Bio cube stock

[guppy to goldfish]

I have a sise 8 bio cube and want to put my frist coarl in it.The tank is fully cycled,and holds 5 gallonds.It has the regular lights (2 18w pc 10,000k+03 antic)and no changes.The current stock is
1 pepermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni)
1 turbo snail
1 nertil snail
1 blue leg hermit(clibanarius tricolor)
1 red leg hermit (Paguristes digueti)

For the coarl I was thinking of Zoanthus pulchellus Or zoanthus sociatus.I heard that neither of those have paly toxin.The tank has no protein skimmer.I want one,but havn't found one.Any advice would be great.

[matt24]

Sounds like your off to a good start.

Don't worry about zoanthid toxins. Just get a pair of gloves.
Also, I wouldn't invest in a skimmer with such a small tank. Weekly water changes will be enough.

[dobejazz]

welcome to TRT
I agree with Matt a skimmer will probably be more of a hassle than a waterchange in that size tank

[guppy to goldfish]

So if I put the zoo in there,could I put any thing else in,or would my bio load be too big?

[dobejazz]

Originally Posted by guppy to goldfish

So if I put the zoo in there,could I put any thing else in,or would my bio load be too big?

Corals don't really add much Bio load you can pack it full of Zoa's if you like

[matt24]

You could also try out rics, acans, or micros...pretty much anything except for SPS with your lighting.

[chrisdamage]

no skimming, just weekly water changes of about 1 gallon will be fine... you could do zooanthids, Ricordia florida, Ricordia yuma, any mushrooms, toadstool leather, finger leather, Xenia spp., Green Star Polyps(these will grow indefinately and are fairly aggressive as far as octocorals go... they will sting things they come into contact with... also they spread pretty quickly so be careful that they don't overtake your tank... I've had mine under stock BC14 lighting for about 3 months now and they are starting to grow on the glass and back of the aquarium), you could keep a small open brain, a small colony of hammer or anchor coral(you might want to let your tank mature for another few months before trying these because sometimes they can be sensitive), pretty much any softy or LPS(with the exception of some of the more light-demanding LPS such as Long-tentacled plate corals etc...) ... and another note to help you out: Ricordia florida like to be in the light and Ricordia yuma don't like it so much... just a note if you decide to keep these... hope this helped

also, I forgot to mention this: get that peppermint shrimp out of there as it will munch on your polyps... I wouldn't really reccomend very many fish in this small a tank because it would seriously strain the bio-load... maybe a small goby or something... also, in a tank this small, if you do decide to get a fish, only get ONE FISH that attains a maximum size of no more than 2" or so and feed very sparingly... like once every three days or so and only feed as much as your fish can eat in about a minute... a Yasha Goby would be pretty cool or maybe a Neon Goby or a Panda Goby or something that stays small... or if you aren't interested in fish, maybe a pair of skunk cleaner shrimp would add a nice splash of color to the aquarium and they have great personalities... just feed them once every 3 days like you would if you had a fish.

[guppy to goldfish]

I was wondering about the shrinp.In my other tank,I broke a glass themomter,and all those meatal pelets cane out.I am redoing the tank anyway,but are those pelets sonething to wory about?

[ryan_h]

don't worry about the peppermint shrimp. they only bother corals when they aren't being fed properly and have nothing else to eat. i've had three for over a year in a 20 gallon and they don't bother a thing except for the fish food.

the pellets in the glass thermometer may be an issue. some thermo's use stainless steel weights, which wouldn't be an issue, and some use lead, which WOULD be an issue.

fish wise, i would stick to small gobies like clown gobies, neon gobies, red head gobies, yasha gobies, hi-fin banded gobies, etc. maybe larger fish like a royal gramma or single clown. the bioload really depends on how much rock you have, how much you feed and how often you are doing water changes. i've kept 5 tiny fish in a 5.5 gallon with no problems, but i had a hang on refugium, lots of purigen, 10 lbs of live rock and weekly 2 gallon water changes. not something i would recommend to the average beginner, but it is possible. no rules are set in stone. and never add more fish to the tank if you can't keep the nitrates below 10 ppm.