New fish!!

kasik64 · Feb 5, 2017

Today was an awesome day!! I finally got the green light to add fish. I added a fire fish and a cuc crab. Super excited to get my tank up and rolling! Just finished acclimating them, and released them into the tank. Super fun and exciting moment for me!

What was your first crew/fish you added?

Mini Coop · Feb 5, 2017

Awesome! I had 2 purple fire fish! Loved them! My first crew was a handful of hermit crabs, snails and 2 clowns. It's exciting, but take your time! Are you set up to QT new fish?

kasik64 · Feb 5, 2017

My LFS guy said I could do clowns today too as I want a pair, but I am going slow. I don't want to rush anything! And I am not quite that far yet, any tips on how to do it?

Mini Coop · Feb 5, 2017

kasik64 said:
My LFS guy said I could do clowns today too as I want a pair, but I am going slow. I don't want to rush anything! And I am not quite that far yet, any tips on how to do it?

I am not an expert yet - but have learned a TON the hard way. I like to try to help others not make the same mistakes I did. I HIGHLY recommend QT for any future fish. I ended up with ich in my tank, and had to run 3 months with no fish and lost a lot of fish too. It was terrible. I am not perfect at saving resources yet, so I will tag @Humblefish and @melypr1985 for a quick reference to setting up QT.

Basically, you need to set up a 10 to 20 gallon tank. I run mine with a sponge in the HOB filter, not carbon so that it doesn't affect any medications. I have a heater, power head, hob filter. Also recommended to have an air stone if possible. No live rock. I have PVC pipes for hiding places for the fish. Any new fish you want to treat with 2 rounds of prazipro (one week apart) to treat for flukes and worms. Then keep in QT for observation for an additional 2-4 weeks. As long as they don't show any signs of disease and are earring well, you can then put into DT. Also REALLY need an ammonia badge for QT plus check Nitrites every day. I usually do a 20% water change every 2-3 days in QT because that tank never fully cycles. Hopefully the others can just double check me on what I have told you!

Congrats, and way to go with going slow!!

tutmatt3 · Feb 5, 2017

I second Jena's comment. I was soooo excited & tossed in a pair of clowns in my DT a few weeks ago (before I learned about QT)
One night there was a temp increase (due to human error), increasing form 76 to 84 over night, and saw 1 little white spot on one clown, and he was acting up.

Since I discovered QT by that point, and had a blue hippo in there, I pulled the clowns and now QT'ing all for ich, and running fallow JUST to be safe. Ya it's a long 11 weeks, with less than 2 months to go now - but the paranoia and peace of mind is totally worth it.

If I were to have started up again, I would have invested in QT & DT at the same time, so I could QT my fish while my main tank was cycling - just to cut down on transition time.
At least my DT has some mushrooms I can look at during these weeks =)

Humblefish · Feb 5, 2017

How to Quarantine

kasik64 · Feb 5, 2017

Thanks guys! Will check out the link!

kasik64 · Feb 6, 2017

Also, a question for you two, how often should I feed my fish? Right now I only have the firefish and crab...

ThunderGoose · Feb 6, 2017

tutmatt3 said:
I second Jena's comment. I was soooo excited & tossed in a pair of clowns in my DT a few weeks ago (before I learned about QT)
One night there was a temp increase (due to human error), increasing form 76 to 84 over night, and saw 1 little white spot on one clown, and he was acting up.

Since I discovered QT by that point, and had a blue hippo in there, I pulled the clowns and now QT'ing all for ich, and running fallow JUST to be safe. Ya it's a long 11 weeks, with less than 2 months to go now - but the paranoia and peace of mind is totally worth it.

If I were to have started up again, I would have invested in QT & DT at the same time, so I could QT my fish while my main tank was cycling - just to cut down on transition time.
At least my DT has some mushrooms I can look at during these weeks =)

THIS is why Reef2Reef is so great. I did exactly this - started my QT and DT at about the same time and was able to add my first fish on Saturday. They're happy (pair of clowns), I'm happy, hoping to start the next fish in QT next weekend.

Humblefish · Feb 6, 2017

kasik64 said:
Also, a question for you two, how often should I feed my fish? Right now I only have the firefish and crab...

Once per day.

tutmatt3 · Feb 6, 2017

Humblefish said:
Once per day.

And I'm sure you've also heard, but if not - in general it's good to feed them what they can eat during a 3-5 min sitting.

Helps prevent extras going to waste & turning into ammonia

Mini Coop · Feb 6, 2017

Yep! Sorry I didn't get to you sooner! For now once a day is great! Give them a couple minutes to eat it all and thats the magic amount! What are you feeding?