Two q's- coral banded & stocking

[bonnie3188]

okay I have a 75 gallon reef tank which so far has:

5x perc clowns (4 orange, 1 black)
1x valentini puffer (very small)
1x longnose butterfly (also quite small)
1x coral banded shrimp

I have two questions:

1. I'm looking for another fish to add to this set up. I was originally going to go with a yellow tang, but with the longnose butterfly im thinking the tank will look too yellow. Would any tang be suitable in a 75g? Looking for a lively, colourful fish. Any input would be much appreciated!

2. My coral banded shrimp recently shedded and lost his arm during the process. I understand that this is quite normal. Just wondering how long it would take to grow back? He has been a bit shy since. I've been supplementing his food with garlic, hoping it will make him a bit stronger.

 

[FishFrik]

5 clowns! 0.o That's not good first of all. You'll get some aggression when the clowns reach their adulthood

I believe puffers aren't reef safe

About tangs, look at their requirments/coloration online at:

www.liveaquaria.com
www.fantasyreef.com
www.marinedepotlive.com

Your shrimp won't actually "grow" back its arm. He'll get a new arm when he sheds next time

 

[ntswift]

FF is right about the clowns and the puffers. As far as your butterfly, I dont think that is reef safe either. I would recommend getting rid of at least 3 clowns, your puffer, and maybe your longnose butterfly. Your puffer with start eating your snails and hermits if it hasn't already. Your clowns with too aggressive with each other like FF said. And your butterfly will also start nipping at your hermits. You have to watch out for CBS as well as they can nip at your corals. They dont all the time and it really depends on your shrimp but just keep an eye on it.

Now for your questions

1.I personally like the Kole yellow eye tang. Maybe an option for you? Tangs need a lot of swimming room. I think you should be okay with a smaller tang though.

2.Like FF said, it will grow back the next time it sheds. Nothing to worry about though.

HTH

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree w/ the clowns. Some people have successfully kept two pairs in large tanks (larger than 75 gallons) but I don't see 5 living happily in there. When they start pairing off you are going to have issues. For reference, usually one pair is all that can be sustained in a tank.

About the CBS, it's normal for them to hide out after shedding. Heck, mine hid most of the day and scavenged at night all the time. Give it some time and it'll be good as new.

 

[bonnie3188]

I've had my puffer and shrimp for about 2-3 months now. Neither has shown any interest towards my corals or snails.
My LFS said the longnose shouldn;t eat my corals, and if it does it will only peck. not completely destroy.
The clowns have been living well together for many months, I added them all at the same time so none of them is "boss". I'll keep an eye out for aggression though, if they do start being too aggressive I'll put some in my 12g.

Thanks for the links, good info.

Anyone had any experience with longnose hawkfish?

 

[FishFrik]

Long nose and copperband BF's are the only 2 BF's that are reefsafe w/ cautious as they might nip at small polyps occasionally but won't kill the corals. Your LFS is right. They prefer meaty food. The only thing you should be worried about is that they will destroy every single tubeworms you have.

I've read a book about clownfish and it said false perc clowns are the only clowns that you can keep more than 2 in standard tank (not those 300G+ 0.o). Only one mated pair will form and the others will keep their distance from the pair. I think you should at least return your black clown. The perc clowns that you have might be false perc so you might get away with 4 in your tank.

 

[lilly14]

Hello all,

I too have 5 clowns in my 80g tank. I did the same as bonnie3188, added them all at once, and all were the same size. My clowns have been living happily without aggression for over a year, so don't tell her that she has to take back her fish when she wasn't even posting a question about that.
Evidently, her fish are getting along fine or she would either not have them, or would be posting a question about it!
Don't jump to conclusions.

With regards to the reef safe fish, it all depends on the individual fish, and evidently she has had luck with her purchases. Again, she was not posting a question about that!!

NOW! Onto the questions......

1. How about a convict, scopas, or tomini tang? All of them should be alright in a 75g as long as no other fish will be added (you're bio-load will be maxed out). Or other than tangs, bannerfish are quite friendly, or foxface lo.

2. Yeah it should come back with the next shedding.

HTH

 

[FishFrik]

Just trying to help her out... Not beating anyone up. From my knowledge, mixing dif. species of clowns and having more than 1 pair in 1 tank is a bad idea. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Devilishturtles]

bonnie, lilly. Nobody was jumping to conclusions so please don't take it as such. There are many people on this forum who have tried adding more than one pair of clowns and have had complete destruction. And like I mentioned in my post, some have had success. We are looking out for potential problems and bringing them to someones knowledge incase they didn' t know about it. I don't see a problem in trying to help, questions asked or not.

 

[Mrsfuller2572]

Ditto fishfrik and Devilishturtles! I personally enjoy any and ALL added info. Since we're not actually in a round table discussion setting, it's nice that topics etc. are covered across the board. That's how we all learn from one another. Case in point, now bonnie3188 knows to be on the lookout for aggression, instead of potentially finding out the hard way. I now know that I, as a sw novice, should try only one pair of clowns. Kuddos to Fishfrik and Devilishturtles!

 

[ntswift]

This whole forum is just a learning experience for everyone. I think any and all input on any topic that I post is great because it shows different points of views and also gives me new insight to things that I might have missed or just didnt know. Its not to beat anyone up. We have all made our mistakes and may not have known them if it wasnt for someone else telling us so.

 

[bonnie3188]

Thanks for the advice guys.
I didn't mean to start a war! Hehe.

Don't really quite understand how the Coral Banded's arm will just reappear, but they are very interesting creatures so it'll be interesting to see.

Thanks

 

[lilly14]

It wasn't my intention to start a war, so i'm sorry if i have.

I think all advice is great, but unless people are absolutely certain about something, they should leave it to people with greater knowledge or more experience with the fish in question. I mean we don't want to force bonnie to go to her LFS and give back her entire livestock when there is nothing presently wrong. I've kept many reef aquariums over the years, and one of the major things i've learnt is that the behaviour of fish of the same species can vary greatly, and whilst some may be reef safe, another may rip apart an aquarium.

Now let's give bonnie some ideas as to another fish to add to her reef... Anyone object to any of my suggestions in my previous post? Foxface might be a bit big, but thats just more yellow for bonnie, so i doubt she'd want that anyway!

HTH

 

[ntswift]

I dont know how they just have their arm reappear either. I just know that when my emerald crab lost his arm, on his next shed it was back, bigger and better! As far as a fish for you like I said before I really like the kole yellow eye tang. Check it out:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=345

Thats if you really want a tang. There are other options for you like maybe a dwarf angel or maybe a fairy wrasse. They are all really cool fish. HTH

 

[Trameltanz]

My shrimp did the same thing. I brought it home and 2 days later his arms were directly under its perch on the rocks. A few days later it molted and both arms were in tact. I thought I had whodini but sure enough they were there.