5 gallon pico reef +some

[Starfishie99]

It’s about time...

 

Ive grown up with animals, specifically cats, dogs anddddd FISH! My family started with the obvious goldfish from a carnival. Suddenly that turned into a 20 gallon freshwater tank. It’s had mollies, sharks, tetras, who knows what else (honestly i never loveeeed it because freshwater fish are a little bland). Anyway because I live on the coast, i have an extreme love for the ocean so i decided it’s time to up my freshwater tank and get a reef tank. Now i’ll be real, i’m using all my dads money so i tried doing everything at a low cost. I’ve had this reef tank for many 2 months now and short as that may sound, ive learned a lot. and yes saltwater tanks are way harder than freshwater. i never had anyyyy problems with my freshies. anyway i’ll get into what i purchased on my first trip to the tropical store.

 

First trip/ necessities 

i first purchased a 5 gallon tank. long rather than square. it surprisingly hold way more than i would have expected. i always read or hear about how 5 gallons shouldn’t hold many creatures but mine seem to love it.

 

i got 6 pieces of live rock (something i didn’t know beforehand was dip it in revive, ill get into it below)

when choosing these make sure to get multi sized ones and it’s better to have small but more than one big one unless that’s the style you’re going for. these help start up the process of setting up your tank. yeah i don’t know how to explain it but it like gets bacteria and lil microbes around in the water making it homier does your fish. 

 

get some sand. when i bought mine i think it was called “live sand”? they suggested white but looking at my tank now, i think black would look really cool. 

 

at your local shop you should be able to find saltwater by the gallons. this is easier than buying a mix.

once you set up the tank, sand, rock and water, you’ll want to let the filter run for a week. i was hesitant about this part because I WANT MY FISH NOW buttt in the long run it’s better for your fishies n invertebrates sooo it’s a must. 

to go along with the sand and live rock, i would suggest just adding little things, i went to the beach and got some shells, rocks, etc. if you live in the middle of nowhere then i’m sure a local fish store sells hermit crab shells which can be used for decor. or even the dollar store.

 

thats everything you need for the first trip to za store.

 

finally the fishies

when buying my first first set of creatures I bought a pajama cardinal and a purple linckia starfish. i was hoping the starfish would work as good enough of a cleanup crew but it wasn’t and unfortunately died. i was devastated. The sole reason i bought a tank was a for a star but hey, lesson learned and next time i will take the best care of my star. 

 

Clean up crew 🤤

from my mistake, i suggest getting a solid clean up crew to being with. i got a monster trochus snail. he’s an absolute unit and my 4 tegula snails like to ride on him sometimes. it’s hilarious to watch him flick them off. these 5 bad boys get the job done! to tie up my cleanup crew, we have 2 red legged hermit crabs. they’re the fiery red ones not the scarlett ones. adorable to watch them pick up singular pieces of sand and clean them off. 

 

lets add a lil more 

so here’s the list so far

*rip starfish*

one pj cardinal

5 snails
2 crabs

 

pretty plain as you can read soo i got another pj cardinal. why? i don’t know. honestly they don’t do much. oh also i think my shop only has female because all their dorsal fins are short. which sucks because i want babies. to add to those mellow girls, i got a pretty clown fish. he’s cute n like to nibble my finger when i’m being calm. he also. LOVES food so i have to be sure that the cardinals get their fair share. it’s pretty easy to selectively feed them. 

 

many people see food loving fish as aggressive and that’s why you can’t put certain fish with certain fish but really if you give them extra love, it’ll work out ( what a cliche)

 

to add some flare to my tank, i got 2 soft corals and one hard coral

corals are expensive so i’m hoping these $10-20 frags grow quickly. 

 

today I got a purple dottyback, he loves hiding under rocks and kind of plays hide n seem with me.

 

 

FOOD

all i can say is, frozen shrimp. you can find it at the shop. so much better than flakes. my parents have almost eaten it on multiple occasions because it’s just thAt real.

