29 gallon reef to be

[Springmo]

Brine shrimp have almost no nutritional value and a mandarin will wipe out a pod population in a tank of your size in a matter of months if not weeks. Maybe get a blenny instead? Anyways, sounds like your tank is doing well so far.

[Moonstream]

But newly hached (first 48h) have value, so if I were to feed newly hatched, would that be okay? I plan to have a breeding culture in a 5 gallon bucket, as well as a hatchery for newly hatch brine. If I were to freeze the newly hatched brine would they keep the neutrition in their yolk sac?
okay, I have revised the list again, the numbers in the clean up crew depend on the amount of algae. W/ ? next to it is asking if it is a good idea/ chioce.

cleanup crew
3-4 Nassarius Snail
2-3 turbo snails
2 bumble bee snails
1 skunk cleaner
4-6 dwarf hermits
1 emrald crab
1 pi coushin urchin to get rid of macro algae(?)



fish
1 perc clown
1 false perc clown
1 shrimp goby (pair w/ pistol shrimp)
1 cleaner wrasse (prefered) or neon goby (?)
1 tail spot blenny

inverts
1-3 sexy shrimps(added to the tank w/ the nem, after light upgrade)
1 pistol shrimp (pair w/ goby)
1 bta for clowns (?)
1 purple condy nem for sexy shrimp(?)

corals
1 red shroom
1 bulseye shroom
1 button polyp
1 star polyp
1 yellow polyp
pipe organ
1 sun coral
1 open brain coral
1 yellow leather
1 pulsing xenia
1 colts
1 kenya tree

is the coral stocking too much?

[Moonstream]

oh, and also a fuge on the hob w/ macro algae and live sand. I will also try to get small LR peices for it.

[Springmo]

I'd advise against the mandarin but if you're willing to put a lot of work into culturing live food, I guess keeping one might be possible. I'd go ahead and try an easier fish. I would also avoid the cleaner wrasse, as they provide a valuable service to the reef and should be left in the ocean. I would also skip the anemones, the clowns don't need them and they can be a real headache. Clowns might host in some of your corals anyways. Why are you mixing a true and false perc?

[Moonstream]

I'd advise against the mandarin but if you're willing to put a lot of work into culturing live food, I guess keeping one might be possible. I'd go ahead and try an easier fish.

Well as stated in my above post, I plan to have a group of adult brine going for breeding, and would be happy to hatch some brine from time to time.

I would also avoid the cleaner wrasse, as they provide a valuable service to the reef and should be left in the ocean.

Okay, are they that endangered? Just wondering, as I dont want to bring a fish into my reef that will cause harm to the ocean.

I would also skip the anemones, the clowns don't need them and they can be a real headache. Clowns might host in some of your corals anyways.

I am aware that the nems are not needed for the clowns, but I would like to keep them. Any ways, clowns are known to "love their coral host to death" littaraly. I dont want that.

Why are you mixing a true and false perc?

Because I was told it would work, and wanted both. I will have another tank ready for one if they dont get along, or I may do 1 black and 1 orange false perc together. I also have lots of rock work for them to hide.

[Springmo]

Originally posted by Moonstream

Okay, are they that endangered? Just wondering, as I dont want to bring a fish into my reef that will cause harm to the ocean.

No, they're not endangered but if I'm not mistaken they have pretty poor survival rates in captivity. The mentality that "just collecting one won't affect the environment" doesn't work if everybody thinks that way.

Originally posted by Moonstream
I am aware that the nems are not needed for the clowns, but I would like to keep them. Any ways, clowns are known to "love their coral host to death" littaraly. I dont want that.

OK if you want to try it, go for it. I would not add a condy anemone though because most clowns can't host in them. The clowns don't know that though and sometimes get eaten.

Also, be sure to enrich the brine with Selcon or something similar if you decide to get a mandarin. Or maybe culture something more nutritious.

[Moonstream]

I read on bob fenners site that sexy shrimp have good reactions from having a condy nem in the tank w/ them, as they live in them. The clown was not meant for the condy. If you look at the post of final stocking it says this. Okay no wrasse or neon gobie. Where can I get selcon?

[Springmo]

The clown does not know what anemone is "meant for them" it might try to host in any anemone you put it. There's nothing wrong with keeping a neon goby instead of a cleaner wrasse, neons are great fish and are often captive bred.

[Moonstream]

What if I put in the clown fishes nem for them to host, let them accept it, then add the sexy shrimp and their nem? Would that work? Also, I would have to order the neon goby online, so I will look at the other fish I can get localy and decide soon. Maybe a firefish...

[Moonstream]

I will be swapping the neon goby w/ a firefish

[Springmo]

To be honest I don't know the answer to your question about the anemones. Firefish are great though, nice choice!

[Moonstream]

Also would adding the following 2 days after adding 4 snails and 1 shroom rock be okay?

cleanup crew
3 Nassarius Snail
1 skunk cleaner
4 dwarf hermits
1 emrald crab
1-2 small fish(shrimp/goby pair, tail spot blenny, or firefish)
or instead of fish 1-3 small coral frags

I will be doing a water change for the first time after acclimation, to replace the water taken out during acclimation. I will be adding a 1/2 cup of water to the bags every 15 min. Is this okay for the inverts? Fish?

[Springmo]

You might be pushing it but it should be fine. I'd acclimate the shrimp a little more gradually than that though.

[Moonstream]

I decided to lower the hermits to 2 and the number of snails to 2. How should i acclimate the shrimps? I may not add the cleaner now, maybe later. I may get 1-2 sexy shrimps instead of cleaner.

[Subliminal]

You need to take some of the advice here with a grain of salt. I mean, I'm sure some of the people know what they're talking about, but you definitely don't need metal halides for an anemone. As long as they have enough light in the correct spectrum, they don't care what kind of bulb it has.

I'd recommend a BTA, if you decide to go with a nem, but I wouldn't add that for a while...6 months, maybe. They're pretty inexpensive, easy to care for (as long as you meet their requirements), look cool, and don't get quite as big as some.

I have a 29g reef myself, and I'm a big fan of the size. I actually just tore down my 55g and stuffed all my corals into the 29g.

For fish, in mine, I went with a pair of percs, a 'pair' of chromies and a pygmy hawk.

The hawk, I've mixed feelings about. I love the little guy, but it's fun having shrimps and I don't think that he'd let them live.

Good luck! Maybe a pic or two would be nice.

[Moonstream]

My camera has decided that it doesn't want to work. But my dad will be able to fix that soon will post pics asap.

[Moonstream]

I am in the planning stages for a 20 gallon sump/fuge, so I will be able to increase the stocking.
well my tanks total volume will come out to about 49 gallons. How many fish could be kept in it? will I need more animals for the clean up crew? Should their be snails and the like in the fuge?

[Moonstream]

Just came back from LFS, got 1 skunk cleaner, 1 pepermint shrimp, 2 scarlet hermits, and 1 colony of polyps, as well as a tiny little colony of the same polyp.