Please help a brother fish keeper in need

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I'm not to sure a shark is a good idea for your first sw set up. A reef set up may also be quite a bit for a first tank. If your looking for color I would go with some tangs, maybe a wrasse, clowns, angles, and a damsele or two. It is nice to have algee eating fish, they will help you controll your algee.
 
i dont think he said he wanted a shark, i just kinda came up.
also, cappuccino, you can add a yellow or pruple tand to that list i sent you. and if you want to keep inverts get rid of the longfin bannerfish, cause they are NOT reef safe.
also i don't know if i said this but don't keep corals within probably you first six months to a year to let your tank establish, the mandarin fish too.
 
chrisdef15;759103; said:
Sorry but get rid of the red rocks would be my first suggestion.
If you wanted a shark you could probably do a small species in there what are the dimensions??
In a tank that big there is heaps of stuff you can have. Do you want monsters or more of a reef type tank??

this is not the way I planned to set up my aquarium, this was how the previous owner had it set up for African cichlids. I respect your expertise & suggestion, but why is it that you tell me to get red of the red lava rocks, besides the fact that it could hurt the fish, especially sharks? The dimension of this aquarium is 72x24x29. I definitely want fish, but I'm not sure if I want beautiful monsters or beautiful colors. I would probably prefer beautiful monsters with beautiful colors. Greedy ain't I?
 
Fish Finder;759847; said:
Where in NY are you? If your on long island you could come by my shop and we can chat one on one about what you want to do and what you can do.

yes I am on Long Island and would love to come by your shop. I am actually in Garden City South in Nassau County. If you let me know where your shop is I will be more than happy to come learn from you. I appreciate the offer, honestly.
 
swingsetredemption;759976; said:
I'm not to sure a shark is a good idea for your first sw set up. A reef set up may also be quite a bit for a first tank. If your looking for color I would go with some tangs, maybe a wrasse, clowns, angles, and a damsele or two. It is nice to have algee eating fish, they will help you controll your algee.

you guys are great, this is exactly the type of help I am looking for. Thank you all.
 
BIGgourami;759986; said:
i dont think he said he wanted a shark, i just kinda came up.
also, cappuccino, you can add a yellow or pruple tand to that list i sent you. and if you want to keep inverts get rid of the longfin bannerfish, cause they are NOT reef safe.
also i don't know if i said this but don't keep corals within probably you first six months to a year to let your tank establish, the mandarin fish too.

you must be psychic. You are reading my mind. Thanks for all your help. Please keep it coming, I could use it. My hope is that one day I will be as knowledgeable as all you guys and be able to offer other newcomers the same advice. I have been a freshwater person for so many years now and have always been afraid of going salt. I guess it's time to grow up. LOL
 
I have another question,
I know I have to cycle the tank with some starters fish. I was thinking damsels, as has been suggested, they are very colorful and I wouldn't mind looking at 30 of them for the next six months or so. My question is do I wait until the tank is fully cycled to add the live and base rock or do I put it in from the beginning and let it all cycled together?
 
freeNINETY9;757818; said:
protein skimmers can hang on the back. fluval is good for moving water but your main filter will be live rock and ideally youll want to have 200 or so lbs of it for your tank. what i did was bought like 1/3 live rock and 2/3 base rock and let the live stuff move onto the nonlive. i left the light on longer and dropped a few prawns in to decay and eventually all the rock had nice purple algae on it as wel as some microorganisms so i didnt pay a ton of money for the rock.

as far as stocking it, you could do bigger fish like a volitan lion, picasso trigger, snowflake eel, and maybe a puffer. or you could get just one beast fish like a panther grouper, a huge angel, or a small shark.

as far as smaller fish go, clowns (preferable a proven pair), dwarf angels (one per tank), small hawkfish, bangai cardinals, gobies/blennys, jawfish, dwarf lions, valentini puffers, small wrasses, and others are all game. not that they can all go together but see what you want for sure and we can let you know which fish can do alright with it. good luck man.

thank you so much, your help is so greatly appreciated. Should I put the live and base rock in there in the beginning or wait until the tank has completely psycho but itself with the starter fish?
 
NO NO NO!
you put the LR/LS in there TO cycle the tank! after a week or two i would add a FEW damsels, maybe like 10-15 (cause believe me, when it comes time to take them out of the tank, you don't want to have to catch 30 damsels!)
you could also do a monster peacful tank.
alot of tangs and angels and butterflies get along and get fairly large. just make sure you get (or at least start) with the most hardy kinds. alot of the larger angels and 'flies are obligate sponge and coral eaters,and have a hard time switching over to frozen/prepared foods.
 
Cappuccino;761244; said:
yes I am on Long Island and would love to come by your shop. I am actually in Garden City South in Nassau County. If you let me know where your shop is I will be more than happy to come learn from you. I appreciate the offer, honestly.



You can check out my store here.

http://fishyinc.tripod.com/

I am usually in during the week from 11am to 2pm. I am also there Saturday and Sunday upon request. Just let me know when you will like to come and i will make sure i am there.

The offer is also open to anyone else that would like to learn about sw one on one.
 
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