If rocks and substrate are from an established mature tank and have stabilized in your tank the nem has a better chance at life. Nems require adequate lighting and stable parameters. Test regularly. It’s also a good idea to keep meds on hand like ciprofloxacin for when/if your nem shows signs of distress. Feeding nems isn’t required but they’ll accept just about anything. Let him settle for at least a week before introducing food to him. In the meantime he’ll catch whatever is in the water column to eat. Post what kind of light you have, to gauge whether or not it’s strong enough.
Yeah "tank maturing" is really a catch all term for achieving some level of stability, and even beyond the stability there seems to be some level of intangible tank health that comes with age as different microorganisms grow out.Nems are beautiful creatures and the symbiotic relationship with clownfish is something very special. I love nems. Have several. Killed several because I was impatient. I gave up trying to keep them after several were killed. I didn’t try again until my tank was about a year old and they thrive. People would always say the tank was immature, but I didn’t want to believe it. Believe it. It can’t be clearly explained because honestly, I don’t think anyone knows. One thing for sure, tank maturity is definitely an anecdotal thing that I agree with. Now, since you got it as a gift,not much you can do about that. Maybe a LFS will take it for credit? I know it sounds harsh, and I don’t mean to be, but my experience is that it will not thrive. It might, and I would be happy if it does, but it probably won’t. Someone in a thread here explained “tank maturity” like this and I thought it was great (paraphrasing): “are you more comfortable in a clean sanitary room or your grandmas house with all her stuff filling every room?” Now, if you have a hoarding grandma that would be a different story, but I get the picture. Good luck.
The clown in the pic is about 2”
When I first started my tank I was gifted a goldfish. Had to tell them that it was a freshwater fish and that I couldn’t use it. I felt bad but, there was nothing I could do for the fish. Luckily, PetSmart where the fish was bought was nice enough to reimburse them after they explained why it was being brought back.
Thank you for your reply. The rocks do look especially clean in this photo but they didn't a few weeks ago, before I added an amazing cleanup crew.
That light is inadequate for high light corals. If looking for a cheap option these black box leds pack enough punch usually.
Thank you so much for the lighting suggestion. That looks a lot more reasonable then some of the units I have been looking at. Perhaps a nice first step towards my ideal future state.
I would still write down your budget if you know what it is. That light will work but wont be nicest as many black boxes are. If you can spend more it is recommended to just buy a nicer light that can stay with you longer rather than spending now and spending more later for something you might want
I have had my eye on staghorn, daisy and rock flower corals/anemone for the future but have been happy with the leather, mushroom and zoanthid corals I have now. The budget is somewhat flexible but I'd prefer to keep it around $500 with the ability to scale to $700 if it made a significant difference.
