Wierd Losses...

[Beaches]

In the past 2 weeks I've lost...2 snails, 1 brittle star (which I didn't know I had) and a small white tiny crab (another surprise guest).

My water parameters are fine and my other occupants are fine (sailfin tang, tomato clown, scooter blenny, yellow blenny, red hermit crab and rock anenome)--but I did a 20% water change, plus flushed the filter media and siphoned the sand for leftover food.

The crab and snails were new to the tank (about a month)-- which I purchased to replace the snails I lost when my temp spiked 3 months ago. I did the usual hang the bag, add water, etc. but have no idea why they died. Any suggestions? They didn't appear to be "harrassed/banged up" just died.

I'm thinking of trading my sailfin in...it's become a total tank hog--or maybe the others are just normally wimpy. I thought I read up enough and that it is a "community-type" fish, but maybe I read wrong? Is it fairly normal for a tomato (who was very territorial prior to the sailfin being added) to find a piece of lr for a "host" rather than an anenome? It only comes out once in a while, but is fine at feeding time. All seem to be getting enough food--I feed a variety (not all at once!)--frozen brine shrimp, frozen nori cubes, frozen shrimp cubes, nori sheets (clip to tank for tang-grazing), Prime Reef flakes, Spiru Flakes, my own mixture of Selcon, fresh shrimp & scallops and about once a week live brine shrimp--so I think there's enough variety, maybe too much?

Anyway, thanks for listening--everyone have a safe, healthy and happy holiday season.

[Alice]

Hey Beaches,

Since you've not upgraded to your larger tank yet, you probably should trade the sailfin back to the LFS for something that will stay small. Your Tomato clown hiding out for most of the day sounds like the tip of the iceberg for some major territorial issues going on in the tank. Tangs can be aggressive and are often the dominant fish in a tank.

As for your snails, etc., has the salinity and temp remained constant? Sometimes that's hard to maintain in a small tank.

Alice

[Beaches]

No changes in temp since I put in my new heater and the salinity is fairly stable too...maybe within a "dot" or so. Haven't changed any "product" either, same salt, water, etc.

Thanks for the advice on the tang...it's really a pretty fish and has lots of personality--especially at feeding time! I knew eventually I'd have to "trade" in, so I guess it'll be sooner than later.

Any suggestions for a replacement? I want something that swims in the open (that's why I bought the tang to start with...not hides in rocks all/most of the time (even before the tang was added the clown was "in" the rocks most of the time). My scooter is the most active one of the bunch!

I'm thinking that I'm probably gonna stick with a FOWLR tank until I can get more reference materials and reading down--although even though I've read alot it seems that not all materials are "truthful" in description or even agree on setup, maintenance, supplies, etc.--so I'll just keep reading this board and learn as I go. Are there any good "learning" boards that are FO that I could read that you recommend?

Thanks, love this feedback and ya'lls suggestions/comments/advice.

[beach bum]

For a community FOWLR tank I would try one of the dwarf angels - very colorful and quite active. My personal favorite is the Potter's angel. This is one pretty fish. And it loves to just swim around the whole tank, it would find holes in the LR to swim through that I didn't even know were there. With your good feeding habits you would do well, feeding is the tricky part.

FWIW, my pair of clowns just hang out in their "home" and just peek out once in a while to see if it's feeding time yet. I used to have them in my 55 except they only used about 5 of it! So into the 18 reef they went, now they use about half the tank! But it's all their own, no other fish.

I use Astrea snails that seem to be preety bulletproof so far, unless they tip over and I have to rescue them. If you are looking for a more interesting replacement, I am using an abalone that is a cleaning machine.

chris