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New nanotank with Banggai Cardinals & Clownfish - looking for advice for natural additions


Ian Cooper

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Hi folks,

 

Thanks to a school project, my daughter recently (a few weeks ago) got a pair of Ocellaris clownfish to take care of at school. They survived the school environment (including an attempt, by some teenaged psychopath, to kill them by emptying an entire bottle of liquid hand soap into the tank). Anyway, they are now safe (or relatively so, given our novice status) at our home in a 25 gallon tank, along with what looks like a torch coral (Aussie gold? I'm not sure - neither was the guy at the fish store), a Duncan coral, and (most recently) a pair of Banggai cardinals. All seem to be doing well.

 

But on to the point of the post. My daughter wants to find other fish and corals that are native to the area of the world that is the habitat for Banggai Cardinals and clownfish. Now I'm about as far from an expert as you can get, but I do know that the Banggai Cardinal is limited to the Banggai Islands of Indonesia. So what I'm looking for are some ideas for tank mates and corals that are found in that part of Indonesia, that will do well in a nano tank, that won't be easily killed by the fact that my daughter and I are new to saltwater aquariums.

 

On a side note, our torch coral seems perfectly friendly. It's about 4" in size, it doesn't seem to be sending out nocturnal killer polyps that I hear such creatures send out. Could it be something different? Its polyps are brown and have light greenish tips. Any help with identification and care tips would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

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13 minutes ago, Ian Cooper said:

Hi folks,

 

Thanks to a school project, my daughter recently (a few weeks ago) got a pair of Ocellaris clownfish to take care of at school. They survived the school environment (including an attempt, by some teenaged psychopath, to kill them by emptying an entire bottle of liquid hand soap into the tank). Anyway, they are now safe (or relatively so, given our novice status) at our home in a 25 gallon tank, along with what looks like a torch coral (Aussie gold? I'm not sure - neither was the guy at the fish store), a Duncan coral, and (most recently) a pair of Banggai cardinals. All seem to be doing well.

 

But on to the point of the post. My daughter wants to find other fish and corals that are native to the area of the world that is the habitat for Banggai Cardinals and clownfish. Now I'm about as far from an expert as you can get, but I do know that the Banggai Cardinal is limited to the Banggai Islands of Indonesia. So what I'm looking for are some ideas for tank mates and corals that are found in that part of Indonesia, that will do well in a nano tank, that won't be easily killed by the fact that my daughter and I are new to saltwater aquariums.

 

On a side note, our torch coral seems perfectly friendly. It's about 4" in size, it doesn't seem to be sending out nocturnal killer polyps that I hear such creatures send out. Could it be something different? Its polyps are brown and have light greenish tips. Any help with identification and care tips would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

I came across a thread that you might be interested in that seems to be what you're looking for.  The OP from that thread states: "What I want to do is set up a Banggai tank, that mimic's their natural habitat as much as possible in a home aquarium....A species specific tank..." and he did some research on that topic as well as got many responses from other hobbyists.

 

You can read through his findings here: https://www.michiganreefers.com/forums/reef-fish/85578-banggai-cardinal-species-specific-info.html

 

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Great! Thanks. I'll head on over there.

 

[edit] I went over there, but the tank he's setting up seems to be quite large, and he is clearly something of an expert, as the fish, corals and plants he mentions seem to be difficult to care for (or at least, that's what various sites said when I did a search).

 

Maybe I need to be less focused on getting a natural environment for these Indonesian fish?

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12 minutes ago, Ian Cooper said:

Great! Thanks. I'll head on over there.

If you're broadening your scope to the Indo-Pac region and not only the Banggai Islands, there's actually plenty of little fish to choose from. Especially various tiny gobies and blennies which are suitable for a 25G. 🙂 

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In a 25g you are close to being maxed out with 4 fish, a mall blenny or a goby would be ok to add.

 

 

Torches can sting other corals with their tentacles, it's not sweepers at night that's an issue. They need space from other corals.

 

 

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