FishChannel Forums / General Saltwater / Saltwater Forums

1 in fish

NeonBlue64 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:47:20 GMT

What are some peacefull 1 in saltwater fish that are reletivly inexpensive.

I am going to be putting 3-5 in a 10gal tank and want to know of some good 1in.

I am thinking of a couple of clown gobie.

Considering a Salt Water Aquarium

AquariumBrandon — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:44:47 GMT

I currently have a 125 Gallon Freshwater Discus tank. I do pretty well with everything to do with freshwater and I've been in the hobby for several years.

I'm somewhat considering a salt water aquarium, probably a 29-55 gallon. I don't want to do super small for obvious reasons. I think a 55 gallon would be ideal.

Can anyone give me any suggestions, advice, reading material or any ideas or experiences.

With salt water, I will have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

Thank you so much!

Brandon

Super tiny tanks

Bassmaster — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:58:27 GMT

I want to start a tank of about 1.5 gallons with a LED light and air driven filter. My first stocking thought was some of the little hermit crabs that i always see at the store and in saltwater tanks. Any thoughts and more importantly help with salt types and other things would be appreciated. It is still in the planning phase and I'm a complete noob when it comes to salt water so i really need help.

Stuff non-aquarists say...

Bettaaddict — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:08:25 GMT

What sorts of things have non-aquarists said to you (or you've overheard) that made you roll your eyes, laugh out loud, lose all hope for humanity, or all three simultaneously?

I was at Walmart one day and a woman walked over with a couple kids and said, "oh, look at those bettas (pronouncing it bay-tuhs, of course)! We could get a couple of those and put them in the vase with the rose!"

Lemmegethisrait - you want to buy a couple of male bettas and put them together in a flower vase occupied by t***-stemmed rose? Ah, what the heck. Go for it!

PS, those asterisks are due to auto-bleep, as I call it. That should say "t h o r n y-stemmed".

refugium question

fish247 — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 20:53:27 GMT

what would u recommend for use in a refugium?

would u put any substrate in it?

would u put live rock in it?

in my first reef tank all i had in it was chaetomorpha algae in it was that a good or bad thing?

i have a proflex 4 sump with a Coralife 300 Cone Protein Skimmer in the third chamber if u have any question feel free to ask i will try to answer them as well as i can

Regenerating GFO

fishtk75 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 00:18:59 GMT

Does anyone here on this Forum do this?

salinity

fish247 — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:38:28 GMT

what would be a good salinity lvl for a reef tank i was told by someone who has been keeping salt tanks for years to have it at 1.020 but from what ive been told by others thats way to low.

What are your thoughts im not sure what a good lvl is

upgrade questions

fish247 — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:47:16 GMT

hello again to all

Its been some time since ive been on the forums just busy with the life stuff lol

But heres the big question i have a 75g saltwater tank up and running with Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Reef Sand but i just got a custome made 240g salt water tank and i was going to put black sand in it was wondering if the black would take away from the corals or fish and would i have to change my lighting because of it i know my light will be a bit small for the tank im using a Marineland Marine Series Pro Metal Halide Fixture 2X150W HQI & 4X54W T5, 48 inch but i dont know how much more light i need if anyone has any input or if u need me to tell u more let me know thx for any help

Bubble Tip Anemone

FishTanked — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 18:19:24 GMT

I had one Bubble Tip Anemone which split into two very healthy specimens but now all of my fish have suddenly died. The Clown Fish was over 5 years old. Was doing all the routine 25%-30% water changes; testing water every week. Undergravel and hang-on filters, UV Filter. Fish fed frozen brine shrimp and the fish suddenly started dying off, one at a time? I also have several snails and Hermit Crabs in this tank. My question is; do these anemones expel any kind of toxins if they are stressed in any way. That's the only thing left on our list (LFS) of probable causes of this sudden death as all parameters are well within acceptable limits! HELP

anemone fragging

Grouper gulper — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:59:01 GMT

I have a condy thats about 2 inches across and a tube anemone thats about 4 across and 5 long. I saw a guy frag a rose bubble tip by cutting it in half and was wondering if i can do that to mine too. Also what other kinds of sea life can do this. Ill attach pics of my corals. i want to frag the leather frogspawn(?) but am not sure how.

