Adding Dwarf Angel? (I’ve read conflicting facts…)

[dlwn88]

Hey guys,

As you can see from my signature, I have a salt water tank and fairly soon I would like to add the last or second to last fish to the tank, because I don’t want to overstock of course. I absolutely like the Coral Beauty and the Flame dwarf angels. From what I’ve read that would be okay for my size tank (40g breeder) however a marine book I purchased recommended placing them in tanks that have ran for several months. Is this just an extra precaution or would my tank be okay if it has been running for only a month oir so.

When my 40g cycled it was able to take the bioload of my clownfish and goby from my 20g without issues. I’ve since added one cardinal after waiting a week or so without any issues either.

I know that angelfish have their own food dedicated for them, I’ve seen it in the freezer at various LFS. Is this stuff actually good enough? I’m just wondering if you guys have run into major issues/difficulty having these fish? I won’t be getting corals so I’m not worried about a dwarf angel doing any harm. I think it would be a great addition to my tank, just want to make sure it doesn't turn into some nightmare.

 

[Cylias]

If the tank has been running for 1 month it's certainly not ready for more fish. I would wait before rushing into purchasing a fish like this. You may just end up with a headache and a dead fish which could lead to other problems arising.

Patience is key with saltwater

 

[dlwn88]

I understand that patience is key, I'm not trying to rush this, I'm actually spending time researching and posting on here.

What would be the difference between my tank now and in 2 months from now? As long as I'm performing my water chances my ammonia and nitrite should continue to stay at zero. There is as much beneficial bacteria as there is waste being produced right? I don't think adding a tiny dwarf angel would offset anything to make the tank conditions bad enough to cause death. Am I wrong? is there something else I haven't factored in? Just like anyone else I want to make sure I'm doing this correctly. Like I said I don't mind waiting awhile, I just want to make sure if it's really necessary to wait several months for one fish.

 

[Cylias]

Your doing the right thing by asking and researching. The difference between your tank now and 2 months from now is stability. You may think from here on out its smooth sailing but if you have done research you would know cycling takes a lot longer then 1 month. Another 2 months of the tank running how it is currently is a lot of time to grow beneficial bacteria, etc. In the end you will have a healthier tank. I'm not trying to tell you how to run your tank, but you asked for advice and advice has been given. I can only caution you to what may happen if you add the fish. Maybe the fish will be fine, but maybe it will die. I am just saying that if you wait there's less possibility of anything happening.

 

[HN1]

Good on you for researching. SW tanks mature relatively slowly. I wouldn't call one healthy or stable until a year passed. You are already agressively stocked IMO.

 

[Gti_Leo]

you also have to consider if you want to make it a reef aquarium, its hit or miss that an angel fish withh be safe in it, it is possible that it may attack your corals, hold off for not and decide what you fully want from your system. let it build alot more benificial bacteria and let it keep itself stable. .

 

[dlwn88]

Good on you for researching. SW tanks mature relatively slowly. I wouldn't call one healthy or stable until a year passed. You are already agressively stocked IMO.

From all the reading I've done, I know I'm near stocked, the majority of articles I've read, and using the website that calculates your stock percentage I 'm sure I have room for at least one more. Right now the tank only has 3 very small fish. Granted they will become larger but most of them won't go pass 3.5 inches or so.

Not trying to go against your opinion, I do appreciate your advice, I just feel IMO that I'm not exactly aggressively stocked. I've seen some people's tanks that are definitely aggressively stocked though; hate it when I see a bunch of tangs jammed together or 20 clowns in a small tank at a pet store.


Anything additional I can do to promote stability in my tank besides waiting? (Or throwing in some Stability sold at the LFS joking of course I haven't done that lol, not sure how good that stuff is, although their prime product is great)

Regardless I will do some more waiting and research until I get another fish. Best thing I could do right now I guess

 

[dlwn88]

My fault HN1, I've on duty at work and I'm tired....I misread and thought you meant that I was aggressively over stocked...lol.

 

[HN1]

*sigh*

 

[Cylias]

You will also find by waiting you will appreciate the tank more. If you build a tank in a matter of a few weeks and its completely stocked in a half a year you will find that it gets boring because really there's only maintenance to be done at that point. But if you slowly add your livestock and corals the tank will change at a slower rate which will make it more enjoyable to watch. I know you said you wont be getting corals, but that will add some color and depending on type of coral... movement in the tank. Torch corals, hammer corals, and others can sway in the current. Only thing is I wouldn't add any of those corals for a bit longer. You could add a coral frag like a zoanthid, ricordea or mushroom and be fine though. Those are all hardy choices.

