Clowning around in a 5.5

[Chriss Fishes]

Hey guys!

 

This isn't my first reef, or my first pico, but it's my first one in a while. Definitely my first one since I've had a job and lived on my own, so the experience should be a little different with adding to it and such.

 

My goal with this tank is basically to "finish" it. I have a bad tendency to start a tank, start stocking it, and quickly get distracted by the next new tank. I don't want to do that here - I want to take this slow, but I do want to fill this little tank up.

 

Equipment:

5.5 Gallon Tank

Koralia Nano 240

Tetra Preset 50W Heater

Fluval Wing LED Fixture (soon to be upgraded)

 

Livestock:

2 Yellow Clown Gobies

5 Assorted Hermits

Florida Ricordea

Target Eye Zoas

 

The tank has been set up for about a month now, but the rock was cured for about 3 months in a 5 gallon bucket, so the tank kinda skipped through part of the uglies. Still getting some diatoms, but nothing like I've gotten with previous tanks. Maintenance consists of weekly 2-3 gallon water changes. I feed the tank every second day, and feed reef-roids the day before I do the water change.

 

Things seem relatively happy as of now, but I want to replace the current lighting with something better. I ordered an ABI PAR 38, and it should be arriving tomorrow. Hopefully that'll help with the coral!

 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Congrats on the new pico reef setup @HarrisonAquatics! Those diatoms should fizzle out soon. How have the two yellow clown gobies been getting along?

[Chriss Fishes]

11 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Congrats on the new pico reef setup @HarrisonAquatics! Those diatoms should fizzle out soon. How have the two yellow clown gobies been getting along?

Pretty well! I got the two knowing that they pair in a similar way that clownfish do - although I believe in yellow clown gobies it's the male who's dominant instead of the female. The bigger guy occasionally chases around the smaller one, but for the most part, they leave eachother alone. I do see them hanging out together (usually perched on the glass) every now and then, but there's surprisingly little information around on the pairing behavior with these guys. I'm just going with the flow!

 

I also have several other tanks I can throw together to rescue one of them in they get too aggressive. My main worry was getting them to eat, as I've heard they tend to starve out pretty quickly. They're skinny, but they go crazy for mysis every time I add it. Hoping to put some weight on them!

 

New light came in today too, but it's SO BLUE! I can't get my phone to take pictures of it. Even after editing them on Snapseed, they still look blue.

[Chriss Fishes]

I went ahead and took out the smaller clown goby - he was just sitting in a corner 24/7, and I felt bad. Maybe pairing would be easier in a larger tank, but stuffing both of them into a tank that small just wasn't working. They weren't fighting, really - just the bigger guy kept the other one pinned to the corner.

 

He'll be going into my 37 gallon FOWLR tank. I think he'll do much, much better in there, and I think the goby in the 5.5 will be a little bit more active and use more of the tank instead of just sitting on the glass all the time.

 

Still trying to figure out a way to take pics - this tank looks terrible on a camera. Corals look happy, though!