My First Salty Build! 20g Long

[Evan West]

If my tank wasnt already infected with bryopsis, monti eating nudi, pyramid snails, aiptasia, and vermitide snails, I would have bought the shrimp for a few months.

Thats quite the list lol, so why not get them still?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Thats quite the list lol, so why not get them still?

Why not get the shrimp? I have a new tank up and running. Waiting for everything to stabilize before shutting down the "infected" tank. I started clean slate, with round 2. I won't need the shrimp. Plus all they eat are star fish.

 

[Evan West]

Well sad update today, My cycle as per my daily tests for he last week is complete so I went ahed and got an orange spotted goby from my LFS. He was a big, really nice guy but feisty as hell and I got a killer deal on him so I was pumped. I acclimated him fine and when I went to go to bed he was busy digging away in the tank. Well I woke up to him dried out on the floor I knew they liked to jump but goodness. The bugger found the one small gap between my screen lid and the end of the tank where some cords and hoses go through. Sigh, time to seal up that gap somehow and make another trip to the LFS to see if they have anymore.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Well sad update today, My cycle as per my daily tests for he last week is complete so I went ahed and got an orange spotted goby from my LFS. He was a big, really nice guy but feisty as hell and I got a killer deal on him so I was pumped. I acclimated him fine and when I went to go to bed he was busy digging away in the tank. Well I woke up to him dried out on the floor I knew they liked to jump but goodness. The bugger found the one small gap between my screen lid and the end of the tank where some cords and hoses go through. Sigh, time to seal up that gap somehow and make another trip to the LFS to see if they have anymore.

This might be a long shot. I found fish jump when things startle them. Or things like loud pumps. Maybe put your ear up to the glass and see if it's really loud inside the tank? No other cats, pets or roommates that enter or exit the room, throughout the night?

 

[Evan West]

This might be a long shot. I found fish jump when things startle them. Or things like loud pumps. Maybe put your ear up to the glass and see if it's really loud inside the tank? No other cats, pets or roommates that enter or exit the room, throughout the night?

No, no one should have come in or out of the room itself. I left the door was ajar tho so perhaps a the shadow of someone passing buy going to the bathroom. He seemed jumpy tho for some reason from the git go. He jumped out of the acclimation bucket twice before I put a lid on it and was pretty skittish in the tank.

 

[Evan West]

Question as well, I have lately been oogling over filefish for some reason. Do you think one would be possible to keep in this tank? That would mean I would have:

2 clowns
1 filefish
1 firefish/another goby
1 cleaner shrimp

 

[reeferfoxx]

No, no one should have come in or out of the room itself. I left the door was ajar tho so perhaps a the shadow of someone passing buy going to the bathroom. He seemed jumpy tho for some reason from the git go. He jumped out of the acclimation bucket twice before I put a lid on it and was pretty skittish in the tank.

He may have had something else going on, medically.

FWIW when it comes to acclimating fish, I always test the water the fish came in. Most people here won't agree to this. I don't condone it for everyone. But when I did freshwater, I always had the hardest time keeping german blue rams alive 24 hours after acclimation. I became so frustrated, I just started tossing them in the tank. Come to find out, they would survive this way and it was because of the stress that acclimation can bring about.

When you buy the fish they get netted out. Put in a bag. Thrown in another bag. Driven home. Put in the tank for temp acclimation. Put in a bowl or container for drip acclimation. Then netted out to be put in the tank. Then there is the tank acclimation. Where the fish learns about it's new environment. The stress can be staggering for fish.

Test the water. Salinity especially. If they are similar, just temp acclimate and skip the drip. Now if the fish was shipped to you. Chances are the bag has ammonia in it and then should be properly acclimated. I like to do this with all the lights off in the room and in the fish tank.

 

[Evan West]

He may have had something else going on, medically.

FWIW when it comes to acclimating fish, I always test the water the fish came in. Most people here won't agree to this. I don't condone it for everyone. But when I did freshwater, I always had the hardest time keeping german blue rams alive 24 hours after acclimation. I became so frustrated, I just started tossing them in the tank. Come to find out, they would survive this way and it was because of the stress that acclimation can bring about.

