Desi & Ketchup 4x2.5x2 tank

[Ketchup]

Fish list : DONE!!! Corals list : DONE!!! Rockscape : PLANNED! Lifestock timetable to add in : more or less we know!

Die... what else to do during the 3 weeks of cycling... LOL Must be able to tolerate the urge to throw stuff in..

cheers,

Desi

Can throw Prawn..

[Ketchup]

oh gosh u are one excited reefer! completed all those! haha! well learning stuff in this hobby is a never ending journey. i'm still learning, and i have lots more to learn too! have fun lol. go memorise all the fishes to make ID-ing them in LFS easier haha. its really very very useful. corals also. wahaha. like school :/

Don't want la.. learn more than more tempted! lol... We did some research based on some books we bought la... so more or less the lifestock like fishes/corals shd be compatible or at least we think can survive in our tank provided we don't screw up.. LOL...

Fish wise, should be chromis (maybe 8 blue-green chromis), 1 pair of black oscellaris clown (if possible), 1 Tomato clown (existing, abt 2 yrs 3 mths), Powder Brown, Powder Blue, Regal Blue, YT (existing, abt 5 mths).... others maybe some wrasses, blenny, gobies.

Cleaning crew - boxer shrimp(existing, 2 yrs 3 mths), 4 cleaner shrimp (maybe peppermint?), snails (a bunch.. i rem is max is 1/gallon?), some small sandshifters...

Corals a bit more diff to decide... more temptations.. but we have some existing corals... super sunnies, bubbles, octopus... a 1/2 dead gonipora.. a pink cauliflower (new) + 7 corals at GO

[MarcoVan]

WE WILL SURVIVE!

Then you should sing,

First I was afraid

I was petrified

Kept thinking I could never live

without you by my side

But I spent so many nights

thinking how you did me wrong

I grew strong

I learned how to carry on

and so you're back

from outer space

I just walked in to find you here

with that sad look upon your face

I should have changed my stupid lock

I should have made you leave your key

If I had known for just one second

you'd be back to bother me

Go on now go walk out the door

just turn around now

'cause you're not welcome anymore

weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye

you think I'd crumble

you think I'd lay down and die

Oh no, not I

I will survive

as long as i know how to love

I know I will stay alive

I've got all my life to live

I've got all my love to give

and I'll survive

I will survive

I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

nice tank cheers!

Happy Reefing,

Marc J.

[samsies]

Don't want la.. learn more than more tempted! lol... We did some research based on some books we bought la... so more or less the lifestock like fishes/corals shd be compatible or at least we think can survive in our tank provided we don't screw up.. LOL...

Fish wise, should be chromis (maybe 8 blue-green chromis), 1 pair of black oscellaris clown (if possible), 1 Tomato clown (existing, abt 2 yrs 3 mths), Powder Brown, Powder Blue, Regal Blue, YT (existing, abt 5 mths).... others maybe some wrasses, blenny, gobies.

Cleaning crew - boxer shrimp(existing, 2 yrs 3 mths), 4 cleaner shrimp (maybe peppermint?), snails (a bunch.. i rem is max is 1/gallon?), some small sandshifters...

Corals a bit more diff to decide... more temptations.. but we have some existing corals... super sunnies, bubbles, octopus... a 1/2 dead gonipora.. a pink cauliflower (new) + 7 corals at GO

I can imagine your new FTS now ...

One word - NICE!

[jackywongto]

I can imagine your new FTS now ...

One word - NICE!

I have 2 words. ..... Very Nice!

[jackywongto]

I can imagine your new FTS now ...

One word - NICE!

I have 2 words. ..... Very Nice!

[yikai]

Don't want la.. learn more than more tempted! lol... We did some research based on some books we bought la... so more or less the lifestock like fishes/corals shd be compatible or at least we think can survive in our tank provided we don't screw up.. LOL...

Fish wise, should be chromis (maybe 8 blue-green chromis), 1 pair of black oscellaris clown (if possible), 1 Tomato clown (existing, abt 2 yrs 3 mths), Powder Brown, Powder Blue, Regal Blue, YT (existing, abt 5 mths).... others maybe some wrasses, blenny, gobies.

Cleaning crew - boxer shrimp(existing, 2 yrs 3 mths), 4 cleaner shrimp (maybe peppermint?), snails (a bunch.. i rem is max is 1/gallon?), some small sandshifters...