Fish from the beach

Swarley — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:08:29 GMT

Going to the beach this Saturday and staying for a week. I always carry dipnets and buckets with me, being such a fish nerd. I am planning on bringing back some little critters that I catch and trying to set up a tank for em on the fly here. I just set up a 20 gallon, and will add some live rock from my 90 FOWLR with a double-sided hang-on power filter going. I plan on bringing back live sand in a 20 gallon cooler and some small fish.

I did this before, but the mystery "goby" turned out to be some sort of sculpin and ate all the little schooling fish I brought back. The last time I had an established 29 gallon to put them in. I am hoping a seeded tank running a week will be sufficiently cycled to support them.

Wish me luck, and feel free to add any helpful faqctor that I may have overlooked.

gauging invert health

Grouper gulper — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 05:22:29 GMT

I bought an anemone for my 20 G tank about 2 and a half weeks ago. I think its some sort of bubble tip anemone but im not sure, it was probably mislabed. It is about 3 inches long minus the tenticals and has a pinkish body. Te tenticals are white with purple tips. I think its mainly photosynthetic but it has eaten some shrimp and chopped sea food. MY question is, what do i look for to tell if it is healthy and thriving? He looks great as he is and must have found a good spot cuz in two weeks he hasnt moved more than 2 inches.

Changing from a 46 gal bow front to a 90gal marine reef tank

marine lady — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:21:50 GMT

Have a very slow leak in the bottom of my bow front tank, I want to switch to a 90gal but not sure if all of my livestock would survive, I have live sand which i would use a cup to put with my new live sand, there is 30lbs of live rock 6 fish, snails and small crabs, and a few mushrooms, I would use all of my filtration and skimmer and most of the original water, If any one has any Ideas would appreciate. Also 11 bubble tip anemones,tank has been set up sice 2006

Keeping Nitrates Down

velocityoflove — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 16:19:21 GMT

Is it normal to have excessive nitrates in a newer tank? I'll do a 25% water change and within a few days they're back up again (20-40 range). Should I change half of the water or keep doing water changes until they're completely down and then try to keep them down from there? Or is there a bigger problem I'm missing?

No ammonia, nitrites, or phosphates. I recently had an outbreak of cyano but that has been mostly cleared up. I don't overfeed. I have a decent amount of water flow. The tank isn't overstocked. It's a 55 gallon and I recently got T5HO lights.

It may be that I need a skimmer (I only have a hang on the back filter, but it's rated for 90 gallons).

Just wondering if this is typical for new tanks, if there's a problem I could be missing, or if anyone has any other input!

Cyanobacteria Question

velocityoflove — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 22:11:06 GMT

Has anyone ever seen it clear up simply by changing the lighting?

longspined urchant

donald — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:12:42 GMT

i was given a longspined urchant and i was wondering if they are going to be a nuscance in my tank i was going to put in some soft coral and was wondering if it would eat that(a very expensive snack[])i was also wondering if it would be compatable with my other fish thanks[][8D]

55gal-
1. common plco.
2. neon tetras
3. zebra dainos
4. giant dianos
5. guppys
6. striped raphial (i dont know how to spell that)
7.head-tail light tetras
8. glow light tetras
9. black tetras
10. black- skitt tetras
11. glass catfish

20gal-
1. 2 blood parrot chiclids
2. 1 black mystery snail

120gal fowlr:
70 lbs live rock
70 lbs of sand
2(mated pair,wild) mauritius clown fish from africa
1 racoon butterfly fish
1 flame hawk fish
1 majestic angelfish
1 christmas wrasse
50 tiny hermits
1 pencil urchin
1 rose tip anemone
1 purple tang

stocking a 20 gal.

Grouper gulper — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:11:23 GMT

So i have my saltwater tank matured for about 4 months now and have a pair of mollies, a pair of green cromise, a pair of assorted damsels, and a yellow watchman goby. Im still adding rocks slowly but have a good amount of rock work in the tank already. My question is could i keep a scooter blenny with my watchman. I heard that they can be aggressive and iv seen him scare the more ornery damsel away from his home. (ironicaly the damsel is black and white striped like the old jail uniforms) Also, what are some good ways to jumpstart a coraline algae and just plain algae growth, i baught about 5 lbs. of live rock but all i got was a brown slime and a red film on the rocks. Not the most attractive look. My lights are not the best but there is a good 8 hours of indirect sun light and maybe 1 to 2 hours of direct in the morning. The temp never surpasses 80 even on hot days. I keep my SG around 1.023. Do i just not have the right salinity. I really dont test for pH or hardness but i use reef salt and the water i use is a ground well that is hardish at worst and nurtral at best.

