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finding nemo

L

Leogirl

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Well, I've been searching for info on the web and i realised all i know is if i do the saltwater fish thing, i want to get the "cast" of nemo :hehe: (it's for the kids) OK, heres the fish i found...(i have no idea if they can go together,but i like them)

1. 3 stripe damsels
2. blue hippo tang or blue line tang (dory)
3. yellow tang
4. 2 clown fish (nemo and his dad)
5. orange linkia star
6. cleaner shrimp
not on nemo but mommy likes :hehe: ..
7. royal gramma or blackcap basslet
8. mandarin dragonet-spotted
9. red spotted sandperch
10. hawaiian spotted puffer

So in a 55 gal could i get all of those? If not, are there any bright colored fish for a fw? The ones at the store are all boring!!!!
 
1. 3 stripe damsels EXTREMELY agressive and will cause havoc in the tank.
2. blue hippo tang or blue line tang (dory)
3. yellow tang
Only 1 tang per tank to avoid fights. Tangs are highly territorial. Pick either the yellow or hippo (hippos are not as hardy as yellows though)
4. 2 clown fish (nemo and his dad) No problem. Peaceful and can work in a 20 or 55 gallon tank.
5. orange linkia star Not a good idea. Linkias (the blues as well) These are not beginner stars.
6. cleaner shrimp These are OK. Just make sure the tank is completely stable before adding them.

not on nemo but mommy likes ..
7. royal gramma or blackcap basslet These are fine. Peaceful and hardy.
8. mandarin dragonet-spotted NO NO NO. These will starve to death. They feed solely on copepods.
9. red spotted sandperch New one on me. Is this a spotted hawkfish? The hawkfish would be fine.
10. hawaiian spotted puffer Not a good choice. Will take chunks out of the other fish.

If you go with a 55 gallon, you can add the tang, the 2 clowns, the cleaner shrimp, the royal gramma and the basslet, and the hawkfish.
 
The blue tangs are moderately aggressive fish, and I have seen them in tanks with clownfish before.
 
Not the best pic but you may want to consider a Red Sea purple tang.
It's the one in the pic with the yellow tail.
More expensive than the yellows or hippos but IMO one of the prettiest tangs you can buy (except for the powder blue but that is a very delicate fish and not what you want to start with).
TANG-CLOWN.jpg
 
And since we are on the subject of nemo. Here he is along with a flame angel.
clown-angel.jpg
 
Steve, that flame angel and the purple tang are awesome! Do you know if the flame is a Hawaiian or ... ? Nice coralline algae you've got going on, too :thumbsup:
 
Steve, that flame angel and the purple tang are awesome! Do you know if the flame is a Hawaiian or ... ?
Click to expand...

Yes. It's a Hawaiin. I got it a few years back. Very bright red and blue on this one. The Purple tangs are one of my favorite fish. I love the coloring on them and the contrast between the body and the yellow tail.

Nice coralline algae you've got going on, too
Click to expand...

Thanks. I've found that using the 2 part C-Balance makes the coralline grow faster than dosing Kalk (plus I don't need to drip, I can add it right to the sump).
 
Wow,i guess the cast wasn't all that friendly then :rofl: oh well, i tried. Man i really wanted that spotted puffer and Mandarin dragonet, they were cool! As for the spotted sandperch, i don't know...it didn't have a description with it. Well the list of yeses are good enough. I'm totally in love with that little cleaner shrimp!!!! He's soooo cute!!
I found this fish forum the other day,(i didn't want to keep hounding you with the thousands of questions i have) so i checked out the SW forum and of course it was hard to follow since i still don't know that much, so i got discuraged and went to the fw since I've already had those before.....OMG..i had to check to make sure i was in the right area! They made it sound as complicated as sw tanks :slamit: so i guess i didn't know much about those either . So in conclusion...i still have NO idea which to go with...maybe i should just stick to the leos :unhappy:
 
Some of those people on the other boards throw around acronyms and make it sound like keeping fish is this huge undertaking. I belong to a few fish forums and even though I have been doing this for years, I still get lost in some of the posts.
Saltwater tanks are no harder to maintain than a freshwater one. IMO, once they are established, they take less time to maintain.
It's the fact that SW fish are more delicate that FW and you can't get away with swings in the tanks stability like you might be able to with a FW tank.
Don't get discouraged.
If you go the SW route, just decide on the fish before you buy them. A lot more SW fish than FW fish are not compatible and can't be kept together.
Heck, try a reef tank. Now you are really limited on the fish since a lot of SW fish eat corals. :rofl: The last thing you want to do is add a nice colored fish and have it proceed to eat hundreds of dollars of coral on you as soon as it gets put in the tank. :ack2:
 
Well, until i read your last post, i had decided on FW since I've already done it and it, but since you say it's almost as easy..i don't know again :scatter: .I'm just really confused! I guess i just don't understand all the corals and reefs and anemones and sebaes and what ever else :deadhorse :willy_nil !!! Like, when you first helped me decide what i needed to setup my tank, what type of tank was that for...was it a reef tank? I just obviously don't know :censored: about life under the sea :eek2: Is LR the same thing as Coral, and doesn't coral and rock make up a reef??? Wow, I'm so messed up i don't even know WHAT i know anymore. One thing i DO know is you're great!!Thanks for being soooo patient with me :)
 
The one I described is called a fish only with live rock.
FOWLR if you want to use the abbreviation.

A reef tank would be setup slightly different since you would need expensive lighting to keep corals alive, you would definitely need a protien skimmer, and you would have to be dosing trace elements, calcium, etc. to maintain the corals.
A reef is a more work and substantially more expensive to setup and maintain.

To be honest, a fish only saltwater tank is basically a freshwater tank with a bit of salt added to it. Not hard to maintain at all.
 
SPJ said:
To be honest, a fish only saltwater tank is basically a freshwater tank with a bit of salt added to it. Not hard to maintain at all.
Click to expand...

That was always my approach to it, especially for smaller tanks. I kept and bred my clownfish as if they were just African cichlids.

For someone new to the idea of saltwater aquariums, I'd recommend The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner. It's published through T.F.H. so it's pretty easy to find. It explains a lot of the terminology and concepts behind marine fish and animals in beginner's words, and has species specific information for numerous common fish, inverts and corals... plus it has some really cool pictures. :hehe:
 
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