When you buy the fish they get netted out. Put in a bag. Thrown in another bag. Driven home. Put in the tank for temp acclimation. Put in a bowl or container for drip acclimation. Then netted out to be put in the tank. Then there is the tank acclimation. Where the fish learns about it's new environment. The stress can be staggering for fish.

Test the water. Salinity especially. If they are similar, just temp acclimate and skip the drip. Now if the fish was shipped to you. Chances are the bag has ammonia in it and then should be properly acclimated. I like to do this with all the lights off in the room and in the fish tank.

I used to keep and breed Bolivian rams and found the same thing. Id do a few water tests and if it was close enough id just chuck the suckers in the tanks, they always did fine. I guess I had allays read about how everything in salt needs long acclimation periods so I went with what I read. Not saying that was the issue but it very well might have been the stress that had him bugging the heck out. Im gonna do a full round of water tests before getting another fish just to make sure nothing is astray in my tank.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I used to keep and breed Bolivian rams and found the same thing. Id do a few water tests and if it was close enough id just chuck the suckers in the tanks, they always did fine. I guess I had allays read about how everything in salt needs long acclimation periods so I went with what I read. Not saying that was the issue but it very well might have been the stress that had him bugging the heck out. Im gonna do a full round of water tests before getting another fish just to make sure nothing is astray in my tank.

Snails have always been the exception, for me. Sometimes those guys will die if salinity is off by 1 or 2 points. I always drip acclimate snails.. Shrimp too. Or at least do the 30%- 50% water change in the bag method.

 

[Evan West]

Snails have always been the exception, for me. Sometimes those guys will die if salinity is off by 1 or 2 points. I always drip acclimate snails.. Shrimp too. Or at least do the 30%- 50% water change in the bag method.

Thats funny the 4 snails I bought last night I did just chuck in and they are active as can be.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Thats funny the 4 snails I bought last night I did just chuck in and they are active as can be.

You might have lucked out. I chucked in a couple turbos a week ago and one of them died. Took a week though.

 

[Evan West]

You might have lucked out. I chucked in a couple turbos a week ago and one of them died. Took a week though.

Guess we will wait and see. dont mean to pester but did you happen to see my question above about possibly adding a filefish?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Guess we will wait and see. dont mean to pester but did you happen to see my question above about possibly adding a filefish?

@Lionfish Lair or @4FordFamily can chime in on that better. I know they have special needs and like to nip at coral. ORA has bred some that might not do that? Better they give some insight.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Why were you looking at filefish?

 

[Evan West]

Why were you looking at filefish?

No other reason than I think they look sweet and after watching them in mt LFS's display they have a tone of personality. Ive been reading and it seems to be a mixed bag, some people have ones that eat LPS and others leave them alone.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Ah, I wasn't sure if you had aippies or something. They could chew. Ours ate the aippies, then you could tell they were sampling the caulpera... then the palys and zoas. My friend have one and we think it may have even tasted another fish. Scorpionfish can sometimes fall prey to nipping, because they themselves often look like algae and fauna. It's not that the filefish wanted to bite another fish.

We're talking about Bristletails, right? Not the Orange Spotted Filefish?

I don't think I would have another bristletail. I don't trust them well enough. Ours turned green because of the macro.

 

[Evan West]

Ah, I wasn't sure if you had aippies or something. They could chew. Ours ate the aippies, then you could tell they were sampling the caulpera... then the palys and zoas. My friend have one and we think it may have even tasted another fish. Scorpionfish can sometimes fall prey to nipping, because they themselves often look like algae and fauna. It's not that the filefish wanted to bite another fish.

We're talking about Bristletails, right? Not the Orange Spotted Filefish?

I don't think I would have another bristletail. I don't trust them well enough. Ours turned green because of the macro.

I was thinking of a matted or radial file fish, bristle tails will get to big for my tank.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

That's the same guy. They are also called Bristletails. I'm talking about the Acreichthys tomentosus, to be more concise.

This guy..

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+2562&pcatid=2562

 

[Evan West]

That's the same guy. They are also called Bristletails. I'm talking about the Acreichthys tomentosus, to be more concise.

This guy..

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+2562&pcatid=2562

For whatever reason i thought you ment the tassel filefish Chaetodermis pencilligerus

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Common names can cause confusion.

Say it 10 times last. LOL!