newbies always die...

[Strongbad]

Hello,

I had new fish dying within 2 weeks 6 months ago. Realized that the water is not fully cycled to the optimal condition.

IMHO, it depends on how was the initial setup done and if you have the necessary accessories to speed up the cycle.

My 2.5ft tank took about 9 months to stabilize.

In the begining stage, it's better to add one fish at a time and try different shops They will still gladly serve you even if you buy one, so dun worry lah !

I've been using Seachem Buffer all along and I must say it has been keeping my PH stable. I add a spoonful once a month. However, if the PH is not optimal, i'd add a spoonful every other day until it's at 8.3.

Even today, I'm adding at most 2 fish at one time.

And of course, don't over feed !

So far, the age of my fish are as below:

Blue Tang (1 year)

Yellow Tang (6 months)

Brown Tang (8 months)

Sea Mono (1 year)

Sailfin Tang (2 months)

Blue fin damsel (4 months)

Dispar Anthias (2 weeks)

Wrasse (4 months)

Tomato Clown (1 week)

Common Clown (3 days)

Total: 10 fish

Lastly, patience.....

Btw, I'm rather new to the hobby as well, so do take my posting with a pinch of salt....

Good Luck

[jas_soh]

Hello,

I had new fish dying within 2 weeks 6 months ago. Realized that the water is not fully cycled to the optimal condition.

IMHO, it depends on how was the initial setup done and if you have the necessary accessories to speed up the cycle.

My 2.5ft tank took about 9 months to stabilize.

In the begining stage, it's better to add one fish at a time and try different shops They will still gladly serve you even if you buy one, so dun worry lah !

I've been using Seachem Buffer all along and I must say it has been keeping my PH stable. I add a spoonful once a month. However, if the PH is not optimal, i'd add a spoonful every other day until it's at 8.3.

Even today, I'm adding at most 2 fish at one time.

And of course, don't over feed !

So far, the age of my fish are as below:

Blue Tang (1 year)

Yellow Tang (6 months)

Brown Tang (8 months)

Sea Mono (1 year)

Sailfin Tang (2 months)

Blue fin damsel (4 months)

Dispar Anthias (2 weeks)

Wrasse (4 months)

Tomato Clown (1 week)

Common Clown (3 days)

Total: 10 fish

Lastly, patience.....

Btw, I'm rather new to the hobby as well, so do take my posting with a pinch of salt....

Good Luck

wah..how big's your tank? my tank is also 2.5ft in length, but it's 2.5x1.5x1.5 & from the resources on the website it seems that i can only add total of 16-18" total length of fishes in the tank. but you have a couple of tangs... everything's ok with bioload?

[arcanehacker]

wah..how big's your tank? my tank is also 2.5ft in length, but it's 2.5x1.5x1.5 & from the resources on the website it seems that i can only add total of 16-18" total length of fishes in the tank. but you have a couple of tangs... everything's ok with bioload?

I see 3 tangs in his tank... hehe.. so when you getting yours...hahah.. .. get some tips from him then can add liao..

[strat]

I see 3 tangs in his tank... hehe.. so when you getting yours...hahah.. .. get some tips from him then can add liao..

3 tangs?

I see 4 inside!!!

Wah your bio-load quite huge...

[Strongbad]

Hello strat,arcanehacker and jas_soh,

Yes, i have four tangs. The blue and brown tang is about 3 inches while the yellow and sailfin is about 1.5 inches....

It's a matter of luck, as I read that tangs don't mixed well together. But there're one big family as I can see them sharing seaweed harmoniously...

I admit that I was rather worried that the yellow tang might be killed by the brown tang who harassed it initially for 2 days but after that, it's ok. It took about 2.5 weeks for the broken fins to recover for the yellow tang....

Hmmm...I only have live rocks plus some articial corals and plants. So far, when it's lights out, the brown and blue will go to one corner while the yellow and sailfin are at another corner.

In the meantime, I'm not adding anymore fish as I'm also afraid of overcrowding and the amount of waste...

I got this fish-in-furniture system from Amb*n who sells Atla*s fish tank (Over-flow concept). I must say it's NOT suitable for reef tank and there's no allowance to add in a chiller.....

As for feeding, I only feed them once a day with flakes and pellets from Tetra*n. On weekends, it's frozen mysis shrimps and brine shrimps...

Now that i have a dispar anthias that eats only mysis shrimps...it's giving me a headache on the feeding....

By the way, , i tried blood worms a year ago, and it's A BIG NO NO for tangs. Though they will gobble them up, they'd certainly die in a week. However, this is my own encounter lah...

[jas_soh]

strong dad, i take my hat off ya! i dun dare to add a single tang into my tank now scared of the bioload yet u have a couple.... i hope i have the guts like you. perhaps i should let my latest collection of pajamas cardinal & 6-line wrasse settle in den decide if i should buy a tang in my tank too.

they must be a pretty sight to watch, eh?

[Strongbad]

Yah, the tangs are lovely....

By the way, i'm StrongBAD ... hehe... still not a Dad lah....far far from it...will be spending Valentine's Day with them

I should say i'm rear fish onlyz lah...

My digital camera is on loan....sigh.....i'd try to chio chio it back and take a picture of my tang beauties...

[tiger]

Hi, I fed my 4 Tangs bw once a day, sometime once every 2 days. Tetrabit, flake twice per day, so far so good (2 months) already. So I think they wont die from eating Bw, just 2 share.

[agentK]

Hi guys! New to the forums! Was invited over by a friend from WetWebMedia who is based there in Singapore. Just wanted to say that i too have been having the same problem with my LiveStock. My specs are in my sig below.

Typically, my fishes wouldn't last more than two months. They would mysteriously die after being healthy all day till the day before they die. Like my green chromis that ate like crazy everytime i feed. Very mobile, very alert, perfect occular condition... next day, floating. Have narrowed my hunches to my DeepWell water source, my 28-29degC temperature, and to an unknown invert that has bee creeping out of the rocks like plastic mans arm.

[neutronics]

so sian recently all my recent purchases always die one by one. yet my 4 mth old false clowns survived for 4 mths liao. amonia ok, nitrite and nitrate ok. just dunno why new purchases like blue tang, cleaner wrasse, sabae clowns, shrimps always die. so sianz. feel like giving upz.....

There might be a possibility of the occurence of semi-old tank syndrome where new fishes can't adapt to the different conditions of your tank fast enough. Read on..

http://www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html