stocking help?

[Rabbit Fur]

Ok, Im planning waay into the future here, but i want to see what you guys think. i have a 18 gallon tank with a about 3 gallon refug.

skimmerless, lots of macro alge in the ref. Its been running about 4 weeks. i do a 2 gallon water change every week. 2 55wat pcs (too much)? Nothing in it yet except the Lr and a few little aptasias.i have a bunch of detrivores and snales coming from ipsf in a few days,

1. before i put anything nice in should i borrow a peppermint shrimp to get rid of the aptasia?

 

2. after snails, pods, etc settle in i want to get a cleaner shrimp

 

3. I will have some mushrooms and polyps, no real fancy coral

 

4. I was thinking maybe a pair of clowns and a goby fish wise.

What clowns would you reccomend and what kind of goby?

 

I have had a mandarin in a 55 gallon with a refugium a while back, but i imagine this tank is too small even with the refugium... am i right?

 

any help is appreciated, i plan on adding all this very slowly

 

thanks

[Rabbit Fur]

also, are there any small starfish that would be compatible in a system like this?

[MrConclusion]

Stay away from stars except sand-shifting (small) cleanup stars.

 

The mandarin needs a lot of pods, so I would forget it. You might be OK with a very small specimen until he gets big. Or you may find one that isn't a picky eater.

 

2x55watt is NOT too much it's good.

 

Get a Calalina goby, they are beautiful and stay very small.

 

For clownfish, just get something that stays relatively small (sebae, percula, ocellaris, etc.)

[cjm033]

catalina goby wouldnt work there cold water

[MrConclusion]

According to a reliable source... catalinas have been migrating into warmer areas where they've been seen in large enough quantities to be collected.

 

I never bought one because of the cold water issue, but I know two people who have them in just-under-80-degree tanks and they are doing fine. One of them has been in the tank ( a 20-long) for at least 6 months... i don't know about the other. Apparently they eat heartily, too.

 

I am going to try one in my next nano because they are just so spectacular looking.

 

Has anyone here had a catalina death due to heat?

[Rabbit Fur]

hmmmm the catalina sounds interesting. Very pretty from the pics i have seen, and ive seen some pretty high recomended temps, so i will probably give it a try. what would you recomend putting in first, clowns or the the goby?

[Rabbit Fur]

Would anyone reccomend something besides clowns? Like maybe a pair of bangai Cardinals? or anything else for that matter? what is your favorite nano fish?

[printerdown01]

Until I read the source for myself, I am going to say that catalina gobies should NOT be added to a reef tank!! MANY people have had these gobies die in their tank, when the waters are above 76 F. I have known a LFS to keep them for over a year, in a "cold water only" with a chiller and surge (to facilitate kelp feeding). They do not die instantly, the heat will put the goby under stress, and will shorten it's life span signifigantly, high levels of stress will have the same effects on just about any animal in the animal kingdon. In tropical tanks these gobies very rarely make it past the 6 months mark. Is it possble for someone to keep one 7 or 8 months, sure... just as it is possible for someone to keep gonipora past the one year mark. Some people buy fish, with the idea that the fish will not live for extensive periods of time in their care, others buy fish that live for years on end. I am of the latter, but I do realize that there are quite a few people that don't have a problem with only keeping a fish 6 months.

 

I personally like clowns, but there are several others out there... Bangis will stick together in pairs, and exibit quite interesting behaviors. Pseudochromis fridmani and purple stripe Pseudochromis are very cool, very bright, and nano-safe inhabitants. Rainford gobies, are also very interesting to watch, and feed almost exclusively on hair algae. Randels gobies are also one of my favorites (rank much higher than clowns in my book), as well as high finned gobies. I believe DeezReef (member of this board) has a pair of randels that he matched up himself. Neon gobies, red headed gobies, and red sidded gobies could easily replace the catalina in size and behavior. All 3 of these guys are known to live over 2 years in small aquariums.

[Rabbit Fur]

I forgot about neon gobies. Always wanted to get one of them.... Maybe two bangai's and a neon goby. hmmm.

does it matter which i introduce to the tank first?

[printerdown01]

Order shouldn't matter with those choices. BTW, I would add the pepp in whenever possible... No rush he will have to be in there for a while (even after the aptasia appear to be gone). Just don't add yellow polyps while he is in the tank! Other than that just cross your fingers. Statistically you shouldn't have problems, BUT problems with pepps are not uncommon. -good luck.

[MrConclusion]

I wonder what the magic number is for catalina temperature. Does 76 degrees have any significance? That isn't hard to achieve.

[Fant]

Skip the peppermint shrimp, inject those nasty aips with some kalkwasser. The shrimp will just eat your $100 ipsf order.

[Rabbit Fur]

i was going to take the shrimp out before i put in the ispf just to be safe.....