 

I forgot to talk about ReVive and it’s importance 

so my starfish has a chunk missing and i’m like welp this guys done for, but i look at ways to heal sick starfish anyway. i go on youtube and i see this starfish that looks just like mine! fleshy muscusy stuff coming out of it. in the video literally all they said was “this is a sick starfish! dip it in revive” 

i go crazy looking for revive but turns out it’s a coral dip? it did help my starfish but i think it was past saving. now the reason i think it’s important is because no one told me i should be dipping my live rock and coral in this stuff. there was so much weird algae bacteria stuff that first got in my tank and these are called HITCHHIKERS! revive gets rid of them.

 

 

now i can talk about my freshy boyssss

i love marine tanks but freshwater tanks are beautiful, the leafy green is just like fairyland to me. So in my family’s 20 gallon tank, there are mollies which had babies, 15 of them! the males will eat the babies so i transferred them to their own special tank.

heres how i set it up!

i got a 3 gallon acrylic tank from petco with a filter and so many colors of lights. for a week or so they were in a plastic fish bowl with an airpump so this was quite the upgrade. i wasn’t a fan of acrylic because glass just seems better but i actually love it??!

its a pentagon so i can see through everywhere and it’s nice because with glass there would be a reflection but on the acrylic i can see all the way through it to my other tank. i think my fish can see each other too because i catch them staring at each other. acrylic is also easier to wipe down than glass, leaves no streaks or anything

 

the best part about fresh tanks... the plants!

i have no idea the types of plants i have but i have a moss globe, some patches of rica moss, floating water lettuce, and a long potted plant. 

my guppies love it in here and they love being pet and played with. that’s my favorite thing about mollies, they love attention. rare for a fish.

because there are plants and light there is bound to be algae so i got two snail, one tiny horned black and red one and one giant gold one. i don’t know the names. with fresh tanks, i care more about the plants than creatures 🤭

 

i love how i have a salty tank and a leafy tank, now i want another tank (i want like a room full of tanks) with half water half earth, i think it’s called a palendram  

 

ANYWAYYSSSSS i just love my creature and this website because it’s helped me sooo much so feel free to comment or suggest creatures or decor for me and my existing or soon to be existing tanks. 

 

i tried uploading my sick videos of my moving invertebrates and such but they’re too big so 🤕😓

[Starfishie99]

thought of a cute idea >.< all my 3 corals are next to each other so i’m making a lil sign that says “coral farm” i’m sure i’m not the first one but it’s an original thought so that’s that

[Starfishie99]

adorable fresh water babies

[Starfishie99]

freshie tank!

[Starfishie99]

made this little playground and luna the purple dottyback seems to think it’s her territory

[Starfishie99]

17 hours ago, Starfishie99 said:

It’s about time...

 

Ive grown up with animals, specifically cats, dogs anddddd FISH! My family started with the obvious goldfish from a carnival. Suddenly that turned into a 20 gallon freshwater tank. It’s had mollies, sharks, tetras, who knows what else (honestly i never loveeeed it because freshwater fish are a little bland). Anyway because I live on the coast, i have an extreme love for the ocean so i decided it’s time to up my freshwater tank and get a reef tank. Now i’ll be real, i’m using all my dads money so i tried doing everything at a low cost. I’ve had this reef tank for many 2 months now and short as that may sound, ive learned a lot. and yes saltwater tanks are way harder than freshwater. i never had anyyyy problems with my freshies. anyway i’ll get into what i purchased on my first trip to the tropical store.

 

First trip/ necessities 

i first purchased a 5 gallon tank. long rather than square. it surprisingly hold way more than i would have expected. i always read or hear about how 5 gallons shouldn’t hold many creatures but mine seem to love it.

 

i got 6 pieces of live rock (something i didn’t know beforehand was dip it in revive, ill get into it below)

when choosing these make sure to get multi sized ones and it’s better to have small but more than one big one unless that’s the style you’re going for. these help start up the process of setting up your tank. yeah i don’t know how to explain it but it like gets bacteria and lil microbes around in the water making it homier does your fish. 

 

get some sand. when i bought mine i think it was called “live sand”? they suggested white but looking at my tank now, i think black would look really cool. 

