Hey everyone!

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to have found this site! I am very new at all of this. I started my 29gal tank on Nov 23rd 2008, and am trying to learn as much as possible. I always have a million questions so it's nice to have found a place that I can ask the advice and opinions of many people.

Here's what I have in my tank:
20lbs live sand
10lbs of regular aquarium sand
37lbs live rock
2 black and white percula clownfish(mated pair)
1 three stipe damsel
1 domino damsel
1 hermit crab
1 orange/purple reef lobster
3 snails (Cerith, Turbo, and a tiny round one which I forgot the name of)

Someday down the line I would LOVE to add a blue hippo tang and green mandarin or maybe a Orange Diamond Sleeper Goby? I'm probably going to wait another 6 months or so for those. I also need to do a lot more research and ask lots of questions before adding anything else because I know I can only have so much in there since it is a small tank. I guess that's it for now, I will start posting questions very soon

 

Welcome!!

 

Welcome to 3reef.

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Just a couple things to keep in mind.

1) Mandarin a very difficult to keep, you need alot of copepods.

2) Before getting the Hippo consider the fact you will eventually need to upgrade your tank..depending on purchase size probably upgrade within the first year. Minimum I have been told is 50 for a tang but mostly 75+... I am not discouraging you as I have a yellow juvenile in a 30 but also have a 135 cycling which he will be moved to.

3) Sleeper Goby is probably you best bet.

4) Also keep in mind you should not have much more than 12 inches of fish in your tank. Take a look at the calculators on left side of page under 3reef navigation. There is one for inches of fish.

Also the picture police will be coming so get something posted fast. CALLING ALL LUNAS

 

hello and welcome to 3reef

 

Chris Adams got it pretty well. A mandarin that you got would need to be eating live food before the purchase as it would never make it in there without a good refugium, and even then it would be iffy. A hippo tang is one of the most active swimming tangs and tangs swim with the best of 'em. IMO a 29 is too small for one of any size. A yellow tang is one thing, but they are hardier and less easily stressed as well as being a slightly less active swimmer. Juveniles can be temporarily housed in a 50-90, but for a full grown your going to want at least 100 that is 5 feet long. Keep in mind they get upwards of 10 inches long. As to a sleeper goby, make sure it is on frozen food as well. They usually will take it, but sometimes only eat out of the sand, which is not ample enough in a 29 to support one of these guys. Also, a goby is too docile to have with your currant inhabitants. It would more than likely get bullied around or even killed by your damsels. Damsels are highly aggressive.

You will want to up your cleanup crew. Get a bunch more snails (about 10 more) and a few more hermits (about 5 more). You may want to look into peppermint shrimp, fire shrimp, and skunk cleaner shrimp.

Lastly, welcome to 3reef. Glad to have you.

 

Oh, one more thing you may want to look into is nano gobies. Things like neon gobies, clown gobies, green banded gobies, and even watchman gobies. All of these make good additions to a small tank like with minimal impact.

 

welcome to the reef !!!!!

 

Welcome!!!!!

 

Welcome to the reef!