jackywongto

suggestion: just start off with the T5 36 W 1st. about 50 SGD. then when corals cannot bloom... tell her its because of the light and upgrade:)

no one has been successful before?

could be that they have gotten used to each other but they are not a mated pair?

well if I have my way, I would have removed each of their shells. They are starting to crawl on the tank wall. worried that they might scratch my tank with their shell when they are at the 90% joint.

lol dunno. 1st time i see this - got a total shock. I guess so long as no one disturbs the snail, it should be ok. now I have an empty shell lying around hahahahaha actually i quite like it this way, no bulky shell to knock off my frags

ROFL

lesson 101: try not to talk about pricing to gf/ partners/ wife. Leave it as vague as possible.

more updates and comments: - The hairy algae growth seemed to have slowed down. - The PH now is more stable. 8.05 - 8.27 - coraline algae is starting to grow on the wall. wow not easy to remove. - sand dollars works fantastic. every tank should have this! - I tried to remove one of the snail from the wall and wanted to place it on the rock. Just a light tug and the shell came off! So now I have a naked snail crawling round the tank. just saw it again yesterday. - The xenias are turning brownish Prefer to have them as white.

seems like there are 2 schools of thoughts. One saying that they are born sexless and another saying the are all born male. at least we know that the dominant female is larger and cannot change back to female. Very excited about the possibility of witnessing the submission behaviour. yeah will let nature takes its course unless the smaller one get whacked too hard.

MP10 might be too powerful for your tank I am under utilizing it in mine as I have mushies inside that does not like too strong flow. at the moment, they are shortpulsing at only 50% of its ability. So maybe 2 nano wavemakers might be a better alternative. lighting will be hard to source. are you going for PL or LED? MH might be too much for your tank. Aquazonic has 18 inch T5 (16Wx2). you can have a look at them at Qianhu. too bad you are going away for 3 weeks

looks like we should be expecting your tank thread soon Kimkim. and welcome to the "family"

you can try taking out the rock for about 5 hrs. place them on a newspaper spread or shallow wide pail (NOT directly under the sun). occasionally sprinkle saltwater on the rock to keep it damp. worms and crabs should crawl out soon after. remove them as you see.

lol you pulling my leg again. I am just trying to get them to pair up and stop fighting. Seeing fishes fighting is not good for my girl's development. kekekeke She still has to take care of her sibling. PS: anyone has any news about those bloody clams in CF?