 

at your local shop you should be able to find saltwater by the gallons. this is easier than buying a mix.

once you set up the tank, sand, rock and water, you’ll want to let the filter run for a week. i was hesitant about this part because I WANT MY FISH NOW buttt in the long run it’s better for your fishies n invertebrates sooo it’s a must. 

to go along with the sand and live rock, i would suggest just adding little things, i went to the beach and got some shells, rocks, etc. if you live in the middle of nowhere then i’m sure a local fish store sells hermit crab shells which can be used for decor. or even the dollar store.

 

thats everything you need for the first trip to za store.

 

finally the fishies

when buying my first first set of creatures I bought a pajama cardinal and a purple linckia starfish. i was hoping the starfish would work as good enough of a cleanup crew but it wasn’t and unfortunately died. i was devastated. The sole reason i bought a tank was a for a star but hey, lesson learned and next time i will take the best care of my star. 

 

Clean up crew 🤤

from my mistake, i suggest getting a solid clean up crew to being with. i got a monster trochus snail. he’s an absolute unit and my 4 tegula snails like to ride on him sometimes. it’s hilarious to watch him flick them off. these 5 bad boys get the job done! to tie up my cleanup crew, we have 2 red legged hermit crabs. they’re the fiery red ones not the scarlett ones. adorable to watch them pick up singular pieces of sand and clean them off. 

 

lets add a lil more 

so here’s the list so far

*rip starfish*

one pj cardinal

5 snails
2 crabs

 

pretty plain as you can read soo i got another pj cardinal. why? i don’t know. honestly they don’t do much. oh also i think my shop only has female because all their dorsal fins are short. which sucks because i want babies. to add to those mellow girls, i got a pretty clown fish. he’s cute n like to nibble my finger when i’m being calm. he also. LOVES food so i have to be sure that the cardinals get their fair share. it’s pretty easy to selectively feed them. 

 

many people see food loving fish as aggressive and that’s why you can’t put certain fish with certain fish but really if you give them extra love, it’ll work out ( what a cliche)

 

to add some flare to my tank, i got 2 soft corals and one hard coral

corals are expensive so i’m hoping these $10-20 frags grow quickly. 

 

today I got a purple dottyback, he loves hiding under rocks and kind of plays hide n seem with me.

 

 

FOOD

all i can say is, frozen shrimp. you can find it at the shop. so much better than flakes. my parents have almost eaten it on multiple occasions because it’s just thAt real.

 

I forgot to talk about ReVive and it’s importance 

so my starfish has a chunk missing and i’m like welp this guys done for, but i look at ways to heal sick starfish anyway. i go on youtube and i see this starfish that looks just like mine! fleshy muscusy stuff coming out of it. in the video literally all they said was “this is a sick starfish! dip it in revive” 

i go crazy looking for revive but turns out it’s a coral dip? it did help my starfish but i think it was past saving. now the reason i think it’s important is because no one told me i should be dipping my live rock and coral in this stuff. there was so much weird algae bacteria stuff that first got in my tank and these are called HITCHHIKERS! revive gets rid of them.

 

 

now i can talk about my freshy boyssss

i love marine tanks but freshwater tanks are beautiful, the leafy green is just like fairyland to me. So in my family’s 20 gallon tank, there are mollies which had babies, 15 of them! the males will eat the babies so i transferred them to their own special tank.

heres how i set it up!

i got a 3 gallon acrylic tank from petco with a filter and so many colors of lights. for a week or so they were in a plastic fish bowl with an airpump so this was quite the upgrade. i wasn’t a fan of acrylic because glass just seems better but i actually love it??!

its a pentagon so i can see through everywhere and it’s nice because with glass there would be a reflection but on the acrylic i can see all the way through it to my other tank. i think my fish can see each other too because i catch them staring at each other. acrylic is also easier to wipe down than glass, leaves no streaks or anything

 

the best part about fresh tanks... the plants!

i have no idea the types of plants i have but i have a moss globe, some patches of rica moss, floating water lettuce, and a long potted plant. 

