 starfish (unknown species)
1 Pomacanthus semicurculatus (?)
1 Royal dottyback
1 'nemo' (occelarus clown, I believe).

It would be possible, but the puffer might be a problem, and the moorish idol would likely not thrive for long.
 
that puffer would have torn in to nemo as soon as he hit the water. oh and the cleaner shrimp.
 
I have "nemo" in a 10 gallon. I wouldn't recommend a 10 gallon salt water for your first SW tank. The bigger the tank the easier.
 

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You could have JUST nemo in a 10g tank. As for the original tank, most people wouldn't recommend a tank like that because it isn't a very natural environment for the fish. The use of Live Rock as the filter is the best way to go and you'd have to figure out a way to work that into your system. You'd need something upwards of 135 in order to keep that fishload.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=557515&highlight=nemo+tank+work

That guy did a Nemo tank at his LFS.
 
This "Finding Nemo" phenomenon that has everyone wanting to buy Moorish Idols reminds me of the Disney "dalmation" movies some years back. Every little kid got a new dalmation puppy until they learned they're aggressive, not good with kids, and likely to bite.

Couldn't be worse than the Harry Potter nonsense and everyone wanting to own an owl.
 
Clown Monarch said:
This "Finding Nemo" phenomenon that has everyone wanting to buy Moorish Idols reminds me of the Disney "dalmation" movies some years back. Every little kid got a new dalmation puppy until they learned they're aggressive, not good with kids, and likely to bite.

Couldn't be worse than the Harry Potter nonsense and everyone wanting to own an owl.

I take it you don't approve :D

Thanks everyone for your responses. I really appriciate it. So if he was to go with just the "nemo" fish, would you think that a 20 gal tank with live rock and live sand and all the proper cleaners would do the trick?

Angel
 
yeah a 20 gallon if good for a clown. 2 if you wanted.
 
Clown Monarch said:
This "Finding Nemo" phenomenon that has everyone wanting to buy Moorish Idols reminds me of the Disney "dalmation" movies some years back. Every little kid got a new dalmation puppy until they learned they're aggressive, not good with kids, and likely to bite.

Couldn't be worse than the Harry Potter nonsense and everyone wanting to own an owl.

Dalmations are not agressive unless they are trained to be that way... I used to breed dogs. We had Pit Bulls and everyone used to try and tell me they are agressive dogs, but the bitch and her mate were two of the sweetest dogs I ever knew. The people that tend to let their kids have the dogs or fish they see on the movies do not tend to know what they are getting into before they buy. Parents need to be parents and drawlines, do research and not always give their children what they want. Please do not give dalmations or any other breed of animal a bad name by saying they are agressive. That is gerneralizing a breed and is in my opinion just as bad as being racist or sexist toward other humans. :nono:

The first poster on this thread is doing the smartest thing by asking for advice on what to get his/her kid. I think it is very responsible and respectable to ask.
 
Clown Monarch said:
Couldn't be worse than the Harry Potter nonsense and everyone wanting to own an owl.

Hey, owls are great pets...you can do nighttime falconry and fix that annoying neighbourhood stray cat problem. :wink:
 
The Nemo phenomenon has been discussed in length on this board before. IMO and the opinion of many, the ones that loose the most are the fish. That movie (as much as I like it from an entertainment point of view) did a lot of damage to this hobby and places like Petco make a killing (literally) from it.
I'm glad to see the original poster asking before buying, its a smart move because the dentist's aquarium would be a disaster in real life.
#1 The Puffer would eat the cleaner shrimp.
#2 The Moorish Idol would most likely die (VERY hard fish to keep in captivity and should be left in the ocean).
#3 The plastic plants and CC would be a nightmare to clean.
#4 For that particular mix, you would need a tank of at least 180 gallons IMO.
That being said, a False Perc in a 20 gallon is very doable and enjoyable to children. Add a cleaner shrimp for some addition fun. :)
 
I'm not knocking the thread poster for asking, I'm just making a general statement. Certainly it's a good idea to ask before you take ownership of a pet.

As far as dalmations go - I love all dogs no matter what. I've heard from different people that dalmations "aren't the best dogs to have around kids" (that's me being PC). As a matter of fact our neighbors just got rid of their dalmation last week because it did something aggressive (I didn't find out what).
 
Toirtis said:
Clown Monarch said:
Couldn't be worse than the Harry Potter nonsense and everyone wanting to own an owl.

Hey, owls are great pets...you can do nighttime falconry and fix that annoying neighbourhood stray cat problem. :wink:


That's true, I hadn't thought of that. There was a big hubbub on the news about allowing hunters to shoot wild stray cats (I forget what they called them) because their populations were growing out of control. Pet owls could fix that problem in a jiffy.
 
Clown Monarch, I took no offense to your post and value your input, as well as everyone elses. I will relay to my cousin that if he really wants this kind of tank to consider the 20 gal with just 1, maybe 2 clowns and some cleaners (along with the live rock and such).

Thank you all for clearing this up for me.

Angel
 
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