Fish introductions

[Chip Wick]

Hello Folks,
Just found the RT, wanted to see if anyone has a good method for introducing new fish to a tank (already been quarantined for 2 weeks). My rusty angelfish has beaten the bejeezus out of previous newbies, any way to get them acquainted without the hazing? I'm introducing a yellow tang, about the same size as the angelfish, but much more timid seeming.
Also, any good methods for getting rid of monstrous bristleworms (about 8-10 inches long, thing's intimidating!) I've finally cleaned out the last of the mantis shrimps, and I think this is the last of the hostiles in there. Thanks for any advice

[Casey]

Hi there just wanted to Welcome you to The Reeftank lots of good people here. Casey

[bigjohn]

Welcome, Chip!!!


Possible answers to your first question:

1. Re-arrange the rocks in your tank to remove the Angel's homecourt advantage.

2. If you can catch the angel, you could put him in a holding pen within the tank while your tang adjusts.

I have no experience with a Rusty Angel, but my experience with yellow tangs is that if they are healthy they can usually fend for themselves.

Your second question.

My limited experience with BIG bristleworms. I had one come with my live rock. I saw him inside a medium-sized chunk of rock, pulled the rock out of the tank, and gave him a chlorinated, hot water dip. OK, that was way too much overkill, but it worked.

I have heard and seen people pull the rock out of the tank and use tweezers to extract the worm from the rock.

Please post some info and pictures of your setup. I am sure that you will soon be flooded with answers from the members of this site.

[PaintGuru]

Originally posted by Chip Wick
Hello Folks,
Just found the RT, wanted to see if anyone has a good method for introducing new fish to a tank (already been quarantined for 2 weeks). My rusty angelfish has beaten the bejeezus out of previous newbies, any way to get them acquainted without the hazing? I'm introducing a yellow tang, about the same size as the angelfish, but much more timid seeming.
Also, any good methods for getting rid of monstrous bristleworms (about 8-10 inches long, thing's intimidating!) I've finally cleaned out the last of the mantis shrimps, and I think this is the last of the hostiles in there. Thanks for any advice

Welcome to our little corner of the internet!

As to your questions, a little fighting will be expected no matter what you do, but like bigjohn said, rearrange your rock if possible. If not, feed the tank pretty heavily before you introduce the fish and turn out the lights. Then introduce the fish and let it get used to its surroundings with the lights out. If your angel is still being annoying, and if your tank is small enough, chase IT around with a small net or something. Is the tang eating aggressivly as of yet? Hopefully that is the case, if not you may want to wait.

As for your bristleworm, the are actually wanted in an aquarium, so I would not "clean him out". There is a type called a fire worm which will munch on corals, but in general bristleworms are desired.

[Alice]

Welcome to The Reef Tank!

Some people are really freaked out by bristleworms, I worked with woman like that, and when I fed the tank she just couldn't watch If they bother you that much, you could try trapping some of them. Use a piece of clean nylon stocking, rubber band a piece of shrimp, fish or something smelly into the middle and then place it into the tank on the sand after lights out. The worms will get stuck on the nylon and you can then net them out.

Personally, I like them and think they do a valuable service to the tank, so I'd leave them be. The worm populaton will directly correspond to how much you are feeding the tank; if you overfeed a lot, you'll have lots of worms!

Good suggestions so far on how to disarm your aggressive angel. I've also found that a net, just left leaning in the tank, is often enough distraction to keep everyone behaving themselves.

Good luck!

Alice

[Chip Wick]

Thanks for the advice! I'll have to consider what to do, I'm not all that anxious to rearrange the rockwork, got a nice arch going that is difficult to rebuild. As far as the bristleworm, I was under the impression that such a large one (I'd estimate at least 8 or 10 inches long) might be munching on some of my stuff. I know there are smaller ones, but they don't bother me so much. Would they bother a tridacnid?
As for my setup, maybe sometime I'll be able to post a pic (what's the optimal file size?), but I'm somewhat digitally challenged. It's a 72 gallon bow front, with a seaclone skimmer, maxireef wet/dry filter, 250W MH (run 4 hours a day), 130W of compact fluorescents, 150 lbs of live rock and 70 lbs of sand. Livestock- aforementioned rusty angel (my favorite, even if he is a bit of a bully), clown fish (?spp), flame hawkfish. Some rhodactis (reproducing!!), ricordea, mushrooms, kenya tree coral, bubble coral, and various snails, hermits, etc. Currently, I'm battling a hair algae problem due to excessive nitrates. Found that a toothbrush does a good job of removing it from rocks, but it gets tiring.
Sorry for the long post, I just HAD to get this off my chest!! Anyway, after I control my overfeeding urges, I should have a nice, healthy, purty tank like all the pics on this site. Cheers!

[Chip Wick]

Oh yeah, forgot. My tang is NOT eating all that agressively, he's in a 12 gallon quarantine tank, and I was hoping that having more live rock to feed on would help. Should I keep him in quarantine and try other foods? I'm feeding flake (just a TINY bit!) and laver seaweed, occasionally small amounts of prime reef. Should I be adding romaine or something else?

[Casey]

Feed him Nori Feed him Nori

[Chip Wick]

DONE!!!!

[PaintGuru]

Sounds like a nice setup (other than the Seaclone) . But hey, if it is working for you who am I to say you are wrong. Honestly I would not move him and stress him out until he is eating pretty well, that way if he does come down with ich or something from the stress he will have a better chance of survival. Good luck.

[Chip Wick]

The seaclone seems to produce a fair amount of gunk, but I don't know any different, so I'm satisfied with it. Are they really THAT bad??? (Oh boy, another excuse to blow $$$$!) I'm hoping that once I get the nitrate under control the hair algae will be less of a nightmare and I can do a little more enjoying of the tank. Is it good practice to make all the make up water kalkwasser? Or should it be more based upon pH/alkalinity?
I'll leave the tang where he is until he shapes up some.

[Reefer Addict]

I also have a newer model SeaClone 150 and am pleased with its performance. I have to clean the skimmate cup at least once a week, and though the skimmate isn't as concentrated as in some of the pictures I've seen of others skimmers, it's plenty gross.
With the newer SeaClones, they redesigned around some of the problems though they still use a shoddy air control valve (just the standard venturi valve from a MaxiJet). I leave my venturi wide-open since it's in my sump and I don't have to worry about bubbles returning to the tank, so I'm sure that helps with overall performance.
There's definitely skimmers that will perform better than the SeaClone, but as long as you don't try to use it on a tank at or near its rating (they're way overrated) you should be fine. Mine's on a 55 Gallon tall tank, and I get nitrate readings of 0-5ppm normally.
The first generation of SeaClones were junk from what I could gather, but Aquarium Systems has done a little better this time around.
Attached is a picture of the skimmate cup about 12 hours after a previous cleaning... it's already gotten about 1/8" of gunk in it. The zip ties are part of my own invention... had to make a 'wall' for the outflow to run down so I didn't get a lot of splashing in the sump.

[PaintGuru]

I have only had experience with the older models, which were junk. Like I said if you are getting stuff out of it and dont have any algae problems, then no need to change it.