Tim Rudisill
Community Member
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2019
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 21
So... I'm VERY new to this hobby. And I'm loving it, even though I'm running into problems. Here's my (very short) background:
I've had my 32g BioCube tank since mid-December. The coral are doing fantastic. Most of them have grown a decent amount in that time. The couple that haven't grown a noticeable amount haven't shrunk any.
But... the fish? We started by adding 4 fish: a very small Pacific Blue Tang, 2 Firefish Goby fish, and a Purple Queen Anthias. When we bought the fish, we knew that the Tang would outgrow the tank. Our plans were, in a year or two, to either return the Tang and get a new one or to buy a new (much bigger!) tank. The fish were all added at the same time and they were all very friendly with each other.
Unfortunately, after about 3 or 4 weeks, the Purple Queen Anthias died. I'm pretty sure it was because it wasn't eating enough. It was always late coming out after we fed. I've since learned that I should have dropped a tiny amount of food, waited a few minutes, then dropped the bulk of the food. Dang it.
Alright, so we're short a fish. And... we're having algae problems. Like, it's freaking everywhere. I don't expect an algae-free tank. But this is massive. I bought a magnet to scrub the glass, a scraper to use on the plastic back... and I have a large cleaning crew (probably 40ish snails, 3 shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 turbo snail, and 1 emerald crab). But I have different kinds of algae going on. The stuff on our liverock looks like large patches of green grass. And I have long strands of brown algae. I can more easily fight the algae on the glass, plastic, and in the sand substrate. But it's been a learning experience here.
Okay, so to help fight the algae, and since we were down a fish, we wanted to add a lawnmower blenny. I've heard they love to eat algae, and boy oh boy would I have some good news for a lawnmower blenny. lol. But... I went to my local reef store and they had just sold the last one. When I explained my problem, they suggested a Yellow Mimic Tang.
Okay, so at this point, you might see where this is going. So, granted, this Yellow Mimic was added yesterday. It was a bit skittish at first, but he's calmed down. Awesome.
But our other fish are hiding. I've only briefly seen the firefish gobies. I've not seen our Pacific Blue Tang. He used to be very prominent but now he's not coming out to eat, either. I really want to see the two Tangs interact to see what's going on.
My wife did some research because she initally read that the Purple Queen Anthias was a "very difficult" fish and she wanted something easy. And yellow tangs were considered "easy". Of course, we didn't read that Tangs can be territorial with other Tangs. GAH. Go figure.
So... what can I do? I'm guessing the PBT is telling me that he doesn't like his new tank-mate, as are the Gobies. The YMT is very pretty and I love watching him, but not at the expense of not seeing the other fish.
I'd like advice on both issues: the algae and the fish. Help! What are your recommendations? TIA!
I've had my 32g BioCube tank since mid-December. The coral are doing fantastic. Most of them have grown a decent amount in that time. The couple that haven't grown a noticeable amount haven't shrunk any.
But... the fish? We started by adding 4 fish: a very small Pacific Blue Tang, 2 Firefish Goby fish, and a Purple Queen Anthias. When we bought the fish, we knew that the Tang would outgrow the tank. Our plans were, in a year or two, to either return the Tang and get a new one or to buy a new (much bigger!) tank. The fish were all added at the same time and they were all very friendly with each other.
Unfortunately, after about 3 or 4 weeks, the Purple Queen Anthias died. I'm pretty sure it was because it wasn't eating enough. It was always late coming out after we fed. I've since learned that I should have dropped a tiny amount of food, waited a few minutes, then dropped the bulk of the food. Dang it.
Alright, so we're short a fish. And... we're having algae problems. Like, it's freaking everywhere. I don't expect an algae-free tank. But this is massive. I bought a magnet to scrub the glass, a scraper to use on the plastic back... and I have a large cleaning crew (probably 40ish snails, 3 shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 turbo snail, and 1 emerald crab). But I have different kinds of algae going on. The stuff on our liverock looks like large patches of green grass. And I have long strands of brown algae. I can more easily fight the algae on the glass, plastic, and in the sand substrate. But it's been a learning experience here.
Okay, so to help fight the algae, and since we were down a fish, we wanted to add a lawnmower blenny. I've heard they love to eat algae, and boy oh boy would I have some good news for a lawnmower blenny. lol. But... I went to my local reef store and they had just sold the last one. When I explained my problem, they suggested a Yellow Mimic Tang.
Okay, so at this point, you might see where this is going. So, granted, this Yellow Mimic was added yesterday. It was a bit skittish at first, but he's calmed down. Awesome.
But our other fish are hiding. I've only briefly seen the firefish gobies. I've not seen our Pacific Blue Tang. He used to be very prominent but now he's not coming out to eat, either. I really want to see the two Tangs interact to see what's going on.
My wife did some research because she initally read that the Purple Queen Anthias was a "very difficult" fish and she wanted something easy. And yellow tangs were considered "easy". Of course, we didn't read that Tangs can be territorial with other Tangs. GAH. Go figure.
So... what can I do? I'm guessing the PBT is telling me that he doesn't like his new tank-mate, as are the Gobies. The YMT is very pretty and I love watching him, but not at the expense of not seeing the other fish.
I'd like advice on both issues: the algae and the fish. Help! What are your recommendations? TIA!
