i have a 10 gal full marine and i have 2 clown fish the smaller spicies and 1 coral banned shrimp and a snail and i only have a aqua clear 20 filter and a 25 watt heater anda 15 watt light fixtur and it is doing fine...got som live rock in it too its preety selfsuficiant
yeah, I was just thinking that instead of the mantis shrim, a more community-type aquarium would be better. I don't know, though, those mantis are pretty amazing little critters.
take it I wouldn't need a protein skimmer for a 29g aquarium with only a shrimp and maybe one or two fish.
wouldn't NEED one, i have one on both of my 29's and i'm never doing another tank without one... once you see the SH(&% those things pull out you'll feel the same..
i ahve the seaclone 100.. alot of people diss it but i works great for me.. cheap and avalible
a great book to get you started is "New Marine Aquarium" by Mike Paletta. It will give you the basics on starting a marine aquarium, and has great advice. I've been keeping marine tanks for over 30 years now, and wish I had this book when I was getting started. The advice on fish selection (which species live, which don't) will save you much more money than the price of the book. It's less than $20 on amazon.com. You'll get a lot more out of the forums if you invest in at least one good "basics" book. There are other good ones, but none are so straightforward and simple.
I have kept mantis shrimp, and they are very cool. A 29 gallon for a peacock mantis is good. IMHO you will need a HOB protein skimmer. BakPaks are pretty good and you can find them on Ebay and maybe craigslist fairly cheap. I haven't ordered from them yet, but www.stomatopd.com is local to me, and I have heard nothing but good about them. Most of their customers order by mail from out of state.
