Will adding 2 clowns and a cleanup crew overwhelm my new tank?

[msavoy]

My tank has finished cycling and I’m going to purchase a couple of clowns today. I was thinking about maybe picking up a few snails and hermits at the same time. Would you recommend I get this cleanup crew at the same time or might that be going a bit fast? I don’t want to overwhelm the tank since I know we’re supposed to introduce things slowly.

 

[jgirardnrg]

My tank has finished cycling and I’m going to purchase a couple of clowns today. I was thinking about maybe picking up a few snails and hermits at the same time. Would you recommend I get this cleanup crew at the same time or might that be going a bit fast? I don’t want to overwhelm the tank since I know we’re supposed to introduce things slowly.

I added 2 clowns and a royal gramma after my cycle. I waited a couple weeks and started adding the clean up crew as needed. You need something for the cleanup crew to clean up.

 

[msavoy]

I added 2 clowns and a royal gramma after my cycle. I waited a couple weeks and started adding the clean up crew as needed. You need something for the cleanup crew to clean up.

ok good to know, that’s what I thought. It’s weird though because my LFS recommends first I get a cleanup crew and then a few weeks later start adding fish. I thought this seemed backwards.

 

[jgirardnrg]

Your mileage may vary but I added the 3 fish first. The clean up crew eat algae, detritus, uneaten food etc... if you put them in first I guess you'd have to feed them something. Do you have any algae anywhere yet?

 

[msavoy]

Your mileage may vary but I added the 3 fish first. The clean up crew eat algae, detritus, uneaten food etc... if you put them in first I guess you'd have to feed them something. Do you have any algae anywhere yet?

No real algae that I can see yet. Maybe I’ll wait a couple of weeks for the cleanup crew then. I want them to have food.

 

[SMSREEF]

ok good to know, that’s what I thought. It’s weird though because my LFS recommends first I get a cleanup crew and then a few weeks later start adding fish. I thought this seemed backwards.

I don’t see why you couldn’t add your clowns, a couple snails and a couple hermits together.
Hermits are gonna eat the food your clowns don’t.
Snails are gonna eat the algae.

Did you cycle with the lights on? There is no algae a on the glass yet?

 

[msavoy]

I don’t see why you couldn’t add your clowns, a couple snails and a couple hermits together.
Hermits are gonna eat the food your clowns don’t.
Snails are gonna eat the algae.

Did you cycle with the lights on? There is no algae a on the glass yet?

I don’t see any algae yet. I did half the cycle with the lights off because I was waiting for my light to arrive in the mail. So the light has been on for about 2 weeks now. That’s true, a couple of each couldn’t hurt if they eat the food the clowns don’t. Do you recommend feeding the clowns flake food or frozen food? I was reading mysis shrimp are healthy for them and was thinking about feeding them that.

 

[jgirardnrg]

Out of the two I'd go with the frozen brine with spirulina. My fish get that, white worms, frozen clams, live brine shrimp and every other day I throw some New Life Spectrum sinking pellets in there.

 

[SMSREEF]

I feed mine LRS Fish Frenzy, frozen mysis and TDO chromaboost pellets. Live Blackworms when I can get them too.

One reason you may want to add CUC before fish is to make sure your tank is really cycled. And give it a couple more weeks to build up even more bacteria.

Hermits are gonna make it through an ammonia spike. Snails won’t, but a couple snails that die are better than 2 clowns.

But if you cycled by bringing ammonia up to 2ppm and it is now coming down to 0 within 24 hours. You are ready for fish.

 

[msavoy]

Out of the two I'd go with the frozen brine with spirulina. My fish get that, white worms, frozen clams, live brine shrimp and every other day I throw some New Life Spectrum sinking pellets in there.

Ok thank you, I’ll pick up some frozen brine and spirulina with my fish.

 

[jgirardnrg]

Another good sign, and how I knew when my cycle completed, is watching for random bubbles coming out of the rock and sand. The day I started seeing the (nitrogen I'm guessing?) bubbles was the day nitrates started showing up. After I saw those I did one more dose of ammonia just to be sure and I was good to go.

 

[Acros]

Off topic question: How do you make sure the 2 clowns will not fight with each other? Do they have to be a bonded pair?

 

[jgirardnrg]

Off topic question: How do you make sure the 2 clowns will not fight with each other? Do they have to be a bonded pair?

Mine were already a pair and the only 2 clown in the tank at the LFS when I bought them.

 

[msavoy]

Off topic question: How do you make sure the 2 clowns will not fight with each other? Do they have to be a bonded pair?

I was also reading if you introduce them both at the same time you shouldn’t have any problems. It’s when you introduce them at different times.

 

[Nathan Milender]

Off topic question: How do you make sure the 2 clowns will not fight with each other? Do they have to be a bonded pair?

They always fight a bit until they figure out their business.