nano cube fish

fish_newbie · 07-23-2004, 02:18 AM

Hi
i just joined this fourm and i have a few questions. I am new to the salt water hobby and im starting out with a nano cube. Heres my questions for you guys....

1. How many fish can i keep in my cube? My tank plan has 6 fish. is that too many? I wa told by the pet store that i could keep 4 or 5 if i do weekly 2-3 gallon water changes.

2. this is my fish list....
(1) osscurelis clownfish (hes all ready in it)
(2) green chromis
(1)firefish goby
(1)lawnmover blenny
(1) mandrain
are theses compatible? i was thanking that maby the mandrain and the blenny might not get along. which of them do you think i should get ride of if i cant have 6/

3.will my fish list be compatible wiht my invert list.....
(1) feather duster
(1) hatian conduit anemone
(1) yellow polpys
(!)camel shrimp
(1) blue algae hermit crab
(1) sea cucumber
right now i have a mexican turbo grazer snail,a peppermint shrimp and a flame scallop. Is that too many inverts?

well thats all my questiosn for now. I dont mean too seam dumb its jsut i need info. Thanks alot

fish_newbie

Rick O · 07-23-2004, 06:50 AM

Hi fish newbie. Welcome to TRT. You didn't mention what size your tank is but since you said it's a nano I'll assume it's somewhat on the small size. I have never been one to advocate cramming too many fish in a tank. Overcrowding with fish, especially in a new tank, can lead to water quality problems.

After the tank has cycled I would start with one fish and wait a few weeks before adding more. How many you eventually end up with depends on what size tank you have. Mandarins are picky eaters and usually need a mature tank with plenty of pods to survive. Some people have had luck getting them to eat prepared foods but unless you know for sure that the fish is already eating prepared foods I wouldn't count on that being the case.

Sounds like you really have a nice tank there. Cube tanks give you so many options for aquascaping. We would love to see some pictures.

Awestralian · 07-23-2004, 07:23 AM

Loose the mandarin - they are not for beginners.

Search mandarins and youll see why, mainly - very picky eaters, and wont compete for food...

Jeremy1973 · 07-23-2004, 09:41 AM

Welcome to TRT!

Like the others said, forget the mandarin...great fish, but a lot of care and a well established tank is needed for them.

How big is this nano tank? That would better help us to answer your question.

As for the cucumber..what kind of substrate do you have in this tank? Again, cucumbers feed on pods and leftovers in the substrate. If this tank is new, there may not be enough there for it to feed on, so it could die from starvation.

The anenome...what kind of lighting do you have? Anenome's also need care. Some people have terrible luck with anenomes, others have no problems at all. If you are dead set on getting an anenome, I would suggest a bubbletip anenome. A clown would be more likely to host with a BTA, then a Condy. (doesn't mean the fish will host with it, just more likely) Also, if the tank is really small, you need to look out for the other fish in the tank. I would hate to see them get hit by the condy's long tenticles and become fish food for the anenome.

Green Chromis...great fish. Docile, gets along great with other fish, good suggestion.
Firefish... if it is the one I am thinking of, they can be jumpers..you would want to make sure there was no place for him to jump out of your tank.

I shall close for now, but again, welcome to the wonderful world of saltwater! You're gonna get addicted. heh heh

fish-newbie2 · 07-24-2004, 10:45 PM

hi
this is fish_newbie but i had to re register because it wouldnt let me log on. so get ride of the mandrain and everythign else is ok then. I got a florida coral sand as the substrate and my friend that works at the pet store got me water from a cycled tank and its been set up for a month with daily doses of cycle. The pet store manager siad the the cucumber would eat marine snow. oh and by the way its a 12 gallon cube. also i got a scotter bleney friday. well thanks for the help.

fish-newbie2

Awestralian · 07-24-2004, 11:21 PM

Scooter Blennys can be almost as picky as Manadrins...
Many people dont beleive in marine snow, apparently its practically all water and not much else.
Someone else can chime in with more accurate advice on it, as i dont use the stuff, and have never seen it sold over here.

Whitten · 07-25-2004, 08:11 PM

Ok speaking from experience with the cube, 2-3 gallons is going to be a shock on your system everytime you do a water change. The cube when filled is right at 8.5 without foing the overflow mod, and with you can squeeze another gallon or so in there. So right now as is, you are pushing the limits with the two fish...not saying that pushing the limits isn't a good thing, but in your case you are just starting out and headaches are not what you want or need.