 

[dlwn88]

You will also find by waiting you will appreciate the tank more. If you build a tank in a matter of a few weeks and its completely stocked in a half a year you will find that it gets boring because really there's only maintenance to be done at that point. But if you slowly add your livestock and corals the tank will change at a slower rate which will make it more enjoyable to watch. I know you said you wont be getting corals, but that will add some color and depending on type of coral... movement in the tank. Torch corals, hammer corals, and others can sway in the current. Only thing is I wouldn't add any of those corals for a bit longer. You could add a coral frag like a zoanthid, ricordea or mushroom and be fine though. Those are all hardy choices.

I am actually been trying to figure out ways to add more color to the tank. I thought I had to wait nearly a year until adding something like coral? I'd have to admit I haven't looked into it because I spend enough learning more and more just about fish only tanks, but if my tank could handle a frag now that would be nice. Are frags basically small coral? I'd imagine I'd have up upgrade to lighting to one of those Coralife T5 lamps right? I currently just have the Marineland DoubleBright LED's, which look amazing compared to a regular bulb I'd like to add.

 

[Gti_Leo]

all you really need are the right water perameters 400-500ppm calcium and no PO3 and low nitrates, the light is the key though, figure out what you want to put and then decide which lighting you need.

 

[Cylias]

I cant chime into what your lights can handle as I only run a 29g bio cube with stock lights. No metal halides or anything fancy. I have previously kept torch corals, hammer corals, plate corals, different zoas, star polyps, kenya tree's, etc in this tank with no problems. To answer your question.. frags are pieces of coral cut off a colony and glued on a plug. You would then take your tank glue or epoxy and stick the plug on the rock. The glue I use cures under water and very fast at that.

You could get away with a zoanthid, mushroom or ricordea, kenya tree or anthelia coral at this point without much expense. I would take the water in for testing to make sure your parameters are good and if you need to you can dose for calcium. There are other minerals like magnesium and strontium that you can add but they aren't as necessary unless you have SPS or LPS.

 

[JASONinNM]

What's SPS and LPS ???

 

[Cylias]

Here ya go!

SPS: small polyped scleractinian... montipora, or acropora corals are some species of SPS.

LPS: large polyped scleractinian.. These would be hammer corals, torch corals, frogspawns, bubble corals, etc. Brain corals are also in this category.

Both corals are hard corals because they have a stony skeleton in which the polyps sit. Dosing calcium is most important for these corals. Also there are some families with both LPS and SPS species.

 

[mr_X]

i think you can keep a lot of lps and sps without any dosing if you are doing regular water changes. once the colonies get mature you might need to start with the calcium, alk, mag dosing, but while they are small frags, good water parameters and lighting is plenty.

i don't think your double bright unit will sustain photosynthetic creatures however. even with their top unit that is supposed to be able to light a 4' tank, it only puts out 1200 lumens. that's not going to be enough.
a 4 lamp t-5 HO fixture will be enough for a wide range of corals in a 40b.
something like this-
36" Nova Extreme 4x39 watt T5HO Aquarium Hood - eBay (item 350440517104 end time Mar-18-11 12:46:27 PDT)

 

[dlwn88]

Yeah I figured I needed something more. Thanks for the link Doug.

 

[JASONinNM]

i think you can keep a lot of lps and sps without any dosing if you are doing regular water changes. once the colonies get mature you might need to start with the calcium, alk, mag dosing, but while they are small frags, good water parameters and lighting is plenty.

i don't think your double bright unit will sustain photosynthetic creatures however. even with their top unit that is supposed to be able to light a 4' tank, it only puts out 1200 lumens. that's not going to be enough.
a 4 lamp t-5 HO fixture will be enough for a wide range of corals in a 40b.
something like this-
36" Nova Extreme 4x39 watt T5HO Aquarium Hood - eBay (item 350440517104 end time Mar-18-11 12:46:27 PDT)

Iv got 50 g bowfront (wish it was a regular long tank) with two 175w metal hilide lights? Or I think called pandants? Is this sufficient?!

 

[mr_X]

it sounds like it should work for you jason.