new fish in a new tank questions...

[rxheaven13b]

Hi all, I have been waighting for the right time to add fish to my newly setup 20 gal tank. Everything is good with the tank but i'm worried about my new fish. I got two verry small clown fish and all they do is hide behind my power head mount accept for feeding. I figured they just need time to get acquainted with the tank but it has been a week and they still hide. even at night time they want to sleep back there.

Today i got a bubble tip anemone for them but they show no interest whitch the lfs shop keeper said it would take some time till they notice it. And now that i'm reading about how to care for the bubble tip anemone i think i bit off more than i can chew. I need to read more. First thing i did today was improve my lighting and filter system. but anyhow back to my fish is this normal? one of my snailes moved near them yesterday and they acted scared of it. Could it just be because they are so young?

Tank setup:
20 gal tank
20 lbs of live sand
10 lbs of liverock
1 400 gal/hr power head
in the middle of changing my hang on filters not going to take the old one out till the new one shows a strong sighn of (film) but switching from standard cartrage filter to a bio-wheel
lighting is coralife lunar aqualight deluxe lunar series #53402 (bright as a mofo)

livestock:
18 assorted snales
2 skunk cleaner shrimp
2 blue hermit crabs
2 tiny clown fish
1 small bubble tip anemone

parameters:
ph 8.2
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
salinity 1.024
nitrates, hard to keep it under 10 ppm without a 25% water change every day, probably because i'm feeding to much.

And if anyone can give my pointers for the anemone i'd apreacite it.
Thank you, Russ

[OneDummHikk]

I have two clownfish in a 10 gallon tank that has some dead coral skeletons in it and my clowns are always hidden in the corals. It is almost as if they are "hosting" the rocks. They have one particular rock they like. The come out at feeding and go back.

Give them time to adjust and get used to the tank. If they are eating, no need to worry just yet. They will decide if and when they want to host the bta.

[rxheaven13b]

i'm glad to see i'm not the only one awake at this time of night, lol. I just turned on the blue led moon light to see what is going on and the bta moved close to the power head, one of the clowns is now across the tank sleaping in the corner and the other chose to stay near the power head base.

[OneDummHikk]

I am usually up at night and sleep during the day because of having had back surgery. Will you be at the next club meeting at Robs Reef?

[rxheaven13b]

I dont know where robs reef is or the date and time to be there, but yeah. I'll go. I'm usully up this late working in the garage because it's cooler at night and i can work in peace.

[Loverotties]

I would get more rock(at least double of what you have)Is your tank grounded?(you mite have stray voltage and that's why he's hidding.Anenome shouldn't be put in a tank till it's been up and stable for a yr.

[Kimberfish]

did the lfs ask you about your lighting? They should have! You mentioned that you upgraded your lights but not what you upgraded to. Hopefully that is halides as I don't believe a BTA will survive without one.
Not all clownfish will take to a BTA - especially tank raised ones that may have never seen one.
Google "anemone compatibility" and scroll down to "anemone FAQ" open the link... it has good info as does www.karensroseanemones.com make sure you feed it and don't let it get too close to the powerhead it can suck them in and pretty much destroy it.
I won't be at the next meeting but look forward to seeing you at the one after that - welcome to the club!

[Jadinop]

The Aqualight that you have might be just enough to keep an anemone alive due to the smaller size of your tank. However, your tank is way too new to try it. Anemones belong in a well established tank with stable water quality. I usually recommend 9 months to a year before adding anemones. Unfortunately, the chances of it living aren't that good.

As for the clownfish, the hiding is just normal behavior for fish that don't want to get eaten by predators in the wild. Give them time to grow and adjust to your tank.

The nitrate problem is because of your filter. Changing to the Bio Wheel isn't going to help much either. Bio Wheel = Bio Balls, same oxygen rich enviorment for bacteria to produce nitrate in. Add a little more live rock and ditch the hob filter. A protein skimmer will serve you much better in removing waste. There are a few hang on back models that you can choose from since you don't have a sump.

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by rxheaven13b

I dont know where robs reef is or the date and time to be there, but yeah. I'll go. I'm usully up this late working in the garage because it's cooler at night and i can work in peace.

Rob's Reef is on Blanding Boulevard.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f1...tlt-87632.html

Has the address, phone number. You can Mapquest it but its easy to find. I don't know exactly but it is about 7-8 miles from 295 to Robs. The meeting is two weeks from yesterday.

Hope to see you there, the meetings are always awesome.

[czieler]

Not sure where you purchased your anemone, but maybe you could ask them if you could exchange it for something else..... like a frogspawn or toadstool. My clownfish have hosted in those before, and they might fare better in a newer tank.

Just a thought.

[Bennihanna]

BTA's will be fine under PC's. Plenty of light for them and they are one of the hardiest anemones you could own. IMO it should be fine.

[Steve's Reef 90g]

i agree with ben you absolutely do not need halides to keep bta's were not talking about sps here. just make sure you feed it pretty often mabey twice a week or so and keep your parameters good like they are mabey cut down on feeding your fish a little and you'll be fine.

[chiapet]

Halides as a requirement to keep a BTA? Someone was making a "funny" right?

PCs, VHO and Halides are all fine to keep a BTA.

[rxheaven13b]

I forgot i started this thread. the clown fish are alive and well but still hiding behind the power head. During the day they come out from time to time. I now have a total of 16 lbs of live rock. I also got a new fish, A royal gramma. After I got it, it also hid in the rock. I later found out that the royal gramma likes to hide in the rock. So i let it do it's thing. As for the bta, that sunday morning i woke up to his remains stuck in the power head. I feel bad but now i know they cant fight the current around the fan.

[rxheaven13b]

I thought i'd add some pictures