my guppies love it in here and they love being pet and played with. that’s my favorite thing about mollies, they love attention. rare for a fish.

because there are plants and light there is bound to be algae so i got two snail, one tiny horned black and red one and one giant gold one. i don’t know the names. with fresh tanks, i care more about the plants than creatures 🤭

 

i love how i have a salty tank and a leafy tank, now i want another tank (i want like a room full of tanks) with half water half earth, i think it’s called a palendram  

 

ANYWAYYSSSSS i just love my creature and this website because it’s helped me sooo much so feel free to comment or suggest creatures or decor for me and my existing or soon to be existing tanks. 

 

i tried uploading my sick videos of my moving invertebrates and such but they’re too big so 🤕😓

here’s a full view, i added some black felt in the back so everything is more clear

 

and ofc the coral farm, such an ugly sign but i’ll upgrade it soon

[Poison Dart Frog]

Very nice. I like what you've done so far. The sign is a nice touch, the creativity is cool. 

[olive]

this tank seems like it is set up for disaster, so here are some tips:

On 5/31/2020 at 12:14 AM, Starfishie99 said:

once you set up the tank, sand, rock and water, you’ll want to let the filter run for a week

did you really cycle your tank? running your filter for a week does nothing. for the cycle to start you have to add an ammonia and build up a bacteria population to remove it and nitrites, leaving nitrates behind. what are you exact parameters?

On 5/31/2020 at 12:14 AM, Starfishie99 said:

The sole reason i bought a tank was a for a star but hey, lesson learned and next time i will take the best care of my star

starfish are not know to survive in captivity, even the largest of tanks (200+ gallons). for your tank size, only a micro brittle star would work.

On 5/31/2020 at 12:14 AM, Starfishie99 said:

finally the fishies

oh man, this stocking is completely inappropriate. pajama cardinals need at least 20 gallons, especially for a pair. the dottyback is aggressive and needs at least 30 gallons. finally, the clown looks like it could be a maroon clownfish. these guys get super aggressive and get 6+ inches long. they need 30+ gallons depending on their tank mates. I would recommend returning these fish to the store and getting something like a clown goby, neon goby, or any other tiny goby. keep it to one fish. 

 

this hobby is a lot of fun, but it has a pretty big learning curve. if you come from keeping freshwater, it is easy to overstock a saltwater tank. you need to keep in mind that a lot of these fish are caught in the wild. freshwater fish are captive bred, used to aquarium life.  I want you to love this hobby like I do, but you have to take proper care of your animals otherwise it will be no fun. 

[Tired]

Oh boy. Yeah, that's a maroon clown. Those get the size of your hand. 

 

This stocking wouldn't be appropriate in freshwater, either. They may be babies now, but 3 fish that'll reach 3" and one that'll reach 5" wouldn't go in a 5gal tank even if it was freshwater.

 

Clownfish are considered aggressive because they're territorial. It's nothing to do with how much food they want.

 

Look into eviota and trimma gobies. They're tiny and adorable, and suitable for your tank. Clown gobies are another option. Pick one. MAYBE two.

 

Your mollies need a bigger tank than 3 gallons, also. 

[Starfishie99]

14 hours ago, olive said:

this tank seems like it is set up for disaster, so here are some tips:

did you really cycle your tank? running your filter for a week does nothing. for the cycle to start you have to add an ammonia and build up a bacteria population to remove it and nitrites, leaving nitrates behind. what are you exact parameters?

starfish are not know to survive in captivity, even the largest of tanks (200+ gallons). for your tank size, only a micro brittle star would work.

oh man, this stocking is completely inappropriate. pajama cardinals need at least 20 gallons, especially for a pair. the dottyback is aggressive and needs at least 30 gallons. finally, the clown looks like it could be a maroon clownfish. these guys get super aggressive and get 6+ inches long. they need 30+ gallons depending on their tank mates. I would recommend returning these fish to the store and getting something like a clown goby, neon goby, or any other tiny goby. keep it to one fish. 

