Fish Questions

[Remmy]

We are new to saltwater and just have some questions!
About our tank:
Been up 4 weeks
Has cycled
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites
Between 10- 15 Nitrares (setting up protein skimmer tonight)
We have a CUC (8 emarald crabs, 2 peppermint shrimp, 10 or so snails, 7ish hermits)
Added 2 clowns and 2 cardinals a week ago
Added a tang , a manderin, and cleaner shrimp today
Also have one 8-10 inch fireworm

1. One of the cardinals is awesome.... one is not.... it does not seem to want to eat. Any tricks to getting it to eat? It seems scared or shy. We feed flakes (with garlic) and frozen brine shrimp. I’ve tried to put food close to it but it swims away and hides.

2. Our new tang is small and very thin. Any tricks to make sure it stays healthy?
The lady at the fish store thought it would be shy and not eat for a few days. Upon putting it in the tank it went after the seaweed right away. It also picked at frozen brine shrimp when fed. Seems to get along well with everyone.

3. Our CUC. I was feeding them for awhile because they seemed hungry ( they RAN out and fought over algae wafers) I’ve stopped feeding them upon introducing fish. Is that okay? Should I continue to feed them? I placed a seaweed sheet in the tank today (1/2 red, 1/2 green) and the crabs/ shrimp ate a half sheet themselves

4. I understand we will get bad feedback about getting a mandarin. We were told it is eating frozen food at the fish store. If not, we will buy pods for it.

5. Our filtration system. Is there anything we can do to easily (and cheaply) upgrade it to make it do more? Also, it puts air bubbles into the water sometimes... is that normal?

 

[Daniel91]

1. I think it's quite common that some fish just take a while to open up and start eating. Try small pellets and mysis maybe? I'm sure it probably snacks when you are not looking, whether at night or throughout the day, if it finds left overs.

2. Maintain a stressless environment - no parameter swings, plenty of grub and do not introduce something that may be territorial to it.

3. No need to feed them, you may not be able to see it but there should be plenty food leftover and algae present. Even fish poop.....

4. Several fish keepers have been able to keep mandarins, even in new tanks. The reason some people wait/stay away is because it's either not used to frozen or their pod population is not big enough to support one. Obviously yours is not, cause it's new but if it eats frozen and you are working proactively to build a population, then you should be fine.

5. You could get a HOB filter, as a bump in filtration. It may also give you some current or flow, which the fish could enjoy? (not needed)

 

[cracker]

Please consider "not" adding any fish for a while. Your tank is very young & it needs plenty of time to adjust to all the new animals in there. I thinl Ya need to feed your cuc still maybe not so much.
What are You feeding the fish?

 

[RJinPV]

I had a coral beauty that wouldn't eat. Otherwise it looked perfectly normal, active and picking at algae in the tank. Then after about 2-3 weeks it started eating everything like and couldn't get enough. Maybe that cardinal will take a similar path. One the other hand, my cardinals were aggressive to each other. The one that is not eating could be getting picked on. Look for that.

Regarding the yellow tang, make sure you keep feeding it seaweed. Also try mysis shrimp or brine shrimp with spurilina. I have been told that normal brine shrimp is really not that nutritious.

I also second the idea of not adding more livestock for a while

 

[Remmy]

We do not plan to add anymore livestock anytime soon.

We feed frozen brine shrimp along with garlic infused flakes (that no one seems to like)

I was told our fish are too small to eat mysis? Can that be true? My plan was to feed a brine/ flake mix in the morning and a mysis/ flake mix at the end of the day

Everyone in the tank seems to get along well. No chasing or harassing. The clownfish/cardinal/ tang.... seem to swim together and there are no problems

 

[Big G]

Try making a "fish smoothie" using frozen fish cubes: get mysis, chopped clams, brine shrimp, cyclops, seaweed, etc. Get as many different varieties as you can. Take one of each frozen cubes. Place in a tupperware and let them "slump" in the fridge. Pour off the excess liquid and add a few drops of vitamins like Selcon or Zoecon, etc. Mix. The mix will stay good in your fridge for a few days. Only feed as much as your fish can eat in a couple of minutes until you get a better sense of how much to feed them. My fish love the smoothie. The variety of foods helps to ensure that the fish are getting a wide spectrum of proteins, fats and vitamins to be happy and healthy.

And welcome to R2R! Enjoy your new tank and buddies

 

[Jekyl]

That's a lot of fish quickly. Watch your levels closely

 

[RJinPV]

We do not plan to add anymore livestock anytime soon.

We feed frozen brine shrimp along with garlic infused flakes (that no one seems to like)

I was told our fish are too small to eat mysis? Can that be true? My plan was to feed a brine/ flake mix in the morning and a mysis/ flake mix at the end of the day

Everyone in the tank seems to get along well. No chasing or harassing. The clownfish/cardinal/ tang.... seem to swim together and there are no problems

The Hikari brand of mysis shrimp are pretty small. I can't imagine your fish not being able to eat them. I have never really used flake food either, just a variety of frozen foods. Big G's smoothie idea seems like an interesting one. Selcon is a good nutritional supplement

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!! Plenty good info here youve come to the right place!