New to Aquariums - trying my hand at saltwater

[capj64]

We bought our tank five days ago and so far things are going ok. We have two clown fish and four hermit crabs in our 29 gallon tank and in our 6 gallons tank we have one damsil and one hermit crab. We had one shirmp in our 29 but it died the first night. My husband said that he had a hard time getting him out of the bag so he may have hurt it. But everyone else seems happy. I had to do some quick reading on my clown fish since they were doing all kind of crazy things that had me saying, "What the H?" and from what I've read my larger of the two is most likely now a female

Glad I found this site so that I can post questions to help me along with my tanks. Seems like everyone in my family is loving it.

 

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

 

[DragonFish71]

Welcome to AA.

Mitchell should be happy, another Saltie

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard

 

[austinsdad]

As much as we like helping out, we like to learn too. How did you get livestock in the tank after purchasing it only 5 days ago?

Oh... my manners. Welcome to AA!!

 

[mfdrookie516]

Welcome to AA

 

[HN1]

Welcome to AA! There's a ton to learn here.

 

[capj64]

Thanks for the warm welcomes

As much as we like helping out, we like to learn too. How did you get livestock in the tank after purchasing it only 5 days ago?

We bought the tank and set it up on Saturday and then bought the clown fish, damsil and crabs on Sunday. They said that they were pretty tough and would help our tank get to where it needs to be so that we can add a Tang and others that we want. They said in four weeks they would test our water and let us know what we could do next.

 

[austinsdad]

Wow. Be very wary of the lfs (local fish shop) and the advice they're giving. You are currently cycling a tank with fish most likely. Ammonia is high and it hurts fish. It'd be like you swimming in a septic tank almost. Clowns are damsels, which are very tough fish, but cycling a tank that way hurts them. Cycling a tank with fish is a very old practice in the trade these days IMO. Read our articles section on cyling a sw tank the humane way.

Also, a 29g is not a large enough tank for ant tang. The yellow tang needs a 6ft swim. 125g or larger.

If you can, get an ammonia and nitrate test kit right away, read up on cycling a tank and you'll know what the tests are for.

Good luck. Stay in touch. We will help you. Read this and do more research on the subject. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/3/1/Cycle-your-salt-tank/Page1.html

This is a real exciting hobby and its easy to do what you're doing right now - which is relying on someone who wants to sell you something and making mistakes that will stress your fish and you and not allow you to enjoy the hobby.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

+1 to that. Usually you want to do a fishless cycle. Setting up SW or FW for 1 day then putting fish in it is usually a death sentence (at least shortened life). That is, unless you seed your filter with a bacteria colony. Even then, you should go more like a week, testing daily and supplying an ammonia source of some kind. LFSs usually are motivated by the sale, not the safety and health of the fish. The fish will die, and you'll come back for more. I think they figure why bother taking the time to educate someone and possibly scare them off when you have a bird in the hand.

 

[capj64]

Thank you for the info, I'll look it up and take a read. I usually do a lot of reading before getting any kind of animal but this time I didn't because we went at it so fast.

My small 6 gallon tank with the damsel, I bought "live" shells/sand. Does that help? I'll probably find this out from the section you told me to read, huh?

Also, my lfs did tell me that I could only put a small tang in my 29 gallon tank and that after if grew too large to be in it, I would have to get a bigger tank or sell him back to the shop. I told my husband that until we were ready for a bigger tank that I could just keep replacing the "too big" Tang with a baby Tang each time. Is that bad??

I feel like a first time mom again

 

[austinsdad]

I know. It's being responsible for a life that you bring home and feeding it and nurturing, and all that mom or dad like stuff. I hear ya.

Replacing fish as they grow ain't that easy. With rock work and other fish to disturb, and the stress of new additions, can be asking for trouble. You'll enjoy it more with established fish, patterns, maintenance and all. Trading fish in every time they grow could easily give you bad experiences too.

I'd really consider taking the fish back, cycling with shrimp, and starting to look at gobies, blennies, cardinalfish, chromis, shrimp, crabs, and snails. They'll provide lots of fun I think.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Welcome to AA.

Mitchell should be happy, another Saltie

Amen to that.

 

[mgamer20o0]

Welcome to AA.