 

this hobby is a lot of fun, but it has a pretty big learning curve. if you come from keeping freshwater, it is easy to overstock a saltwater tank. you need to keep in mind that a lot of these fish are caught in the wild. freshwater fish are captive bred, used to aquarium life.  I want you to love this hobby like I do, but you have to take proper care of your animals otherwise it will be no fun. 

yeah i new coming into it that a starfish might not work but i have it a go. i ammonia n bacteria, i do a bi weekly water change.

the clownfish is surprisingly tame. like crazy tane. almost antisocial aha but not when it comes to food

the dottyback on the other hand, ive noticed some aggression but not really, mainly hides in rocks

so honestly i’m pretty comfortable with those two in there together

as for the cardinals, having one was just fine but since i’ve added another, their tails have been getting nipped at

ive been watching the tank and i assumed it would be the clown or dottyback biting the cardinals but it’s them two biting each other, i’ll probably have to remove one.

 

it might seem like a disaster aha but i’d rather that then get a bunch of clowns or gobies

[Tired]

You need to take all of those fish out. They are going to grow, and it is going to make your problems worse. You have way more fish than can stay in a tank that size. 

 

If you want anything other than pico gobies, you need a bigger tank. Your 10-gallon can hold one, maybe two of the fish you've listed, your 5gal can hold none. This is not up for debate. Look around on the forums- the only fish kept long-term in 5gals are tiny gobies and blennies. Sometimes damselfish, though I disagree with this. If you see clownfish, dottybacks, or cardinalfish in a pico tank, it's because that's a baby being temporarily housed there. 

 

Let me repeat: your clownfish is going to get 5 inches long. You cannot keep a 5-inch fish in a 5-gallon tank. You cannot keep several 3-inch fish in a 5-gallon tank. The only reason your tank is remotely working is because they're all babies. Take them out, now, before they get too big and crash your tank or they maul each other. 

 

It doesn't matter how "tame" the clownfish is. It's a baby. As it gets older, it's going to get more aggressive. In a tank that size, it will eventually beat the others to death, if the overstocking doesn't kill it first. The dottyback will also get more and more aggressive, and the cardinalfish are going to get the worst of it, but will continue to bully each other. If you leave those fish in there, they are going to kill each other off, or die all at once if the tank crashes from overstocking. 

 

You're on a forum where people share advice about aquarium care. You should listen to the advice. 

 

Who told you this is an appropriate stocking for your tank? 

[Starfishie99]

4 minutes ago, Tired said:

You need to take all of those fish out. They are going to grow, and it is going to make your problems worse. You have way more fish than can stay in a tank that size. 

 

If you want anything other than pico gobies, you need a bigger tank. Your 10-gallon can hold one, maybe two of the fish you've listed, your 5gal can hold none. This is not up for debate. Look around on the forums- the only fish kept long-term in 5gals are tiny gobies and blennies. Sometimes damselfish, though I disagree with this. If you see clownfish, dottybacks, or cardinalfish in a pico tank, it's because that's a baby being temporarily housed there. 

 

Let me repeat: your clownfish is going to get 5 inches long. You cannot keep a 5-inch fish in a 5-gallon tank. You cannot keep several 3-inch fish in a 5-gallon tank. The only reason your tank is remotely working is because they're all babies. Take them out, now, before they get too big and crash your tank or they maul each other. 

 

It doesn't matter how "tame" the clownfish is. It's a baby. As it gets older, it's going to get more aggressive. In a tank that size, it will eventually beat the others to death, if the overstocking doesn't kill it first. The dottyback will also get more and more aggressive, and the cardinalfish are going to get the worst of it, but will continue to bully each other. If you leave those fish in there, they are going to kill each other off, or die all at once if the tank crashes from overstocking. 

 

You're on a forum where people share advice about aquarium care. You should listen to the advice. 