Algae

savetheanimalsx — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:03:14 GMT

I have a 5 gallon saltwater tank. It seems to have hair algae and keeps having little dots of green algae on the glass. It grows back pretty quickly after it is scrubbed off. Any ideas how to control it? It is rather annoying as well as the hair algae.

cleaning salt creep and coralline algae

j_r_smith — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:40:39 GMT

What is the best and safest method of cleaning off salt creep and coralline algae? I have acquired a used glass aquarium that has starfire (low iron) glass on the front. It has quite a bit of salt creep and coralline algae that I would like to clean off before setting the tank up. I was thinking maybe trying distilled white vinegar and the rinsing real well but I figured I would put up a post to see what else I could try.

Thanks!

type of substrate

Grouper gulper — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:47:43 GMT

I am setting up a 20g saltwater tank and am not sure if i should replace the fine river stone subsrtate and go for a FOWLR tank. I really dont have the money for the substrate and was going to keep mollies untill i can get a job(im 15.) Is it ok to have the river rock? Iv got some marine hermit crabs and a fiddler crab right now. They seem to be fine.

Aiptasia??

Kaiden32 — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:32:48 GMT

Hey guys, I have a 12 gallon nano cube dx nano reef. Its got a clownfish, and a yellow watchman goby. As for corals, I've got some red sea xenia, zoanthids, candycane coral, mushrooms, and some frogspawn. I dose calcium twice a week and do a 10-15 percent water change per week. I feed my corals and fish marine cuisine frozen food twice a week, usually on the days I dose calcium. My water parameters are normal. It is the stock lighting for a nano cube dx, two 50-50 18 watt (I believe) pcs. I have the stock pump which is 106 gph and an extra powerhead that does 240 gph.
Now to the point right? I was taking some pictures of my candycane coral today, and I noticed there was this little brown thing growing on the skeleton, so I looked a little closer and it has little brown tentacles coming out from the middle. It is sort of a light brown, and it is tiny. Probably like 1/16 of an inch across. Since it is so small, I couldn't really get a good picture of it, but what I was wondering is, is this aiptasia? If so, what should I do about it? Should I let it grow a little bigger and take a pic? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As I'm sure you all know, I don't think anyone wants their tank to be overrun by aiptasia...
Also, I don't know where it would have came from, because I haven't noticed it before until today, and I haven't added any new corals lately. the latest addition to the tank is the yellow watchman goby, last saturday. I didn't think that aiptasia could hitchhike on fish, but whatever.
Thanks in advance.

Starfish Appeared In Aquarium

BYU Cougar — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:52:31 GMT

I found a small(about 1/3 inch in diameter) starfish appear in my week old 120 reef aquarium. I am new to saltwater aquariums and would like to know how to take care of it, or if its a problem get rid of it. Do you think my six Line wrasse will bother it?

Mollies

Grouper gulper — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:23:35 GMT

Would anyone be interested in some saltwater mollies? I've got a pair of sailfin mollies in a strong brackish tank going to full marine.

Is anybody else having this problem?

thesiscokid76 — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 09:49:00 GMT

I bought the watchman about a month ago with a tiger pistol shrimp. The two had already paired up in the store. I brought them home acclimated them did all the stuff that I was supposed to do. When i put them in they split up and didn't get back together. About a few days after i got them i didnt see them together like i had in the store. Naturally i thought that the shrimp had died. Then a few days ago i was doing a water change and I saw the shrimp in a completely different area then the watchman. But thats not the wierd part the watchman decided to shoot for the moon and swam full board right into the top of my tank. Has anybody else had this problem or is it just me?

Firefish

BYU Cougar — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:50:09 GMT

I got 3 firefish a few days ago and they seem to have some aggression. One seems fine but the others have torn dorsal fins. The lfs employee I bought them from said that they like to go in schools and he has always given me good information. They don't seem to have any new injuries, but I would like to know weather or not the fins will grow back if the aggression does not continue. Any answers will be greatly appreciated!

Tap Water Question

FC Community Moderator — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:03:14 GMT

One of our Facebook fan's asked this question on the FishChannel.com Facebook Page. Can any of you help lend some insight?

Q:Can i use water right out of the tap for salt mixes for water changes?

Help! How to stock?

Blueramguy — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:37:23 GMT

Hello. I am starting a 10 gallon saltwater reef tank. Fish I should get?
I was thinking this:
1royal gramma
1clown fish
1 yellow tail damsel
Corals
Colony polyp
?
Inverts
1 cleaner shrimp
3 hermit crabs
3-5 snails
Will this work?