Corals a bit more diff to decide... more temptations.. but we have some existing corals... super sunnies, bubbles, octopus... a 1/2 dead gonipora.. a pink cauliflower (new) + 7 corals at GO

you might want to reconsider the chromis. although very nice initially, chromis will tend to not school and look very messy in a tank. sometimes they will fight until left 1. schooling nature is hard to replicate in captivity. sometimes a large predatory fish can force schooling behaviour.

black clown pair is a good choice.

tomato clowns can get very aggressive and might fight with your future black clowns.

the powder series tangs are very tough to get them feeding and are very prone to ich. add them only once your tank has stabalised for a few months with healthy growth of algae for grazing. marine plants such as caulerpa or ulva is excellent. Regal tangs and yellow tangs are fine choice and are hardy. just remember as tangs, regardless of species, are scaleless, they are very prone to ich. and grow very fast. especially the regal blue.

if keeping fairy and flasher wrasses (cirrhilabrus/paracheilinus), a hood is absolutely necessary as this family of fishes are extremely jumpy and jump for no reason or when frightened.

blennies and gobies make fine aquarium inhabitants.

boxing shrimps can get pretty nasty with cleaner shrimps. so add them with caution and separate if anything gets too rough

[mitlancer]

Fish list : DONE!!! Corals list : DONE!!! Rockscape : PLANNED! Lifestock timetable to add in : more or less we know!

Die... what else to do during the 3 weeks of cycling... LOL Must be able to tolerate the urge to throw stuff in..

already learnt some lessons from the pathetic 2 feet we got the last 2 years so hope to not repeat the same sillly mistakes. I just remember how I had to do a FW dip to my precious little tomato clown to save him from velvet and it will be the memory to stop myself from doing rash things. I recall how happy I was when after 2 weeks of Hypo and FW dips that he/she started to eat when I plonked him back to the main tank, almost CRIED!! LOL

thanks for the advice lemon and everyone else! FINGERS CROSSED STILL!

cheers,

Desi

Nice.. : )

I know what else u can do during the 3 weeks cycling, stock up all your maintenance stuff, like bacteria, test kits, all the trace elements, see where got bulk purchase, maybe set up a quarantine tank as well.

Can feel the excitement u guys are going through from your post liao.

[macrobutt]

you might want to reconsider the chromis. although very nice initially, chromis will tend to not school and look very messy in a tank. sometimes they will fight until left 1. schooling nature is hard to replicate in captivity. sometimes a large predatory fish can force schooling behaviour.

I was at Iwarna last night and saw a school of yellow color "trevally looking" fish. They school pretty nice together.

tomato clowns can get very aggressive and might fight with your future black clowns.

You can say that again, the Tomato clowns are the only clowns that enjoy attacking my UW camera in my diving days.

[Ketchup]

you might want to reconsider the chromis. although very nice initially, chromis will tend to not school and look very messy in a tank. sometimes they will fight until left 1. schooling nature is hard to replicate in captivity. sometimes a large predatory fish can force schooling behaviour.

black clown pair is a good choice.

tomato clowns can get very aggressive and might fight with your future black clowns.

the powder series tangs are very tough to get them feeding and are very prone to ich. add them only once your tank has stabalised for a few months with healthy growth of algae for grazing. marine plants such as caulerpa or ulva is excellent. Regal tangs and yellow tangs are fine choice and are hardy. just remember as tangs, regardless of species, are scaleless, they are very prone to ich. and grow very fast. especially the regal blue.

if keeping fairy and flasher wrasses (cirrhilabrus/paracheilinus), a hood is absolutely necessary as this family of fishes are extremely jumpy and jump for no reason or when frightened.

blennies and gobies make fine aquarium inhabitants.

boxing shrimps can get pretty nasty with cleaner shrimps. so add them with caution and separate if anything gets too rough

Hi LemonLemon

Yeah, our initial thought was getting abt 6-8 anthias (preferably Bartletts anthias as they are so nice and colourful) as we would like to have a small school of fish swimming across the tank but we read that they are too aggressive. So we look around and apparently Blue-green chromis are the least aggressive.. (peaceful, as stated in the book) so hence the choice.. we have kept 2 yellowtail damsel as well as blue damsel before and they are pretty hard but like what you say, can be aggressive and in occasion case, suicidal!

For clownfish, we are kinda stuck with going for the black oscellaris.. The background is we bought the tomato clown which is with us for 2 yrs 3 mths and counting since day 1 in our 2 ft nano tank. we tried to keep some the true percula (or is it fake percula) but i think because of various reasons (tomato aggressive, percula is also orange colour, lack of 2nd anemone, tomato being bigger in size), it wasn't successful.

