I am purchasing fish and invertabrates for a 65 gallonn salt water aquarium are these all compatible?
I am getting the invertabrates first. I just got rid of all the old too big very incompatible fish and now I will do 4 50% gravel syphoning water changes, due to too high nitrates, than I will clean it out really good and purchase the following. 3 cleaner shrimp, 2 camels shrimp, 1 arrow crab, 1 lg scotter blemmies, 1 mandarin gobie, than wait 1 week and add the middle guys, blue hepo tang, yellow tang, and then the top feeders, nemo clown, yellow tail blue damsels, royal gramma 3 stripe damsels . do all of these get along well, will they all grow at the same rate, will they all eat the same foods? Will they all live well in a 65 gallon aquarium with wet dry filtration system, a power head water circulator and tons of reef live rock. Doeas that sound good. Should I try to find out more information on it before I go any further???
"Should I try to find out more information on it before I go any further???" YES
For one, you have far too many fish you’re trying to add to the tank. Damsels are territorial and aggressive as they mature, and will harass smaller, peaceful fish once they’ve established territories. It’s also not a good idea to mix fish that are from the same families, or that are the same color or body shape – this reduces the chances of them seeing another fish in the tank as a "competitor".
A mandarin isn’t a fish for a beginning marine aquarist (or a new tank) they need well established live rock because they will only eat the microorganisms that live on it. Most mandarins starve to death because they don’t have the proper size of a tank or enough small live foods to eat. This is one fish I would suggest that you skip. The scooter blenny isn’t actually a blenny, but a dragonette the same as the mandarin, and aren’t an easy fish to keep either.
Your tank isn’t large enough to keep a hippo tang – you’d need something closer to 100 gallons. These get to be about a foot long, and are very active. Even though the fish would "fit" in your tank, it’s activity level would be very restricted.
And no, these fish won’t all eat the same foods. I already mentioned the diet you’ll need to keep a mandarin. While the others will all accept flakes or pellets made for marine fish, or frozen foods, the tangs and damsels should have added algae to graze on – this is especially important if you’re considering tangs. The need an almost constant supply of food they can nibble.
I think the clown, the royal gramma, and the yellow tang are most suitable for your tank. Also the shrimp. The arrow crab may attack your shrimp or the smaller fish if you get a large one, so you may want to skip this one as well.
There are other fish you could get which are hardy and able to be kept with your other fish. I would suggest that you look at fish such as cardinalfish, longnose hawkfish, jawfish, shrimp gobies or clown gobies (these last three are similar to the scooter blenny but easier to keep). You could also keep green chromis which are a peaceful type of damsel which can be kept in a group.
There are other inverts you can keep as well. You don’t mention hermit crabs (blue-legs and scarletts are both nice, and don’t forget to get them some extra shells for when they grow). Also snails, or a brittlestar, serpent star, or sand-sifting star.
Make sure that you research each animal you’re thinking about getting. A good book on marine aquariums will help you do this. Don’t rely on just websites, because many of them don’t have accurate info. And don’t expect employees of fish stores to always know what they’re talking about either – their job is to sell you fish and equipment, so they’ll tell you what you want to hear to make a sale.
NONO
For a tank that size I would only get 1 or two shrimp One yellow tang some clowns the gobie and blemmies
Blue hippo tang needs a bigger tank, Yellow and blue damsels are aggresive and shouldn’t be kept with clowns and other ’soft’ fish.
I would research more before starting. Learn from other peoples mistakes. ITS CHEAPER.
Don’t add liverock and corals till the tank has cycled completely. Start with one or two clowns to get the bacteria in the water (They are hardy and will not fail) Buy the tang last.
After the tank has cycled add some liverock and some more fish.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:48 pmI would make sure you can handle that before starting to keep corals.
References :
"Should I try to find out more information on it before I go any further???" YES
For one, you have far too many fish you’re trying to add to the tank. Damsels are territorial and aggressive as they mature, and will harass smaller, peaceful fish once they’ve established territories. It’s also not a good idea to mix fish that are from the same families, or that are the same color or body shape – this reduces the chances of them seeing another fish in the tank as a "competitor".
A mandarin isn’t a fish for a beginning marine aquarist (or a new tank) they need well established live rock because they will only eat the microorganisms that live on it. Most mandarins starve to death because they don’t have the proper size of a tank or enough small live foods to eat. This is one fish I would suggest that you skip. The scooter blenny isn’t actually a blenny, but a dragonette the same as the mandarin, and aren’t an easy fish to keep either.
Your tank isn’t large enough to keep a hippo tang – you’d need something closer to 100 gallons. These get to be about a foot long, and are very active. Even though the fish would "fit" in your tank, it’s activity level would be very restricted.
And no, these fish won’t all eat the same foods. I already mentioned the diet you’ll need to keep a mandarin. While the others will all accept flakes or pellets made for marine fish, or frozen foods, the tangs and damsels should have added algae to graze on – this is especially important if you’re considering tangs. The need an almost constant supply of food they can nibble.
I think the clown, the royal gramma, and the yellow tang are most suitable for your tank. Also the shrimp. The arrow crab may attack your shrimp or the smaller fish if you get a large one, so you may want to skip this one as well.
There are other fish you could get which are hardy and able to be kept with your other fish. I would suggest that you look at fish such as cardinalfish, longnose hawkfish, jawfish, shrimp gobies or clown gobies (these last three are similar to the scooter blenny but easier to keep). You could also keep green chromis which are a peaceful type of damsel which can be kept in a group.
There are other inverts you can keep as well. You don’t mention hermit crabs (blue-legs and scarletts are both nice, and don’t forget to get them some extra shells for when they grow). Also snails, or a brittlestar, serpent star, or sand-sifting star.
Make sure that you research each animal you’re thinking about getting. A good book on marine aquariums will help you do this. Don’t rely on just websites, because many of them don’t have accurate info. And don’t expect employees of fish stores to always know what they’re talking about either – their job is to sell you fish and equipment, so they’ll tell you what you want to hear to make a sale.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:25 pmReferences :
NO that will be a big waste of money Mandarins need to go in a very established cycled tank with at least 100 pounds of live rock and sand 65 gallons is to small for the tangs for 2 you should have 100+ gallons, 3 stripes should go in last they will be the most aggressive. The Blenny’s and the Mandarins are the hardest fish to keep as they are picky eaters they do not eat prepared foods the eat off the rock and sand. The shrimp may be come meals for the tangs for the fish you are wanting you will have to get a bigger tank or forget about the tangs, they can get aggressive if they share to much space.
I would do a lot more reading before you jump into this, these are very expensive fish and some of them with special needs. I am not telling you what to do I AM however telling you to be advised your in for a bumpy ride with this combo of fish and gallon size.
And I didn’t see any mention of a lighting system for a reef tank you need to look into that aswell.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:42 pmReferences :
55 salt
75 salt
2X 30 freshwater