The scooter....take him back pronto unless he is eating food that you are feeding him...and I mean you have seen him personally eat and swallow not spit back out. They are just like mandrins, and while a mandrin would be a great fish for that tank, it is too soon, and too little pod population. Some disagree with me when I say Mandrins are fine in smaller tanks so long as you can get them to take to prepared food, but it is really up to each persons preferance.

The clown is fine...just enjoy him pacing up and down in the tank.

Fire fish....cool as well, very docile just get a small one if you are going to have one.

In my tank I have the following:
1 False perc...gotta have the obligatory Nemo
1 Royal Gramma
1 Neon Goby (freaking tiny hardly know he is there)
and after I get back down to school where they sell mandrins that eat cyclopeeze I will buy another.....my first didn't take to any preped foods so I took him back so he wouldn't die.

Awestralian · 07-26-2004, 04:51 AM

Id agree with you there Whitten, so long as they are eating prepared foods they are fine, regardless of tank size, but mandarins and scooters are just not beginner fish, fish-newbie

minireefer3 · 07-28-2004, 01:55 PM

Quote:

(1) sea cucumber

(1) hatian conduit anemone

as a noob you might want to reconsider these sellections or read about them at least

mandarinman · 08-31-2004, 09:59 PM

Hey phish noob. i have had a 10 gallon tank set up for about 2 years now and added a green mandaring to my tank in february and he is still doing well. i feed him vitamin enriched frozen brine shrimp. i turn the pumps off so he can catch up with them. he is eating well, and i just moved him to my new 12-gallon JBJ nanocube. who makes you nano cube? and also, how about posting some pics of your tank on here?

dhoffroad · 08-31-2004, 11:12 PM

all I can say is do a little looking arrouond before you buy the LFS might say something that they THINK is right. when I started SW I had a FOWLR and the LFS said that a mandarin would be fine, well a little time passed and it started to look skinny so THEN i started looking arround and well, I now wish that I would have done that before I BOUGHT and KILLED it. and yes mandarin's and scooter blennys can be picky . when I took my FOWLR (55gal) down I desided to keep the scooter blenny and clown well after a couple of weeks the blenny started to look skinny so I gave him to a friend with a larger tank and LUCKY it recovered. don't know if any of this will help but just thought I would share some experience's with you. Keep looking (surfing ) arround I have learned soo ,much by doing that and always remember sometimes that what you don't know kan and will hurt you (or your fish,coral,etc). good luck

hooked · 09-06-2004, 06:28 PM

I think you should take the fish back and waite a little longer. Also in a 12g nano I would think maybe one small fish say a chrome or goby of some type. As far as corals goes depends on your light and skill lvl. If low light 2 watts per gallon I would stick with soft corals, things like mushrooms or finger corals. I have had soft finger/tree corals do very well for years on less then a watt of light per gallon and running the lights for only 6 hours a day. This was on a 90g tank doing 20 gallons of water changes every 3 weeks. I spent many hours keeping the water quality at its best. The small tank will prove to be very hard to keep specific gravity. Being a newbie to the hobby I would have started with something a little bigger say a 30 or 38g tank. Just my thoughts, good luck.

hooked · 09-06-2004, 06:31 PM

I guess I should have said more on the bigger tank. You will find that keeping your specific gravity lvl much easier on a bigger tank since you have more water volume to work with. I have done 2.5g nano's with ok luck. This is very hard with water evaporation and basic water flow in general. Just be sure to check with TRT before doing anything to your tank, some stores will tell you what you want to here just to make a sale.

darthteddy · 09-16-2004, 06:05 PM

i have a 12g nano and dont know wut 2 get for it . I think thats blenns get to big tho. i wanted a sailfin blenny but was told that it would be cramped.

HippocampusBaby · 12-06-2004, 12:03 AM

Howdy, If the tank is the twelve gallon model think 2 fish, 3 would be pushing it.
I work at a pet store and someone brought a camel shrimp back, because they said it was eating their corals, maybe it was maybe it wasn't. Consider Clavularia(Pachyclavularia) as a coral, it is sooo hardy. If the anemone is Carribbean(from Haiti) the clownfish wont go in it, if that was your plan.
Happy Reefing