Kalib

Yes definintely, shrimps are good choices for small tanks. I'm not really sure about starfish, from what i've read seems that some of them that are typically offered in the aquarium trade feed on natural foods(like worms, pods). They may not do so well in such a small tank and starve to death eventually. There are also some that get a little too big for a 2x1.5x1.5 like the chocolate chip starfish.

For FOWLR of this size, a $500 budget is possible. To cut costs further(in terms of electricity, initial setup), you can use normal fluoroscent bulbs instead of PLs. I would like to make some suggestions regarding the stocking. I would suggest skipping the Tangs entirely and keep something else. Tangs are active fishes and a 2x1.5x1.5 is too small to keep any of them long term. The smallest you should go is 3x2x2, the bigger the better. Maroon clownfish are aggressive, if you intend to keep two, I would suggest buying them as a mated pair(usually from reefers or a trusted LFS) and adding them last of all. Buying any two maroon clownfish and keeping them in the same tank would be disastrous if the fish don't pair up, it is likely the two fish will end up fighting. Instead of the Tangs, if your looking for fish that stay out in the open, you can look at fishes like chromis, cardinalfish, firefish. These are generally easy fish that do well in a 2x1.5x1.5(even long term). I would suggest avoiding the colourful damsels as these fish are too aggressive. I would suggest not getting any sand from any of our beaches as it is illegal. There's also a risk of pollution as our coastal waters are not that clean.

If your talking about those large blue fibreglass tubs, should be feasible. I've seen a similar setup on Reefcentral. Since its indoors, you don't have to worry so much about the outside weather. The principle in setting up and cycling should be similar to what we do in a typical glass/acrylic tank.

Better not to add. From what I know about this fish, its not reef safe. I have one myself in my FOWLR.

When i resetup my 4x2x2 FOWLR, I filled the tank with tapwater first then treat the tapwater with water conditioner. After that, I slowly add salt to the tank until i get the desired SG. I have the pump & wavemaker running to mix the salt properly. Do remember to only add in the sand and liverocks after the salt is added and the desired SG is achieved. Mixing salt while the sand is in the tank is a recipe for disaster as the salt can get trapped with the sand and be undissolved. This could raise SG beyond recommended levels overtime.

You can check out this site, quite a good gallery to ID stuff from.

The fleas/bugs that you observed are most probably pods, mostly harmless inverts that make good natural live food for your fish.

Definitely would grow back so long as the fish is healthy, mine had a tear when I first got it and it healed in around one week.

LRs serve a very important function in the marine aquaria. I only have LR(around 10kg) and protein skimmer for filtration in my 2x1x1, current livestock only 1 pair of false percula clownfish. In the long run, for a 2ft tank, it'll be good to stock it with small fishes that won't grow beyond 3" or 4". How much livestock your tank can hold depends greatly on how much swimming space you are going to give your fish and the actual dimensions of your tank. In general, you should not go too wrong stocking no more than 5 fishes that don't grow beyond 3". If its a 2x1x1, I'll suggest no more than 4fish that don't grow beyond 3". And last but not least, like what dragonfly_sg has mentioned, do stock up slowly as the tank needs time to adjust to the new bioload everytime you add fish. If stocked too quickly, you can experience an ammonia spike which can cause a tank crash.

What's the size of your tank? It'll help us to recommend fishes to start off as some of the easier fish for FOWLR also requires a decent sized setup(Eg. 4x2x2 and above). For a start, you can look at these fishes as their suitable for both small(2x1x1) and larger(Eg. 2x2x2, 3x2x2, 4x2x2 etc..) tanks: - Firefish(Purple firefish, red firefish) - Cardinalfish - Clownfish(False percula, True percula, tomato, maroon, clarkii) - Chromis - Royal Gramma, Brazillian Gramma In general, it'll be advisable to start stocking with the more peaceful fish first and adding the more aggressive species last.

Thanks for sharing. Yup, i'm aware that some butterfly fish are obligate corallivores and should be avoided. I've seen AM bring in chaetodon melannotus a couple of times. Still giving some thought as to which one to keep but would definitely keep your advice in mind when considering.

I see.. thats good. Read before they don't readily accept pellets and aren't such easy fish to keep. I've been toying with the idea of a semilarvatus(though I don't know who may bring these fish in),an Auriga or Chaetodon melanotus though I haven't really made up my mind at the moment. The saddle butterflyfish is also very nice, though i don't know how hardy(though literature says it would be ok) it is in an aquarium setting.

It could have been gill flukes rather than parasitic isopods. Heavy breathing is one of the symptoms of having flukes in the gills and this problem is common with wild caught fish. Try treating with prazipro or a freshwater dip.

Did you have long term success with the copperband? I read on some forums some hobbyists don't have any long term success with this fish.

Well yeah, sort of a typo as I wanted to write bannerfish but ended up typing butterfly instead. Actually, i've been toying with the idea of keeping some butterfly in there but yet to decide.