Ok, I have been around the forum for a while but usually prefer to read than post. Reason being I know I'm new to this and I should research and read before asking. Now I have a question or two and could use some opinions. Starting from the beginning is probably best. I got my 75 AIO from Craigslist thinking it would be my big freshwater tank. The guy gave me the deal of the century on the live stock, rest of the equipment, and assorted paraphernalia. So we have a saltwater tank (happy wife happy life). According to the previous owner he had it running for two to three years before we bought it. He had neglected it for about the last six months,so we spent quite a while getting everything back up and running where it should be. Over the course of the last year, our skimmer died, tank crazed and cracked but didn't leak before we got everything out into another tank which then blew a seal with a slow leak forcing us into our empty 60 gallon. I now have a 4 foot 125 in my garage awaiting a stand, reseal, plumbing and the most serious cleaning I have ever given any tank simply due to its current deplorable condition. Through all of this, there have been swings, but parameters remained roughly the same within a week of each move, as has my aptasia and GHA problem (those will be tackled in the new setup, hopefully). Regrettably, there have been a few losses. A solon wrasse that went carpet surfing during a water change that I didn't notice, a blue damsel that was picked on by the bigger blue damsel (rehomed but didn't survive qt at the friends house). Most tragically a tail spot blenny who seemed to think a power head that was off for feeding was a better home than the crevice he used when the powerhead was on and was shot directly into the claws of the coral banded shrimp who decided he looked like a wonderful free snack. As of tonight, the roughly three year old cranky angry shrimp who liked to attack my hand every chance he got became a meal for our black spine sea urchin (he was healthy and ***** last night as I was feeding coral). That leaves us with the damsel, orange spot goby, and urchin for livestock among several LPS corals who are all happy and healthy. So tonight we went to the LFS to get a different, less angry shrimp. They didn't really have anything other than another coral banded shrimp.
My question: now that we no longer have to worry about our shrimp eating whatever new shrimp we put in, what kinds would be a decent addition, knowing that we should be moving to a 125 soon? I was thinking peppermint as they may help with the aptasia, or maybe a cleaner? I would like a pistol to pair with the goby, but he is a little over three inches long, so I'm a little worried he might just eat it?
Any and all input is appreciated as I know there is so much I don't know about this hobby.
My question: now that we no longer have to worry about our shrimp eating whatever new shrimp we put in, what kinds would be a decent addition, knowing that we should be moving to a 125 soon? I was thinking peppermint as they may help with the aptasia, or maybe a cleaner? I would like a pistol to pair with the goby, but he is a little over three inches long, so I'm a little worried he might just eat it?
Any and all input is appreciated as I know there is so much I don't know about this hobby.