Hence this time we decided to try black oscellaris and we will likely have 2 separate anemone. One for the tomato (we disposed the old anemone, which has bleached badly recently) and 1 for the pair of black oscellaris. We also intend to put the 2 anemone separate side of the tank... maybe one on FT side, one on side or back.

For the warasse, we have yet to decide what type... all desi know is that some help to clean fishes so she wanted it.. will research more.. Hood wise, ours is full length cabinet so should be ok.. unless they jump into overflow, which i intend to maybe DIY some sort of netting on top of the overflow box.

Tangs... they are what really brought us into Marine tank... The mention of ich and velvet(if thats what it is) really scare and anger us... With our 2 ft, we are somewhat successful in keeping a tomini tang (mainly bought to eat all the algae, till our attempt to catch a hitchhiker crab, somehow cause the tang to die (prob due to dust/stress). Regal blue and YT have all succumbed to ich/velvet... till the recent YT (5 mth old now). I think now we have a better understanding of the fish (like what they eat, signs of trouble) and with a better tank, more stable system, we will try. In fact, we keep on telling ourselves that we WILL NOT KEEP PBT unless we have a 4 ft or larger tank.. so here it is..

Anyway, my plan is to add in maybe a smallish regal blue, then maybe our YT... lastly, we will look for a nice Powder Brown (prob not too small so it's feeding and healthy) and lastly prob a Powder Blue, maybe 1-2 mths after most of the live stock is added.. hope this sounds ok? For ich, we kinda accepted that all Tangs will get it but it's rather an issue of whether they can survive through it, either with or w/o our intervention... best way to keep ich away is avoid stress, good nuition

Blennies and gobies, we also kept before but it was a mistake as we have no sandbed and little space for them to hide.. Hence, we decided to incorporate all the space under the eggcrate, in the t-joints, x-joints, so that it will provide them some hiding place.. also, the fibreglass rock and live rocks we chose should provide plenty of small nooks and crevices for them to hide.. I may dig/drill some small holes in the liverock too...

Lastly, the boxer shrimp is pretty ok.. i don't think it's too agressive as we have kept it since day 1. However, we will still add in the other cleaner shrimps 1st, prob 4-6 in pairs, first. if our boxer shrimp (we call it Rocky) is too agressive then i will prob take it out or something... keeping my fingers crossed that he will behave

Thanks for the advice and keep it coming! we need more advice as we go along so we can learn from you guys

[Ketchup]

Nice.. : )

I know what else u can do during the 3 weeks cycling, stock up all your maintenance stuff, like bacteria, test kits, all the trace elements, see where got bulk purchase, maybe set up a quarantine tank as well.

Can feel the excitement u guys are going through from your post liao.

Hehe.. mitlancer, we have been doing that since we ORDER the tank! lol.. anyway, we have most of the test kits (from our existing 2 ft tank). Our 2ft tank can serve as QT once our existing livestocks/corals is transferred.. if necessary, we have a spare 2 ft.. and a small boyu, which are our reservist units!

[desideria]

Yeah, about the tomato clowns, they are super duper aggresive... well.. our tomato has been with us since the beginning so we do have some emotional attachment to the cute fella. HAH.

Thanks for the input on the chromis.. I recall reading about the fact that a bigger fish would encourage schooling so MAYBe I should end in the chromis AFTER I add in everythign else? I know it's a risk we all take!

Anyway, whilst waiting for elvin and eugene to come for Day 2 ( more detailed pics tonight after the piping etc)... here's 2 pics of KEtchup and Me having fun with our tank stuff.

Ketchup doing the STAR WARS LIGHT SABRE thingy with 2 long plastic tubes inserted into the 4 way joint.. LOL The long plastic tubes are for us to do future target feeding of our corals.. and we realise some of

the corals we bought require that... so.. WE ARE READY!

Me in the tank!! hee hee hee hee... don't laugh at me... I'm no model!!!! But if you see closely, you can see the PATHETIC 2 feet we have for the past 2 years sitting on our dining table ... our livestock can see the new tank... I can imagine the 2 fish in there thinking : HOw come our mommy is in the TANK before US!

LOL

D&K

[Ketchup]

I was at Iwarna last night and saw a school of yellow color "trevally looking" fish. They school pretty nice together.

You can say that again, the Tomato clowns are the only clowns that enjoy attacking my UW camera in my diving days.

Is it the YT? i only recall seeing school of the hawaiian YTs... small size.. super duper cute size!

[Ketchup]

Hehe... desi posted the msg almost same time as me from home... and we both use SUPER DUPER...

Are we SUPER DUPER or what! LOL...

