Help with adding first new fish to tank

[Alex d]

Hi guys, this is my first time setting up a salt water reef system. The tank finished cycling I’m around 3 weeks into the build. I think I’m ready to add my first pair of clownfish to the tank. Looking for some suggestions and what to look for (how to find a mated pair) at the pet store. Also attached a picture of the tank below.

Thanks, Alex

 

[HotRocks]

Congrats on the setup. Likely at a couple weeks you are not finished cycling yet.

Clowns make a great starter fish. I don't know if you have researched much about Quarantine, as starting a new tank is a great time to start QT all new fish, coral, inverts etc.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/page-88#post-4917306

 

[Alex d]

Congrats on the setup. Likely at a couple weeks you are not finished cycling yet.

Clowns make a great starter fish. I don't know if you have researched much about Quarantine, as starting a new tank is a great time to start QT all new fish, coral, inverts etc.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/page-88#post-4917306

Hey thank you, I haven’t done much research on quarentining fish, to do that I would need to set up another smaller system right? So I would have to buy all new equipment for it. I’m only using hang on the back stuff right now

 

[HotRocks]

Hey thank you, I haven’t done much research on quarentining fish, to do that I would need to set up another smaller system right? So I would have to buy all new equipment for it. I’m only using hang on the back stuff right now

Correct. You would want to use a separate tank. I purchased new equipment for mine on amazon, cheap stuff. Bought both of my QT tanks used from Craigslist, as I was just looking for functionality a scratch here or there was no big deal to me.

10 gallon tank is probably a great start for clownfish and smaller fish like gobies etc. Currently in the hobby fish disease is likely to occur in some fashion in newly purchased fish. It can be very frustrating.

 

[Alex d]

Correct. You would want to use a separate tank. I purchased new equipment for mine on amazon, cheap stuff. Bought both of my QT tanks used from Craigslist, as I was just looking for functionality a scratch here or there was no big deal to me.

10 gallon tank is probably a great start for clownfish and smaller fish like gobies etc. Currently in the hobby fish disease is likely to occur in some fashion in newly purchased fish. It can be very frustrating.

Okay I’ll look into getting a 10 gallon, thank you

 

[Antics]

Hey Alex,

Welcome to R2R and it looks like your tank is coming along nicely. If you're going to be picking out fish from a local fish store you can probably talk with the staff to help get an idea of clowns they may have that have been together without aggression issues. If you're going to be buying them from a big box I'd suggest trying to buy them from a communal tank as opposed to grabbing two that are stand alone. Depending on species and size you could have issues.

I definitely recommend looking into quarantine! It's a lot of information to digest starting out in the hobby but it will certainly be beneficial over the long run.

 

[Alex d]

Hey Alex,

Welcome to R2R and it looks like your tank is coming along nicely. If you're going to be picking out fish from a local fish store you can probably talk with the staff to help get an idea of clowns they may have that have been together without aggression issues. If you're going to be buying them from a big box I'd suggest trying to buy them from a communal tank as opposed to grabbing two that are stand alone. Depending on species and size you could have issues.

I definitely recommend looking into quarantine! It's a lot of information to digest starting out in the hobby but it will certainly be beneficial over the long run.

Hey Antics,

Thanks for the advice, I will probably stop by a petco to pick up two clowns, but definetly before adding more fish to the aquarium I’ll be using a quarantine method.

 

[Jesterrace]

Hey Antics,

Thanks for the advice, I will probably stop by a petco to pick up two clowns, but definetly before adding more fish to the aquarium I’ll be using a quarantine method.

Whoa there bud, I strongly discourage buying fish from Petco as they tend to not take care of their fish very well and you are more likely to get fish with disease or kept in poor quality water. There are some Petcos that do a decent job, but as a whole they are abysmal and should be avoided at all costs for marine live stock. If you have a local fish store that would be best and if not you can order from sites like Liveaquaria.com which would do a decent job as well.

 

[HotRocks]

Whoa there bud, I strongly discourage buying fish from Petco as they tend to not take care of their fish very well and you are more likely to get fish with disease or kept in poor quality water. There are some Petcos that do a decent job, but as a whole they are abysmal and should be avoided at all costs for marine live stock. If you have a local fish store that would be best and if not you can order from sites like Liveaquaria.com which would do a decent job as well.

Live Aquaria is Petco.

I strongly encourage QT of your new fish period, no matter where you get them from. I have seen ich/velvet/brook/internal parasites/flukes or a combination of them in my last several orders from LA and other online retailers.

 

[Robink]

You can get a 10 gallon qt tank from petco for $10, they usually have a dollar a gallon sale going on. You just need a hang on back filter and a heater and some pvc pipe for the fish to hide in. I would set up the qt using dr tim's or biospira and leave it set up till you've added all the fish you want to put in the display.
Check out @Humblefish 's threads on qt.

 

[Alex d]

You can get a 10 gallon qt tank from petco for $10, they usually have a dollar a gallon sale going on. You just need a hang on back filter and a heater and some pvc pipe for the fish to hide in. I would set up the qt using dr tim's or biospira and leave it set up till you've added all the fish you want to put in the display.
Check out @Humblefish 's threads on qt.

