New tank

walter84 · Nov 29, 2014

Recently move, I have been thinking over the last couple of years about doing a salt water tank.
i have been keeping/breeding fresh water fish since I was about 10. I sold my big tanks when I moved but kept a 29gal and a 10gal along with my penguin 350 filter. My plan is to start slowly, get some live sand and live rock cycle it for 2-3 weeks and then think about fish. My wife has already told me she wants a pair of clowns and a "Dory"....sigh. That being said I would really like an angel, i was thinking of a flame/fire (not sure on name)?

I could really use some suggestions for other occupants and possible equipment idea, I do not plan on corals to start but might try them once I get everything balanced in the tank (not to mention $$ for a good light)

I am sure I will have many more questions as I start down this new path.

sir bonkers · Nov 29, 2014

The clowns should be fine in a tank that size, but a blue hippo tang (dory) needs a much bigger tank. 29g is not enough tank for that fish.

nerf herder · Nov 29, 2014

yep the poor hippo would not work out in that tank, also they need a hiding place.

Waters · Nov 29, 2014

Yeah, what everybody else said. Unfortunately the 29 is too small for the Blue Hippo as well as most Dwarf Angels.

DiscoDave · Nov 29, 2014

i have a new tank and have two clowns in it and also a firefish. A Flame Angel is on my want list two, i would like the bigger fish but i do not have an aquarium big enough, try looking at things like the 6 lined wrasse also a lovely fish the Yasha Goby is beaut too, some of the smaller fish suitable for our sized aquariums are awesome.

walter84 · Nov 29, 2014

I realize the hippo tang and dwarf angel require a larger tank as they grow I was hoping to grow my tank with them. I found a LFS that specializes in salt water. The owner let me know that those fish would out grow my tank within months to a year depending on their initial size and how I feed them. He seemed very knowledgeable and pointed out a whole section of fish that he has that stay "smaller"

gemini9 · Nov 29, 2014

Congratulations on starting your tank! Your Penguin filter won't be enough for your tank. It won't really cause any issues to run it as long as you keep your filters changed regularly IMO, but you definitely need to get a skimmer to go along with it and a circulation pump. Clowns are always a good idea, and so are Firefish. A Yellowtailed Blue Damsel would work fine as well. People will tell you to stay away from Damsels, but the Yellowtailed Blue Damsel is not as aggressive as the others (I have one) and they are beautiful bright blue fish with a yellow tail. Should get along fine with the other fish.

With every tank, a Cleaner Shrimp is a MUST. They are spectacular to watch! They will crawl up your arm and feed out of your hand and are the best addition you can have for your clean up crew. Lawnmower Blennies can be ugly, but they are fun to watch. In a smaller tank such as yours, as others have said, Tangs, Angels, Foxfaces and many others cannot thrive in your tank. Try to stick with clowns, blennies and gobies. Lots of good information on fish can be found at Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums it's a great place to look into fish.

I know you say you don't want corals, but you will change your mind! They really beautify the tank. I started mine with fish only in mind, but now I'm really starting to want some color and some corals in there.

DiscoDave · Nov 29, 2014

great advice Gemini

I am new and picking up tips as i go along, i always wanted to keep corals but also have a fondness of puffers and i cant mix them, so corals for now and i got my first leather today, looks great and looking forward to more too.

gemini9 · Nov 29, 2014

Solution to that is to run 2 different tanks! One for corals and one for puffers! :becky: I've been in the hobby since March or April. Still fairly new myself, but have learned allot from members on here and from mistakes I've made myself. For example, don't use any pH buffers. They are BAD! I bought a new fish, noticed my pH was low at 7.8 and thought I needed to raise it to 8.1 so I added some API pH buffer. This immediately raised the pH to 8.1. So quickly, that it killed my new fish. Later to find out, a pH of 7.8 is perfectly acceptable.

Any changes you make to your system, increasing salinity, increasing pH, changing temperature, anything at all, should be very slowly and GRADUAL. Any sudden changes in parameters can be hard on the fish. If you do a water change, be sure the temperature you are putting in is the same temp and salinity as what is in your tank. Think of how you would feel in a nice hot shower and you suddenly got dumped with ice cold water! No good!

DiscoDave · Nov 30, 2014

my puffer tank will be a future project at some point, yeah i know what you mean about water temp, i do a 10% change weekly and have my tub of water next to the radiator for hours and its also kept inside the house too, how do you make sure your water temp that your putting is at the right temp? i did make the mistake with trops many years ago which stunned all my fish in the tank, they all survived but it was not a good experience. lesson learned on that one a long time ago .

Jmcdaniel0 · Nov 30, 2014

DiscoDave said:
my puffer tank will be a future project at some point, yeah i know what you mean about water temp, i do a 10% change weekly and have my tub of water next to the radiator for hours and its also kept inside the house too, how do you make sure your water temp that your putting is at the right temp? i did make the mistake with trops many years ago which stunned all my fish in the tank, they all survived but it was not a good experience. lesson learned on that one a long time ago .