Wow that’s unusual for a Peacock to be so sedentary. Hope you have better luck next time!Yes sir
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Wow that’s unusual for a Peacock to be so sedentary. Hope you have better luck next time!Yes sir
Good call on the skimmer, some models are a bit noisy and you don’t absolutely need one. You just need a way to keep nitrates low and skimmers are one way of doing that. Water changes, IMO, are a lot of work and don’t ultimately deal with the source of nitrates - dissolving left over food and waste. Neither does macroalgae but the benefit is that macro requires a lot less routine maintenance. I recommend only doing 10% water changes weekly otherwise it can really burn you out.
If you control nitrates well, you won’t need UV. It’s a nice emergency option but there are other ways to contain shell rot. One thing that’ll help is soaking freeze dried shrimp or krill in Selcon, a vitamin additive.
A filter bag is a small bag with a drawstring and you can put different filtering agents or media inside it and drop the bag into one of the baskets inside your canister filter. This ensures that tank water circulates through it. Activated carbon is great because it chemically purifies water. It will adsorb - chemically bond to - contaminants in the water which may come from the air in the room, from the salt mix you use, etc. It will help reduce odors too. I put about 3 tablespoons (~15 grams) of carbon in the bag each time.
You’ll do fine in this hobby as long as you’re willing to learn. I’ve kept mantis shrimp on and off since 2012 and every new tank teaches me another lesson.
My current tank is one of my most successful and it’s because I didn’t overthink things. I kept it simple, understanding the chemistry problems and just being a bit more relaxed with everything. My Peacock got shell rot initially because of high nitrates but I just treated with Selcon and he molted the diseased shell off and hasn’t had a problem since.
I’m not unfortunately - I’m at least 60 miles from the coast and with the price of petrol in the U.K. at the moment I practically need a second mortgage of my house to fill my car up
I’ve ordered an RO unit though so I’ll make my own. Still need to pay for salt of course, but at least I won’t be hauling water from a local fish store every week.
I wouldn't worry about the fish at first. I have clowns staging before they go into my display tank and the Mantis could care less. He's surrounded by live emeralds, hermits and snails. Even those have been safe. He prefers the easy food (most predators do) I hand down to him with tongs (krill, clams on half shell, silversides). He's fun to feed. I'm sure if I neglected feeding him for a few days and he blazed through his free-range food, he might expel the energy to chase down a fish and try and catch it. Maybe. Also, for whatever it's worth, my peacock prefers his tube to the caves in his tank. He stands guard of that tube just poking his eyes and antenna out all day. Its pretty freaking adorable to be honest. Fun creature to take care of.Just a quick update in case anyone is interested. I have my tank set up and all the equipment installed now. I've aquascaped the tank with Caribsea Life Rock, and installed a mantis shrimp cave made of black uPVC pipe with three entrances. Got all the sand in there now (this photo was when only about half the sand was in). Aiming to get the water in this evening - I've got all the RO water I need made up already.
I think I'm actually going to put a fish in there before the mantis shrimp - recognising of course that it may end up as dinner for the mantis, but as this is my first ever tank I'd rather take my first risks on water quality etc. with a cheap and hardy fish. Can't wait for the mantis to arrive!
Ah that's good I'll be sure to keep the mantis well fed and hopefully he'll be willing to share his home with a few fish. I definitely won't go crazy with the fish until I know how well behaved my mantis shrimp is, but it'd be awesome if he'll let me have a bit of a clean up crew in there with him too - I know other people have managed that.I wouldn't worry about the fish at first. I have clowns staging before they go into my display tank and the Mantis could care less. He's surrounded by live emeralds, hermits and snails. Even those have been safe. He prefers the easy food (most predators do) I hand down to him with tongs (krill, clams on half shell, silversides). He's fun to feed. I'm sure if I neglected feeding him for a few days and he blazed through his free-range food, he might expel the energy to chase down a fish and try and catch it. Maybe. Also, for whatever it's worth, my peacock prefers his tube to the caves in his tank. He stands guard of that tube just poking his eyes and antenna out all day. Its pretty freaking adorable to be honest. Fun creature to take care of.
Very nice looking so far!Just a quick update in case anyone is interested. I have my tank set up and all the equipment installed now. I've aquascaped the tank with Caribsea Life Rock, and installed a mantis shrimp cave made of black uPVC pipe with three entrances. Got all the sand in there now (this photo was when only about half the sand was in). Aiming to get the water in this evening - I've got all the RO water I need made up already.
I think I'm actually going to put a fish in there before the mantis shrimp - recognising of course that it may end up as dinner for the mantis, but as this is my first ever tank I'd rather take my first risks on water quality etc. with a cheap and hardy fish. Can't wait for the mantis to arrive!