Okay, so just a regular like penguin hob filter would work? I thought any tank I add fish to needs to be cycled first though. But if I just buy like the premixed water from petco, put a heater in it and a hob filter. Then I’m okay to just add the fish to it as quarantine? And how long should they be in quarantine for.

 

[Robink]

You can speed up the cycle with the dr. tim's or the biospira(pour it right on the sponge) and control ammonia with water changes till the bacteria population is big enough to eat up all ammonia and nitrite. You should also get one of those ammonia alert badges, indicates ammonia level at a glance.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/ Read through this thread, great info.

 

[Robink]

Also depending on the size of the qt tank will determine how many fish you can qt at one time. Best of luck with the fish! I love my clowns I got them from live aquaria.
Here's a pic of mine.

 

[Alex d]

Awesome thanks for the info

 

[Robink]

I generally qt fish between 6 weeks and 2 months. I treat them prophylactically with prazipro and some kind of copper depending on the fish. Read up on Humblefish's qt instructions. Works great.

 

[Alex d]

I generally qt fish between 6 weeks and 2 months. I treat them prophylactically with prazipro and some kind of copper depending on the fish. Read up on Humblefish's qt instructions. Works great.

So even if there aren’t any fish or other corals in the main tank yet, do the first fish added need to be quarantined?

 

[Robink]

So even if there aren’t any fish or other corals in the main tank yet, do the first fish added need to be quarantined?

Yes, because if they have something you don't want it in your display. For example if they have ick or velvet and you have to treat with copper it will be absorbed into your rocks and then you would not be able to keep corals or inverts. You would have to remove the fish to a qt anyway and let the tank go fallow (fishless) for 76 days to let the parasite die off. Just easier to do it right from the beginning.

 

[Alex d]

Yes, because if they have something you don't want it in your display. For example if they have ick or velvet and you have to treat with copper it will be absorbed into your rocks and then you would not be able to keep corals or inverts. You would have to remove the fish to a qt anyway and let the tank go fallow (fishless) for 76 days to let the parasite die off. Just easier to do it right from the beginning.

Oh wow thanks. Didn’t know that

 

[infinite0180]

So even if there aren’t any fish or other corals in the main tank yet, do the first fish added need to be quarantined?

You can risk it but if they have Ick or Velvet you will need to pull them out and treat with copper in a QT tank anyways. Then the main tank needs to sit empty for 76 days with no fish to let the parasites die off. Heres what i did. I cycled my main tank for 5-6 weeks. A week into the cycle i went to petco got a 5 gal tank, a hob filter, and i had an extra heater already. I grabbed a PVC pipe from home depot and i mixed fresh saltwater. I poured BioSpira onto the sponge for the filter then dumped some into the tank. I put a few drops of ammonia in for bacteria food. I also put a seachem alert badge and a cheap thermometer in the tank. 3 days later i tested ammonia and it was 0 so i went to the LFS and bought 2 of the tinest clownfish i have ever seen. I acclimated them and released into the QT tank. I added a capful of Biospira everyday for a week and checked ammonia everyday for the first few days then every other day till i was confident the tank was processing the ammonia. I fed the little guys frozen brine with a pipette for the first week being very care to only give them what they could eat as to not pollute the tank with rotting food. I did a few small water changes over the course of a month. I decided after a few weeks to treat with Prazipro. I added an airstone for this as well from walmart for a few bucks to increase oxygen. After a month there was no sign of Ick or Velvet so i felt confident that i could put them into my big tank. Even after all that i noticed stringy poop shortly after they went into the big tank so i had to feed medicated food for a week. They have been in the big tank a few months now doing great. One thing to note is you cant cross contaminate any equipment from QT tank to the main tank during the process. By the way i knew nothing about any of this before i did this, i learned it all in the sticky threads in the fish disease and treatment forum. Now i feel like a pro and could do it again no problem. Too be honest it was difficult managing 2 tanks at once even with one being being empty and cycling. It was great practice though and im confident my main tank is healthy! It was worth protecting my investment. I also had Seachem Prime on hand incase ammonia spiked i could buy muself some time to do a water change. I spent hours sitting infront of the fish just watching their behavior and reading up on signs of disease. I wanted to be able to spot Ick and treat with copper immediately if needed. I bought Copper Power and a API test kit just incase i needed cooper. All in all i got lucky, my fish were healthy and came from a clean LFS that has a good rep. Good luck!

Heres a video of the fish in QT day 1

IMG_0864

• infinite0180
• Jul 18, 2018

 

[Jesterrace]

Live Aquaria is Petco.

I strongly encourage QT of your new fish period, no matter where you get them from. I have seen ich/velvet/brook/internal parasites/flukes or a combination of them in my last several orders from LA and other online retailers.

Obviously QT'ing fish is best regardless of source, the issue with Petco is that the fish may not live long enough to be brought back to health. Many people have bought fish from them to have them die in QT, despite their best efforts to help the poor, sick fish.