Anenome

Bassmaster — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:34:52 GMT

I want to start a 20 gallon clown fish tank(Yes you guys talked me out of a smaller tank) and i want to have an anenome in with the clown. I don't know much about saltwater inverts i was hoping someone could kinda help me. Do they need special lights? Do they need feedings of shrimp are something? I have been keeping freshwater fish for 3 years now. If you could put a pic with the name that would help. Thanks

Hermit Crab breeding

Rhianna — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:08:40 GMT

I have a pair of land hermit crabs, and I don't know how much aquarium salt to use to breed them.... suggestions?

Water Flow

TDawg — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:49:17 GMT

How much is too much? How much is not enough? Is it only for coral or do the fish need it to?

I have a 29g bio cube with coral and one clown.

What does the flow do for the enviroment?

Thanks!

Fish Highway

DrPeter — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:53:26 GMT

I was just wondering if anyone has the design and materials to make a fish highway. If you don't know that is clear PVC tubing that allows fish to swim tank to tank.

help!!!!

mudskipper — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:44:48 GMT

can hawkfish live with clownfish,goby,royal gramma in a 36 gallon????

Should I change water in my crab tank?

FishWiz97 — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:18:35 GMT

Hi! I have a 10 gallon nano-salt tank. It's been cycling for about a month and a half, and a few weeks ago I added a pair of blue legged hermit crabs. I was just wondering, do I need to change the water, or should I wait until I add fish? Thx!

10 gallon saltwater
2 blue-legged hermit crabs

5 gallon planted
2 guppies
2 peppered cories
1 albino longfin zebra danio
1 platy

2.5 gallon
1 black khuli loach (I'm getting a 2nd in a week)

Love those bottom feeders!

barucuda

bicuda — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:19:14 GMT

i dont care if i spelled it wrong!!!

i have been wanting a baruccuda for a pet so what to feed how many gallons?????

i have keep a sting ray

New Seahorse tank

Katorin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:37:30 GMT

For those interested, here are some pics of the seahorse tank i am putting together.

http://members.shaw.ca/aquariummedics/page7.html

Submit to our "Aquarist of the Month" Section!

afmweb — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:45:22 GMT

Do you love keeping fish? You could be an Aquarium Fish International “Aquarist of the Month!" Aquarist of the Month is a section in Aquarium Fish International magazine where we spotlight one of our readers. You don’t need to have a huge fish room to be considered—all aquarists who love the hobby are encouraged to enter.

All you have to do is answer the five questions below and send us a photo (of you or you with your aquarium). Each month, one aquarist will be featured in the magazine. And in addition to being featured in the magazine, you will win a prize from that month’s sponsor! (Sponsor and prizes will vary.)

1. What was the initial spark that got you into keeping fish?

2. Describe your favorite setup and why it's your favorite.

3. Where do you see your personal hobby in the next five years?

4. What’s your favorite thing about fishkeeping?

5. What does responsible fishkeeping mean to you?

For the photo, please attach a jpg (up to 8 megs), and send it, along with your answers, to aquariumfish@bowtieinc.com. In the subject line, please put "Aquarist of the Month."

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Octopus mating

Katorin — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 09:51:38 GMT

Here's an interesting article about the Vancouver Aquarium.

http://www.theprovince.com/travel/Fruits+fight+Aquarium+mating+octopi+produce+larvae/5347574/story.html

When did you last buy a new tank?

Fish Chat — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:55:48 GMT

Tell Aquarium Fish International readers about the last tank you set up and why. Was it because you needed room for more fish, for breeding a new species or just because? Your answer could be published in the magazine! Just go to http://board.fishchannel.com/Topic228196-11-1.aspx to reply!

Mystery Creature (no emergency)

Lepr3chaun — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:29:22 GMT

So I was on my fish-dedicated tumblr account (fish-boy.tumblr.com) and I see these strange looking things that I believe to be worms. What are they and are they harmful? They're pretty cool looking, so would these be acceptable in a tank? http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqgb42Rcep1r13z5fo1_500.jpg

saltwater tanks

FishWiz97 — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 10:34:00 GMT

hi i have had freshwater fish for 6 years, and i want to try saltwater tanks. I just need 2 questions answered:

r saltwater tanks very hard?

How do you know how much salt to put in?

Thx!