 

Who told you this is an appropriate stocking for your tank? 

you don’t have to be so aggressive you’re like my dottyfish damn,, i get the point though, ill transfer them over to my larger tank

[Tired]

They're going to need a bigger tank than that. For the fish you've described, you need at least a 40 gallon, and the maroon clown may still be a problem. Here- this is how big maroon clownfish get. Female maroons get huge, and a clown kept on its own will become female. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1zH7ncf9L4

 

I don't mean to sound rude, but this is very important. Those fish will die if you keep them in that tank for too long. It's a really nice-looking tank, and I love your "coral farm" sign, it's really cute. But it makes me very worried when someone is told by multiple people that their care is going to harm and kill their animals, and says anything other than "oh, I didn't know that, I'll change it". 

 

Seriously, did a LFS tell you these were good fish for that tank? Don't take any advice from them, if so. 

[Starfishie99]

2 minutes ago, Tired said:

They're going to need a bigger tank than that. For the fish you've described, you need at least a 40 gallon, and the maroon clown may still be a problem. Here- this is how big maroon clownfish get. Female maroons get huge, and a clown kept on its own will become female. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1zH7ncf9L4

 

I don't mean to sound rude, but this is very important. Those fish will die if you keep them in that tank for too long. It's a really nice-looking tank, and I love your "coral farm" sign, it's really cute. But it makes me very worried when someone is told by multiple people that their care is going to harm and kill their animals, and says anything other than "oh, I didn't know that, I'll change it". 

 

Seriously, did a LFS tell you these were good fish for that tank? Don't take any advice from them, if so. 

what’s an lfs, seeing as i don’t know what that is i doubt they told me, also i did say “i’ll change that” 

[Tired]

"LFS" is local fish store. Some have great advice, some have terrible advice. 

 

You just now said you'll change it, yes. You didn't before, you said it was fine. You described aggression between your fish. You're currently telling me in another thread that the maroon clownfish doesn't need a bigger tank. 

[Starfishie99]

3 minutes ago, Tired said:

"LFS" is local fish store. Some have great advice, some have terrible advice. 

 

You just now said you'll change it, yes. You didn't before, you said it was fine. You described aggression between your fish. You're currently telling me in another thread that the maroon clownfish doesn't need a bigger tank. 

agitation between my two male cardinals, i think i need to rehome THEM not the clown, she is so content so why bother her until she’s older

[Starfishie99]

Just now, Starfishie99 said:

agitation between my two male cardinals, i think i need to rehome THEM not the clown, she is so content so why bother her until she’s older

oh i get the lfs thing, i have a solid place i go to and some others, i only listen to the advice of my solid place but still, only like half the workers know what they’re talking about. the trouble also is, they can’t exactly tell me what’s good and what’s not good unless i describe my whole tank to each of them every time i go into the store 

[Tired]

Bother the clownfish now, before you have problems. I guarantee she'd like more room even now. Bother them ALL before you have more problems.

 

All you need to tell the LFS is "I have a 5-gallon tank", and they should tell you that only tiny fish are suitable. If they've told you any of these fish, let alone ALL of them, are good for a 5-gallon tank, they give horrible advice.

 

Look- I started off with awful advice, too. I put a domino damselfish (very aggressive, gets large) with a flame angelfish (needs lots of space) in an 8-gallon tank, because the LFS told me I could, and because I was 12 and got all my info from them. I won't go into the details, but it went badly. It sucks, finding out you've been treating something wrong, but you can't get stuck on that. You have to go about doing your research, finding out what's appropriate, and fixing it. 

[Starfishie99]

some pictures of today before my fishies head to sleep

 

mimi the clown is the so hard to photograph because she loves to wiggle

luna the dotty back is such a curious creature, ill sneak up on my fish to see what they do when i’m not looking and she always spots me!

its adorable when i look from above and she looks at me from below

 

honestly my cardinals are a little... boring. my father told me they would be but i didn’t listen. they remind me of angel fish from my fresh water tank but they definitely are more peaceful. ohhh except to each other. i assume its classic boy in boy fight you know how it is, but with these guys i’m scared one of them is going to kill the other

 

because of that, i named them after alpha and beta, their names being alphie and brett

 

if anyone’s had two male cardinals before then please let me know if they normally bite each other’s tail

 

snails and crabs are doing just fine as always

my crab even molted! 

i forgot to get a pic of GRANDADDY TROCHOUS i’m pretty sure that’s how you spell it 😉 he’s just this big monster compared to my others so he’s their grandpa now

 

i feeel like my corals aren’t growing but they aren’t dying either, any tips?

