New Reef Tank - Beginner

[Wildsy]

Update!! The clowns are back at my LFS even though the guy who works for the owner said it wasn't white spot I'm pretty confident it was. Still returned them with a credit note though.. Decided to wait for some onyx/snowflake clowns come in, IMO they are so much nicer than the standard occealaris

[Criptix]

Originally Posted by Wildsy

Update!! The clowns are back at my LFS even though the guy who works for the owner said it wasn't white spot I'm pretty confident it was. Still returned them with a credit note though.. Decided to wait for some onyx/snowflake clowns come in, IMO they are so much nicer than the standard occealaris

Good luck!Snowflake Clowns are beautiful! with all the pics of clownfish I am beginning to think I may want to add them too.I am thinking as long as they were tank bred

[Wildsy]

Yeah I agree with that!! But if they are wild they are more than likely to host an anemone? Tell me if I'm wrong but I'm sure that's correct

[mr_X]

That is correct, however, there are no "snowflake" clowns in the wild. All these designer clowns are captive bred.

[MJSerik]

Better make a big hole in your wallet, designer clowns are not cheap. My LFS has some kind of designer clown that I can't remember the exact name of for $224.

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

Originally Posted by MJSerik

Better make a big hole in your wallet, designer clowns are not cheap. My LFS has some kind of designer clown that I can't remember the exact name of for $224.

Guess I'm lucky because my lfs has all clowns at $20. They get some designers in every now and then and it's a great deal. I'm not a big fan of them though. I just like the wild types.

[Wildsy]

It's alright for some! Great night at the pub for Olly! How is everyone??

It's so lucky you can get designer clowns so cheap! It is £60 for a pair of onyx clowns in England! Still waiting for snowflakes to come in to see how much they are!!

[Wildsy]

**TANK UPDATE**

The first corals are in!!! ))

A kenya tree as recommended!



Is the positioning of this okay?? All I could find is it likes medium light and low flow so stuck it in the bottom haha!

Got this little fella basically for free too, I'm sure it's a mushroom but does anyone have the proper name? And some info if the placement is okay on this one , thanks, Olly!

[bribo12]

Kenya tree will literally grow anywhere you place it haha. The second pick looks like some type of leather coral to me

[Wildsy]

Originally Posted by bribo12

Kenya tree will literally grow anywhere you place it haha. The second pick looks like some type of leather coral to me

Anything in terms of placement? Shall I put it in a hole in the LR?

[Wildsy]

Originally Posted by Wildsy

Anything in terms of placement? Shall I put it in a hole in the LR?

Also flow and light?

[bribo12]

I'd leave it where it is, it looks happy with it's polyps out. Mine liked moderate to higher flow when I had it and it will survive in any lighting

[huma-huma]

snowflake clowns are usually that expensive. i bought mine for about $15 and i just seen the Petco near me selling them for $30-40 i believe. so not too bad. i jumped the gun and bought a yellow-stripe maroon with 2 misbars...wish i would of held out for a naked clown.

[Wildsy]

Originally Posted by huma-huma

snowflake clowns are usually that expensive. i bought mine for about $15 and i just seen the Petco near me selling them for $30-40 i believe. so not too bad. i jumped the gun and bought a yellow-stripe maroon with 2 misbars...wish i would of held out for a naked clown.

That's cheap! I asked in the LFS tonight and snowflakes are 199.99£ a pair!

Thanks B! Will leave it there then! What do you think to the leather placement??

[mr_X]

Who recommended kenya tree? If you stay in this hobby you will end up hating the fact that you have that in your tank. It spreads like crazy and is about the ugliest coral out there. Very hard to eradicate. I suggest you give it away. There are many other corals that are as easy to grow and aren't a nuisance.

[Wildsy]

Originally Posted by mr_X

Who recommended kenya tree? If you stay in this hobby you will end up hating the fact that you have that in your tank. It spreads like crazy and is about the ugliest coral out there. Very hard to eradicate. I suggest you give it away. There are many other corals that are as easy to grow and aren't a nuisance.

Someone on this thread actually!

What else would you say is easy X?

[Wildsy]

Originally Posted by Mebbid

These are dual t5ho lights? You won't be able to keep a nem under those light conditions and you will also want to wait until the tank is around 6 months old before trying even if you acquire the proper lighting for it. Assuming this is a standard 16" tall tank you could easily keep softies and zoanthids. Some of my favs when I started were pulsing xenia, kenya tree, and a finger leather. The xenia and kenya tree are nice because they are the proverbial miner's canary when it comes to issues with water parameters. They will show changes when the parameters are out of whack before most other corals will, although they easily bounce back. The shrimp will eat whatever you feed the fish really. My cleaner shrimp went absolutely nuts for frozen mysis though although it was happy with flake food as well. Yes, that is true about the clowns. It's easier to buy two that live together or buy one that is quite a bit larger than the other. I bought mine from separate tanks but one was about 2/3 the size of the other and they actually didn't fight at all.

Here it is!

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

Originally Posted by Wildsy

Someone on this thread actually! What else would you say is easy X?

My first coral was a mushroom. Then zoas. Those are the only softies I have in my tank as of now, and probably all I'll ever have. But I mean, a Kenya isn't too bad of a beginner. Mebbid wasn't wrong. They're impossible to kill. Keep it in the sand (as far away from rocks as possible!!!!!!), and bring it back after a few weeks or a month. Just long enough so you know you can keep softies.

[mr_X]

I completely disagree with the reasoning behind keeping something like this. I have tossed kenya tree branches in a sump and it lived for years under just a curly-q energy saver bulb. I've also sat pieces in a container of water and left it there for a week with no flow, light, or heat, and it remained alive.
I would say it's the poorest gauge for water quality you can use.

Keeping this is no guarantee you can keep less hardy corals, which is what you will want anyway.
Brilliant barbs said "Keep it in the sand (as far away from rocks as possible!!!!!!)" because it's terribly invasive. It also kills most corals that come in contact with it.
Keeping this in your tank is no different than keeping aptasia anemones.

[carey]

I dont have the extreme view that Mr X has regarding it, but I will say it is terribly invasive and will over run your tank in no time. Same with xenia. I actually had to give away those corals to people cause it just spread like a weed. The kenya will just drop branches and spread that way, it really will grow anywhere under any light. lol

I would have suggested zooas, palys and maybe a toadstool after knowing what I learned after starting with similar corals. lol