New fish advice

[Grooveman]

Helllo everyone,

I am a newbie, having just started my 24 Gallon Nano Cube, but I have already weathered a couple of storms in the 2 months that its been up (Mantis Shrimp that came in on a piece of coral and a complete tank replacement due to a crack in the glass). It has not been a cake walk but now after a couple of weeks all the tank inhabitants have settled down and the corals completely opened up. I need your advice on what other fish can be added to the tank as I would like to add 2-3 more if possible, the list of current inhabitants is as follows:

Tank Contents:

• 1 Pixy Hawkfish
• 1 Green Mandarin Dragonet
• 1 Blue Velvet Damsel
• 1 Fire Shrimp
• 5 Zebra Hermit Crabs
• 5 Blue Claw Hermit Crabs
• 9 Zebra Stripped Turbo Snails
• 1 Bi-Color Crab
• 1 Common Starfish
• 1 Colony Polyp, Encrusting - Gold
• 1 Colony Polyp, Green & Purple
• 1 Colony Polyp, Yellow
• 1 Green Brain Coral, Wellsophyllia
• 1 Elegance Coral
• 1 Green Starburst Polyp
• 1 Hammer Coral

The Pixy Hawk is the dominant fish in the tank and loves to investigate any movement in the tank, any advice on what I can add would be greatly appreciated.

[overCee]

I'm new too, but I think you are pushing the bioload on that tank as it is. I would not recommend putting any more fish into it at all. In fact, unless you can get your Mandarin to eat frozen foods, I would be worried that it would starve to death once it eats all the pods in your tank.

[reeferkid]

as overCee said the mandarin may starve to death if it does not learn to eat prepared food. IMO i think you could add something like a pair of percs or up to two fish of a similar size to percs but after that you would be maxed out in terms of bioload

[Grooveman]

Thank you for a speedy responce, I too am very worried about the Mandarin getting enough pods in his diet. I've been checking his condition since I got him for any changes (He's usually out grazing amongst the LR) and all seems well. I think the tank is full of pods as I check it at night with a flashlight and they are out and about.
What I was hoping for is aside from Clownfish, what other fish would get along with the tank inhabitants, maybe you can list some as I am worried about the predatory nature of the Pixy Hawk and Damsel...thanks in advance.

[SW Fan]

Unless you have a bunch of pods or can the mandarin to eat prepared food, he's pretty much a gonner. How long have you had this tang running? I don't think you should add anymore fish. If your tank hasn't been running for 6 months, the corals will probabally die. Depending on how long your tank has been running and if it isn't fully cycled, you will probabally have an ammonia spike.

[Grooveman]

The tank is fully cycled, and I have had fish in there for about 2 months now. Wish I could say I cycled the tank myself but I needed help from a friend who's been setting up saltwater tanks for about 20 years help me. I've had the Mandarin in the tank for 2 weeks now and he doesn't look skinny or any worse for wear, actually he's much improved since when I first put him in the tank. Do you think I should be adding more pods, as I've seen some commercial sites out there selling them (how do I tell if I have enough). I will include some pics of the tank soon if that will help. Thanks again for all the info.

[xtrstangx]

Your tank will in no way be able to support that mandarin on its own. You'll have to add a lot of commercial pods.

As for more fish, you are pretty full as it is. You could get rid of the Damsel and get a Clownfish I guess.

[bertoni]

Personally, I wouldn't add any more fish to the tank. I think it's at the limit, particularly when your fish grow. You might want to look into getting your mandarin to eat prepared food. It's unlikely that the tank will generate enough live food over the long haul.

Mandarins are slow eaters. You might find it necessary to provide an area for the mandarin to grab food away from the other fish. MelevsReef.com or the back issues of ReefKeeping.com (I forget which) has an article on feeding mandarins using a cut-up section of a soda bottle or the like.

[sarduci]

I believe it was a skinny/tall olive jar with a thing strip of acrylic wrapped around it to hang it over the edge of the tank. The jar would lay on its side at the bottom, then mandarin would be able to fit in there and the other fish could not. After it was done eating, the handle over the side would allow for easy removal.

[Grooveman]

Thanks for the info, I will be installing an olive jar feeder today...just have to see about building a handle or get one of those retrival claws that the seniors use to reach high shelves to get it in and out of the tank.

[jedimike]

Too much bioload? He's got 3 fish. Inverts and corals certainly aren't much of a strain.

Return the Mandarin or plan on raising pods somehow. I love hawkfish, so much personality. Good luck with the elegance (they are hard to keep). Remember to feed your brain meaty foods 2-3 times a week.

Get some fish that swim in the mid/upper region since you already got a couple bottom dwellers. Go look at petsolutions.com at the fish selection. I would get a fish that stays under 4-5".

Disclaimer - I'm a newb, so take my opinions with a grain of salt ;)

[Randall_James]

Well as no one else said it:
[welcome]
Grooveman

I think the Madarin should find a new home while still healthy. 24G is very unlikely to support him if he is not eating prepared foods.
3 Fish in a 24G nano is probably about the limit of the tank without having to really hammer water changes out every 5 or 7 days.

[Grooveman]

I think you're right about the Mandarin having to go...I've tried prepared foods and have not seen him eat anything yet...and I'm seeing less and less pods in all the usual spots in the tank. I think I'll add an anemone and a couple of mated clowns, he's such a beautiful fish that it would be a shame to watch him starve. Will follow up and let you know how it goes...and thanks again for the advice.

[Randall_James]

Yea it is hard to give up such a fantastic looking fish for sure

[jedimike]

Anemones and clowns are great to watch. Very entertaining. I had a GBTA for about 3 weeks and decided to get a Maroon Clown yesterday. By last night she was sleeping in the GBTA. So awesome. Today I saw her try to feed the GBTA a mouth of food. My GBTA is over 8" so it was pretty humurous that the maroon actually thought she was being helpful.