[MarcoVan]

:upsidedown:

[macrobutt]

Is it the YT? i only recall seeing school of the hawaiian YTs... small size.. super duper cute size!

I guess so (since they look like trevally and are yellow in color )

Yea, adding a tither fish usually help them school (until they find the tither fish not a threat).

[yikai]

I was at Iwarna last night and saw a school of yellow color "trevally looking" fish. They school pretty nice together.

NEVER add those! yes those ARE trevallys! they grow humoungous and eat ALOT. heck u can even cook them once they are big.

desi and ketchup, a group of bartletts over chromis is a wiser choice anyday. bartletts are peaceful and MUCH more colourful. best of all, they are the easiest anthias to feed. pellets on day 1 is no issue for this fish. the price is abit of a turn off going for about 10 red notes for 3 lol. but very much nicer in my opinion.

anyway i can feel your excitement from here and u two look really happy LOL. stay happy!

[digibee]

Hey Ketchup & desideria,

Just to say hi, and nice huge tank you have there!

Will be checking on your thread as I am starting my 2 ft cube.

Cheers!

[Ketchup]

NEVER add those! yes those ARE trevallys! they grow humoungous and eat ALOT. heck u can even cook them once they are big.

desi and ketchup, a group of bartletts over chromis is a wiser choice anyday. bartletts are peaceful and MUCH more colourful. best of all, they are the easiest anthias to feed. pellets on day 1 is no issue for this fish. the price is abit of a turn off going for about 10 red notes for 3 lol. but very much nicer in my opinion.

anyway i can feel your excitement from here and u two look really happy LOL. stay happy!

Really? If bartletts are better choice then we will definitely go for it as it's more colourful and originally what we wanted... I think price wise is ok la... thats the thing abt keeping marine fish in SG>.. equipment is super ex but fishes and corals are quite reasonable...

[Ketchup]

Hey Ketchup & desideria,

Just to say hi, and nice huge tank you have there!

Will be checking on your thread as I am starting my 2 ft cube.

Cheers!

Hi Digibee

Thanks.. we will try and keep this thread going... but i think we will close this thread once cycling is completed... Then open another once we start stocking so that easier to read... i have read some threads here that ran over 70 pages, and i must keep going to find the right page:P

Good luck with the 2ft cube... we started with a 2ft tank as well.. smaller than yours.. you get the 2ft cube from J****?

[yikai]

Really? If bartletts are better choice then we will definitely go for it as it's more colourful and originally what we wanted... I think price wise is ok la... thats the thing abt keeping marine fish in SG>.. equipment is super ex but fishes and corals are quite reasonable...

yeah bartletts school better. chromis will fight amongst themselves until one is left. usually.... when getting a group of anthias always get all females as a dominant one will morph into a male. more than 1 males may fight. alternatively get 1 male and all females. 1 female might moprh and u will end up with 2 males. can keep all successfully together. anthias are quite peaceful even amongst same gender.... only the occasional squabble.

[Ketchup]

Really? If bartletts are better choice then we will definitely go for it as it's more colourful and originally what we wanted... I think price wise is ok la... thats the thing abt keeping marine fish in SG>.. equipment is super ex but fishes and corals are quite reasonable...

http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/anthias/bartlettsanthias/ US$49!

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/anthias/Bartletts.php

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...amp;pcatid=1128

[Ketchup]

yeah bartletts school better. chromis will fight amongst themselves until one is left. usually.... when getting a group of anthias always get all females as a dominant one will morph into a male. more than 1 males may fight. alternatively get 1 male and all females. 1 female might moprh and u will end up with 2 males. can keep all successfully together. anthias are quite peaceful even amongst same gender.... only the occasional squabble.

ic... seems like quite ok from what i read as well... I think we will likely keep barletts instead of chromis then... which LFS stock them ah? AM? i hardly see anthias at CF iirc.

[yikai]

ic... seems like quite ok from what i read as well... I think we will likely keep barletts instead of chromis then... which LFS stock them ah? AM? i hardly see anthias at CF iirc.

bartlett anthias are only available from hawaii shipments. best place to get them IMO is from iwarna during hawaii shipments as they carry them by the hundreds (literally), in MOST shipments. go early before the crowd and mass buyers to pick afew for yourself. within a day, 100 bartletts can be sold out.

[Ketchup]

bartlett anthias are only available from hawaii shipments. best place to get them IMO is from iwarna during hawaii shipments as they carry them by the hundreds (literally), in MOST shipments. go early before the crowd and mass buyers to pick afew for yourself. within a day, 100 bartletts can be sold out.

ic.. NOTE TO SELF: HAWAIIAN SHIPMENT!