 

[Tired]

What are your exact parameters? Nitrites, phosphates, calcium, alkalinity, etc? 

 

What corals do you have? Can't quite tell. You may not want to put them close together, some of them will sting each other. They also tend to like to have solid surfaces to grow onto, not sand. 

 

I believe the aggression between the cardinalfish is pretty typical. You'll want to split them up before they seriously harm/kill each other, and before the injuries get infected. Cardinalfish are pretty, but often don't have much personality. They really are a lot like freshwater angelfish. Good midwater fish, though, which is relatively unusual in nano fish.

[Starfishie99]

4 minutes ago, Tired said:

 

What corals do you have? Can't quite tell. You may not want to put them close together, some of them will sting each other. They also tend to like to have solid surfaces to grow onto, not sand. 

 

that is a good question that’d i’d also like the answer to, i know i have a zoanthid but other than that i’m clueless, the lfs i go to does a good job at labeling everything but their corals

 

these are the other two coral i have

i definitely didn’t know they could sting each other so i’ll be separating them

 

hopefully someone will be able to tell me what they are 😬

[Starfishie99]

did a little switching around of corals so they STING each other,, this is them now 

waters a bit stirred up but the picture gets the point across

might be a little hard to see since they’re usual glow is gone due to the switching around 

zoanthid plug is dug into a hole on top

green line coral (?) is in kinda a cave thing

anemone looking one is on top of my makeshift cave, looking lonely so i probly wont leave it there 

[Tired]

The one on the right is a zoanthid. Left is... weird. It looks a bit like a very lumpy mushroom coral. Is it soft? 

 

Put them a few inches apart from each other, and try to find out what they are, so you know what they want. They may need different positioning than you currently have. For example, don't put the zoanthids directly under your light right at the top of the tank, like they are now, they likely won't enjoy that.

 

Also, don't handle them with your bare hands. Don't handle anything in there with your bare hands, rockwork can be sharp and definitely has bacteria on it, but especially not corals. Some sting, and some, including zoanthids, are toxic. It's nothing to worry about in most circumstances, you just have to not touch them (that's mostly just skin irritation anyway), not get any of their substances in a cut, and not boil them or vigorously scrub them with a brush.

 

Do you have a water test kit? You should make sure to have a good one, not API brand or those test strips. Corals just sort of existing often means low nutrients, and will eventually turn into them dying.

[Starfishie99]

i don’t know how to delete this ahhhj

[Starfishie99]

4 minutes ago, Tired said:

The one on the right is a zoanthid. Left is... weird. It looks a bit like a very lumpy mushroom coral. Is it soft? 

 

Put them a few inches apart from each other, and try to find out what they are, so you know what they want. They may need different positioning than you currently have. For example, don't put the zoanthids directly under your light right at the top of the tank, like they are now, they likely won't enjoy that.

 

Also, don't handle them with your bare hands. Don't handle anything in there with your bare hands, rockwork can be sharp and definitely has bacteria on it, but especially not corals. Some sting, and some, including zoanthids, are toxic. It's nothing to worry about in most circumstances, you just have to not touch them (that's mostly just skin irritation anyway), not get any of their substances in a cut, and not boil them or vigorously scrub them with a brush.

 

Do you have a water test kit? You should make sure to have a good one, not API brand or those test strips. Corals just sort of existing often means low nutrients, and will eventually turn into them dying.

everyone always says don’t use your bare hands but honestly i don’t think i’m going to stop doing that, also i was aware that the zoanthid stung but i genuinely think i just got stung or got toxin on me or what not, it was my own fault because i accidentally dropped him and tried to catch him and you get the point

i know most corals like misis shrimp and that’s what i feed the rest of my fish, ill give them some individual in a turkey baster but obviously since i don’t know their species i can’t know if they even want it