Mini cycle after adding 4 new fish

[Aquatic0627]

My tank has been running for several months now. A few days ago I added 4 new small clownfish, now I'm going through a mini cycle. So my question about this is, will dosing Seachem Prime daily protect my anemones and corals from the nitrites until the cycle catches up?

 

[Big G]

Small regular water changes would be best.

 

[andrewey]

Small water changes would be best, but I would also throw some prime in there for peace of mind. How old is the tank, how many gallons?

 

[Aquatic0627]

Small regular water changes would be best.

Should I do daily water changes?

 

[Aquatic0627]

Small water changes would be best, but I would also throw some prime in there for peace of mind. How old is the tank, how many gallons?

The tank is 50 gallons and it's been running for about 5 months

 

[andrewey]

What is the other livestock in the tank and how many #s of live rock do you have in it? Also, what is your current ammonia/nitrite level?

 

[Aquatic0627]

What is the other livestock in the tank and how many #s of live rock do you have in it? Also, what is your current ammonia/nitrite level?

Nitrite is 1 and ammonia is .25
I have a mini nem, 2 rock flower nems and a haddoni nem with 8 clownfish and a starry blenny. I have about 80lbs of live rock with a deep sand bed

 

[andrewey]

Yeah, I would do a series of >10 gallon water changes each day and dose some prime for good measure. 10 gallons would be a 20% water change which if your LR wasn't processing, would lower the ammonia to 0.2. Given the number of anemones, I would err on the side of water changes, provided they match the salinity, temperature, and ph so you don't cause worse issues with the nems.

 

[Aquatic0627]

Yeah, I would do a series of >10 gallon water changes each day and dose some prime for good measure. 10 gallons would be a 20% water change which if your LR wasn't processing, would lower the ammonia to 0.2. Given the number of anemones, I would err on the side of water changes, provided they match the salinity, temperature, and ph so you don't cause worse issues with the nems.

Ok thank you...welp I'm off to do a water change. Good times

 

[lpsouth1978]

Sounds like a cool system. However, I see some MAJOR issues in your future. IMO 50g is WAY too small for a Haddoni and 8 clowns. A clownfish harem tank IS possible when adding all fish VERY small and from the same clutch. Even then it usually ends with many dead clowns due to aggression.

Most likely you will end up with dominant female and her mate who dominate and harras ANY clown that goes near the haddoni. Since it is only a 50g system, this means any clown in the tank will be in danger. Also Haddoni get REALLY big and can outgrow that tank in short order. They also require VERY stable water parameters to remain healthy, something that is quite difficult in a 5 month system.

I truely hope you are able to make it work and prove me wrong!

 

[andrewey]

Sounds good- it's also possible that this will resolve itself completely within a couple days. I would just test regularly (ammonia) to monitor the progress. The prime will help to neutralize the ammonia, but it will still show up on tests if it hasn't been processed to nitrite yet. Just make sure to take things nice and slow and you should be fine.

That being said, I don't want to muddy this thread too much, but long term I actually think you're going to need a larger tank. That many clownfish and that type of nem is likely to spell diaster in a year or two. It seems a lot of people are doing harem tanks and they can be one of the easier tanks to maintain, but only if you have enough space to mitigate agression (and other details such as introducing all the clowns in at once, preferrably from the same clutch, etc.). I would deal with this issue first, but ultimately I would put serious thought into upgrading your tank or selling off some of those clowns. They'll get along for the first few months likely, but I can't tell you how many <90 gallon tanks I've seen start with 10 clowns and eventually dwindle to 2 clowns within 24 months....

 

[Aquatic0627]

Sounds like a cool system. However, I see some MAJOR issues in your future. IMO 50g is WAY too small for a Haddoni and 8 clowns. A clownfish harem tank IS possible when adding all fish VERY small and from the same clutch. Even then it usually ends with many dead clowns due to aggression.

Most likely you will end up with dominant female and her mate who dominate and harras ANY clown that goes near the haddoni. Since it is only a 50g system, this means any clown in the tank will be in danger. Also Haddoni get REALLY big and can outgrow that tank in short order. They also require VERY stable water parameters to remain healthy, something that is quite difficult in a 5 month system.

I truely hope you are able to make it work and prove me wrong!

I hope so and I sure am going to try. Lack of patience got the best of me in this situation. I do have a 75 gallon that I'm going to convert to saltwater next year. So the haddoni and the clowns that it host can go in the 75 gallon when they outgrow the 50 or if the aggression becomes a problem. Which ever comes first

 

[Aquatic0627]

Sounds good- it's also possible that this will resolve itself completely within a couple days. I would just test regularly (ammonia) to monitor the progress. The prime will help to neutralize the ammonia, but it will still show up on tests if it hasn't been processed to nitrite yet. Just make sure to take things nice and slow and you should be fine.

That being said, I don't want to muddy this thread too much, but long term I actually think you're going to need a larger tank. That many clownfish and that type of nem is likely to spell diaster in a year or two. It seems a lot of people are doing harem tanks and they can be one of the easier tanks to maintain, but only if you have enough space to mitigate agression (and other details such as introducing all the clowns in at once, preferrably from the same clutch, etc.). I would deal with this issue first, but ultimately I would put serious thought into upgrading your tank or selling off some of those clowns. They'll get along for the first few months likely, but I can't tell you how many <90 gallon tanks I've seen start with 10 clowns and eventually dwindle to 2 clowns within 24 months....

dang that's a shame. I do have a 75 gallon I will eventually switch them over to. 4 clowns were introduced at the same time and the others were introduced a couple months before. All of the clowns are an inch or smaller in size. I'm 5 months new to saltwater, but I know all about fish aggression as I've been keep Freshwater cichlids for 12 years. The other thing is only 3 of the clowns are from the same clutch. In total I have 2 mocha clowns, 1 black and white mocha clown (from the same clutch) 1 clarki, 1 2 strip sea band and 1 cinnamon clown. I also had a pink skunk but he was so tiny and arrived looking banged up and he died earlier today, looked like his death was due to aggression because I found him dead in the clarki's mouth.

 

[lpsouth1978]

The Clarki will definitely be the biggest aggressor of the bunch, though you have several that can rival the clarki. IMO those mochas will be the first to go as they are the least aggressive of the group.

 

[Aquatic0627]

The Clarki will definitely be the biggest aggressor of the bunch, though you have several that can rival the clarki. IMO those mochas will be the first to go as they are the least aggressive of the group.

Oh wow! Hopefully it helps that the mochas are the largest out of all of them and they were in the tank first.

 

[Aquatic0627]

Yay!!! My mini cycle is complete! Today I am back to ZERO nitrites. I don't think I'll be adding anymore fish to this tank because that was some kinda scary.