What do I need?

[mos90]

as far as your choices for an anemone and clown. like someone mentioned before a bubble tip or a rose bubble tip are great choices for a beginner.

i have a beautiful rose in my reef tank. as far as clowns, i have had 3 different clowns in my tank . false percula, true percula and a tomato. the tomato is the only 1 so far that likes the anemone, he took to it right away. the others just ignored it.

my tomato is still fairly small but doesnt bother other fish so far. but he will defend his anemone to no end. when i try to feed the anemone shrimp i use small tongs, he will attack the tongs, finger or anything that gets close. kinda funny. he bit my finger once.

fyi my tomato is tank raised. u will have a better change for hosting if it is wild.

i would wait at least 4 month before u add 1 , make sure your tank is stable. they need a lot of light too. metal halide or strong t5's. led's will work too.

i would recommend to stick with "easy" to keep corals for a while. softies or lps's.
i jumped into sps corals a little to soon but i have learned a lot fast, some the hard way.

before u buy your light, choose 1 based on your long term goals as far as intensity is concerned. better to spend a little more to start then have to buy a whole new light fixture down the road.

 

[FLESHY]

+1 on the buy the right lighting to start with.

My brother always had issues keeping anemone's in with some kinds of soft corals (leather corals).

In his mind it was alleopathic competition, and everything else flourished in his tank, so I would have to agree.

Just be careful when you add new stuff. It never hurts to time your additions so that they happen the day after h2o change day.

 

[Desire]

I have been busy reading up about all the different kinds of reef fish today, and so far I have penned down (yes i use pen and paper) 12 pages of pontential fish for my tank... It will need weeding out, once I have figured out who fits where with what and who, but for now I am just looking into potentials.

As for corals and anemones, that's next on my to do list. Same method I use with the fish. I find it helps me if I write it down.

Lights, OMG I do not mind buying state of the art lights for a sw tank if it means keeping all the corals and anemones alive. That's a splurge that isn't really a splurge but a necessity imo. I'd rather spend a bit more on the lights now and keep it all alive, then having to buy new lights because everything is dead and then having to buy new corals etc again....

I called my lfs today, and they cannot supply me with a picasso clown.. *cry* so my original plan has been upheaved. But not to worry, I found the black and white ocellatus just as charming to look at, and as they CAN supply that it is a close second.
They started to ask when I wanted the fish so they could order it for me, I told them it would have to wait for at least a year. Luckily I am a regular customer so they didn't push the issue....

I don't have a sump on this tank, so what would be the next best option? Obviously I would like it to be as quiet as possible, and due to the way the stand is made it needs to be quite small. I would say about 30cm max. Otherwise it just won't fit.

Ow, and by the way, I looked at Blenny's as possible tankmates for the ocellatus, is this an option?

Sorry for my incoherent rambling, my mind is full of seafishies!!

 

[FLESHY]

Blennies should be fine with clownfish.

 

[Otherone]

You do not want to under any circumstances "cure" your rock by letting it dry out.

This will kill your LR, and leave you with dry base rock.

Curing is a process where you put the rock into a container, and do water changes while everything that didnt make the trip alive dies off of your rock.

BTA's are the hardiest nems, and split readily. Most clowns should host to them. (More than any other nem.) +1 however to the idea that they should only be added to a mature tank.

Thanks for the clarity on "curing" I thought it was drying them out. Must've been bad info I read.

I guess all I can add is a reminder - it takes fish to finish the cycling process - don't use expensive sea life to build your denitrifyers.

 

[Desire]

Well, learned something new. I didn't know it took fish to finish the curing. But mind you, on my fw tank after 4 weeks of curing the first fish in have always been the extremely hardy ones, like the pleco's.
So, I should use cheap sw fishies to finish the cycling process.
Considering that I would like to keep these fish in a 100 gallon tank, what would be a good candidate? Over here all sw fish are expensive, about $70 is the rule of thumb, per fish. I know... crazy prices, but then everything here is expensive. LOL if the americans see what I pay for my gas they would probably have a nervous breakdown.

 

[mos90]

i dont agree fish should be involved in any part of a tank cycle. its a very easy process.

1) add sand,water. start filters. skimmer ect.
2) add live rock, or dry, your choice. if u use dry u can add it to the tank before u fill it. with dry rock i would use a bacteria starter like microbacter 7.
3) u can do a freshwater dip of live rock if u want. not for long.
4) watch for ammonia and nitrite. when both are 0 check nitrate.
5) do a partial water change to lower nitrate and clean loose debris out of tank.

some people like to run their lights during cycling, i didnt.

6) add a few fish. add slowly , 1 or 2 at a time. add clean up crew as needed.
some like to add clean up crew before fish. either is fine.

a quarantine tank is a good idea for new fish arrivals. lots of people dont use 1 though.

i might have forgoten a few steps, but that is the basics.

NEVER add any fish,inverts in to a tank that is not completly cycled .

 

[Desire]

I think I am going for a mix of dry and live, just to keep the costs down a bit.
I am still sorting through the fish that are reef compatible, size compatible for my tank and "beginner" fishes. I must say the list is staggering, and I am now at the gobies, loads still to go. Picking my permanent residents fishwise is going to be hard to say the least!!

I still have to sort through the coral, anemones and inverts...

But as tiring as it is, because it takes a lot of concentration, it is also a LOT of fun!