Need some advice - cant keep new fish alive

[jmjacobs09]

we have a 29 biocube that has been set up for awhile now. in the tank we have a dwarf lion fish (calm, doesn't mess with the little fish), mandarin goby, 2 spotted goby, 2 pepermint shrimp, cooperband shrimp, along with 8 or so corals. we put in a very small naso tang (i know people are going to say why put a naso tang in such a small tank and that its cruel... we are transferring to a larger tank shortly) he was doing great, eating well, showed no signs of illness. One night he started to swim frantically in all directions, upside down, diving into the sand, til he just died. we waited a few weeks and tried adding a coral beauty. same thing happened, eating great, getting along with the other fish, found his comfortable spot in the tank, then all of a sudden he died as well. neither fish showed signs of illness, no spots or cloudy eyes.
our nitrates are at a good level, salinity is right where it is supposed to be. we have no idea why our new fish keep dying on us, its starting to get frustrating. any advice would be awesome. we want to be able to add a midswimming fish soon, but dont want to risk spending money on it dying after a few days.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Very difficult to say/guess what the issues are but definitely pushing the bounds of Fish bio-load in that size/dimension of tank. My best guess would be that the Dwarf Lion is stalking them in low light conditions and pinning them into a corner or ??? and possibly getting skewered on their escape route.... to many unknowns to give any hard answers. What are the rest of your water perams like ?


Cheers, Todd

 

[srva80xx]

Yea.. I agree. I would blame the lion

 

[BlueDiamondDiscus]

In a nano biocube aquarium you can only keep is occelaris and gobies.The level of dirt
(Amonia)is hight .The level of oxigen is low while the fish descripted are fighting(the lion was stinging other inhabitants of aquarium).

 

[mcarroll]

That's a challenging combo of tank and critters - I would refrain from adding to it at this time. How big a tank are you upgrading to and how soon?

 

[Allenfamily]

I do know that the above statement about only keeping a goby or clown is not accurate as I have kept other fish in a 29 biocube. Your water quality will depend on your maintenance schedule, however as TJ stated that is a big bio load for a 29. I would blame the lion also.

 

[KorD]

I do know that the above statement about only keeping a goby or clown is not accurate as I have kept other fish in a 29 biocube. Your water quality will depend on your maintenance schedule, however as TJ stated that is a big bio load for a 29. I would blame the lion also.

I agree with this statement!
I would blame the lion fish, but you are not well over your limits on fish.

I have a regular 29gal tank.. I have 7 fish in in and 5 anemones... it all depends on the size bio load you can take care of for how many fish you have!