Excerpts from various sources on the web: In a group the female is the largest, with the male as the second largest. All others will be juveniles and gender-neutral. When one of the adults disappears, the next biggest will take its place. Thus the male will become female and a juvenile will turn into a male. Once they are female they cannot change again. In certain species there are physical differences but it's not a real good idea to rely on this as they may have changed sexes but not markings. Buying an established pair is perhaps the easiest way to go. Many aquarium/fish stores have these or can order them for you. Sometimes you get lucky and get a pair already spawning. Look for a pair that hangs out together as this is a good sign that they are a true pair. Another possibility is buying a group of juveniles and raising them to breeding age. This takes a good deal longer as some species take quite a while to mature. Also certain species are more aggresive and you may have to remove unwanted extras. Basically, you watch as the group matures and they will pair up by themselves. The female will be the largest, with the male next biggest. The rest should stay juveniles. Establishing an adult pair can be a little tricky, and a close eye needs to be kept on them to make sure that the female doesn't kill the male. Buying a large adult and getting two smaller ones from a group and letting the female pick one is an approach that has yielded a good deal of success. ============================================================== In order to breed clownfish, you will need a mated pair. The easiest way to do this is to purchase a mated pair. Often times fish stores can order a mated pair or many online shops carry them as well. The second way you can be sure you have a mated pair is buy two clownfish when they are young. When clownfish are young, they are always males. Once they have determined the dominant fish, it will change sexes into a female. After some time, you will be be able to tell which is the female because it will always be larger. This comes after much fighting between the two fish. Often times the female will nip at the males tail and the male will look like he is having a seizure. He will roll on his side and start twitching rapidly. This is his way of saying I give up to the dominant female. My fish took 6-8 months before the sex change was obvious. Any species of clownfish will work. I breed true perculas in my 150 gallon tank. Once they start breeding they will lay eggs every 12-18 days usually on a piece of live rock. ========================================= Briefly, clownfish are protandrous hermaphrodites. They are hatched as sexually immature fish. Based on signals from their environment and being physically mature (12-24 months) they will either remain sexually immature, change into a male or change into a male then female. This is a one way trip, sexless to male never to be sexless again and male to female never to be male again. A clownfish kept by its self will become a female in a short period of time if it is physically mature, in as little as a month. Second two female clowns will fight. The tell tale sign that you have two females is fighting ending in the two locking their mouths together. Clownfish pairing techniques: There are a couple of proven techniques to pair the same species of clownfish. Mixing species of clownfish should be avoided and has very limited long term (multi-year) success (only one case that I know of and could be considered unsuccessful as at least one clownfish was killed by another clownfish in the tank). Grow out technique: With this technique two small juvenile clownfish are purchased at the same time and introduced into the tank at the same time. The fish will establish a dominate submissive relationship as they mature and eventually form a pair bond. This technique works the vast majority of the time. Notes: Since the fish are going to fight and/or chase each other to establish who is the dominate fish and who is the submissive fish, it will often speed the pairing process and reduce fighting and potential damage to the fish by getting one of the two juveniles larger than the other. This technique should not be applied to Premnas species (maroon) clownfish. Add a new clownfish to an existing clownfish technique: With having an existing clownfish in your tank adding a new clownfish to form a pair can be a little harder or in other words more dangerous to the new fish. The technique is basically the same as the grow out technique. You will want to find a small juvenile clownfish and add it to the tank with the existing tank. By getting a small juvenile fish you are not risking possible sex compatibility problems, e.g. two females. Example: Existing 3" A. Ocellaris clownfish that has been in the tank by it's self for over a year. We can assume this fish is a female based on size, age and environment. A ¾" to 1 ½: juvenile from a community tank is added to the tank. The vast majority of the time the new fish will submit to the existing fish with little or no fighting at all. This technique should not be applied to Premnas species (maroon) clownfish. Paring Premnas species clownfish (maroon clownfish): Pairing maroon clowns is much more problematic than pairing Amphiprion species clownfish. Maroons are notorious for being very aggressive and very territorial towards other clownfish. They are pretty much fearless and will only back down from an all out fight when presented with the overwhelming threat of death. Separation Technique: The only technique I am aware of that works the vast majority of the time with the least amount of damage as possible to use a separation and slow acclimation process to introduce a poetical mate to a maroon clownfish. First you need to have a large female already established in your tank before trying a pairing. The clownfish should be at least 3" from nose to start of the cardinal fin. Next you will need to do a little preparation before buying a potential mate for your maroon. You need something to securely separate the two fish in the same tank while still allowing the fish to see each other and the new fish to get water flow. You can use a clear plastic specimen container with holes drilled in it for example. Now go to the LFS and find the smallest juvenile maroon from a community tank that you can find. It should be no larger than 1" nose to start of cardinal fin. Acclimate the new maroon just as you would any other fish. Once the new maroon is acclimated to your tanks water, place the new maroon in the specimen container. Let the two fish see each other, place the specimen container near the females territory. Carefully watch the female's behavior. If she is trying to attack the new fish through the container, it is not safe to release the new maroon. Give her time to cool off from the disruption to her tank and addition of a foreign clownfish in her tank. Now that the female has cooled her temper it is time to try an introduction. Get your favorite fish net ready and release the new maroon to the tank. If the fighting gets too bad you will need to rescue the new maroon and place it back in the container and try the next day. If after three failed attempts you can write off the new maroon as incompatible and you will need a new juvenile to try with. Submissive behavior in clownfish: As a part of pairing you need to know what submissive behavior is. You will know that you are well on your way to a successful pairing when one fish submits to the other fish. This is especially important behavior to observe in maroon clownfish. Amphiprion and Premnas species submissive behavior goes something like this. First the dominate fish will rush or otherwise attack the submissive fish. The submissive fish will turn sideways to the dominate fish and tilt its belly towards the dominate fish and quiver like an epileptic seizure. The female should recognize this behavior and stop the attack short of actual damage. Sometimes in new pairings and old well established pair bonds the dominate fish will move to a parallel position to the submissive and quiver back to the submissive fish. In Premnas species there is an additional submissive behavior that is unique to maroons. When the submissive fish is rushed or otherwise attacked it/he will duck the attack, slip to the side of the female and tenderly kiss her cheek spines and pectoral fins of his beloved female. Signs that you have a pair bond in your clownfish: There are a couple of signs that a pair bond has formed and is maturing in your clownfish in addition to submissive behavior. Typically mated pairs (pairs that have a pair bond) will sleep in the same area. They will also host in the same host or stay in the same territory if there is no natural host present. The two fish will stay close to each other the vast majority of the time. The pair bond is a developing thing. It starts out as a general acceptance of each other. Then slowly develops into a closer relationship were both fish are together most of the time. There is a bickering phase too where the female will make sure the male knows who is the boss. During this time it is not uncommon to find the poor little dejected male cowering near their normal host/territory. But don't worry this is normal and the male will be accepted back sooner or later. The ultimate end of the pair bond is seen in a spawning event such as nest cleaning or laying of eggs.

2 weeks... wow long time. feel sorry for him

less than 1 inch long. they should pair up eventually right? or some clowns just don't pair up?

the small clown is in the main tank now. How do i know that there is no more aggression and when do i let the bigger one out?

upzz

I have used cannister before. a good alternative as well. remember to get surface extraction kit

need to check AVA regulation. you explore then let us know

The empty clam shell looks very like a good place to me

lol ty.

Friend, Prizm is HOB lah.

Just get a HOB filter and air stone skimmer. If you stock lightly and is diligent in your husbandry, should be ok, I used to have a pico and all I used is a ehiem liberty filter. managed to keep a clown, purple goby and a shrimp in it. No corals. you can also consider getting a 2nd hand Red Sea Prizm skimmer. not a fantastic product but should be good enough for a small tank. With everything in, it should not cost you more than 150 to set up a simple pico. PS : I have which I can let go to you at $60. This model comes with media basket and surface skimming attachment.