Small fish suggestions for reef

[Anonymous]

105man, you've got it together.

Zooman, you totally misconstrued my comments. Had you read further, you would have seen that I was poking fun at the prophecy of doom for a tank that is still quite under control. I was merely conceding that these opinions were probably grounded in experience and fact, but still agreeing with your view that 105man should stick with his fish for now and not get turned off by the mandarin police and the nay-sayers.

As for UV, I have a large unit that was part of the package when I bought my system...I took it off the tank when I still contracted ick and it did nothing to even slow it down. I believe the reson people think that it is not good for a reef tank is that enough UV light will kill any tiny creature, including beneficial larvae floating around in the tank, thereby decreasing the number of pods that make it to adulthood. However, this is only true if you have a powerful enough UV unit that runs slow enough to expose the water to enough light. Personally, I'm selling my unit and putting the money into a new pump and some new light bulbs. :idea:

Good Luck 105man

 

[TheZooFarmer]

zooman you do realize that UV sterilizer will considerably raise the temp of a small q- tank?

will you be running a uv when you get yoru q-tank up?

what size q-tank will you have?

can you tell us about your current main setup and the fish you house?

 

[Anonymous]

some food for thought

a uv can only kill what goes through it

a uv doesn't discriminate between 'good', and 'bad' organisms

the best a uv can do is maybe slow down the rate of transmission of any disease, while eliminating, at the same time,(and to only a partial extent, admittedly) the microscopic controls for that disease)

mandarins can be 'taught' to eat and do very well, long term, on many various food items-there is at least one here on this bb who has a mandy eating flake food

i've had them get quite fat and plump on frozen foods like bloodworms and mysis, and flake

just depends on how much time you're willing to invest in feeding them, and providing an environment where they have the ability to feed w/out competition, imo

having said that-i would still seriously advise against most new hobbyists attemting to keep them

 

[DigiDrone]

well digi welcome, since I am sure you are a new poster..

Yeah, I thought the Posts: 1 might give that away

You ask some questions I can not answer. I have never seen a purple tang in captivity close to the 12-14' you speak of. I can not even think of one that is 8".

> It is from memory of something I read in a book about adult size.

 

[Anonymous]

I've seen them that size (in captivity). I would also offer that it's best to keep any animal's ultimate adult size in mind when considering housing.

 

[Anonymous]

Max size of Zebrasoma xanthurum is 9.8 inches according to Scott's book.

 

[DigiDrone]

In terms of the UV light, is there a total consensus that I should get rid of it?...that surprises me a little...I thought from all I had read and heard (albeit after I got it, at LFS' urging) that there seemed to be varying views, and that on balance for what I have overall it was probably good and at least not harmful. I would be interested in any further thoughts on that.
Thanks, all.

UV or 'Ultra Violet' lights cause damage to the molecular structure of certain organic molecules.

In living cells, the damage caused may result in reduced function or death to the host cell.

To get to the point in our context, UV is a great thing for killing those things that may harm our fish but it has it’s downside. You have seen those here refer to Copepods or other such things, these are good, they are food for our pets and we don't wish them destroyed. The bad things carry disease and they are the disease carriers that we wish to remove.

What may be confusing to you or others is that there are times that you want this material destroyed and there are times that you most defiantly do not want them destroyed. That is why you have seen those that say the lights are bad, and those that say the lights are good.

The lights are best used in a quarantine tank, they kill the disease organisms that are free floating and that could infect another hosts or the same host in another area.

They are bad in an established tank in that they will kill off those small cells that some of your residents consider food thereby starving them, this is a bad thing since food is scarce in most captive systems.

 

[DigiDrone]

I've seen them that size (in captivity). I would also offer that it's best to keep any animal's ultimate adult size in mind when considering housing.

As is so prevalent in this hobby, one persons cage is another persons freedom.

I just want them to be healthy, how that is accomplished is what I am here to learn and not to make some ‘Nemo’ happy. Fish live in water, I do not but that does not mean I cannot extrapolate some of what I know to be happiness into the liquid realm.

‘It is better to be healthy than wealthy’ is a good starting point, healthy implies sufficient food and other such things as to not make me sick, this does not insinuate an ocean of water nor does it mean perfection but ample food and freedom to perform the acts that God has built into me will make me feel that I am doing what is required of me.

What is a fish required to do? Be born, grow, reproduce.

If we provide those things to our loved ones are we not doing just what 'nature' intended?

 

[DigiDrone]

My question is difficult at best. My wife wants a Purple Tang. For her to accept the up front costs and then the on going electrics bills I need to be sure that her 'pet' does not die...

If it does die, then they will all go, no matter how much machismo I try to apply, my wife knows better, after all, that is why I got her and some low brow did not.

The wife sees the end point and she cares for all her pets as my wallet can attest to, in consideration of this I figure that I can keep this pet for at least 10 years.

 

[fishfanatic2]

This thread is turning into a battleground for personal and ethical comments... 8O

Mandarins are not reccomended since it is not likely that they will survive in a new tank. That does not mean that it is impossible, it just means that it is a really bad idea. 105 was probably just misinformed about the special needs of this fish.

A skimmer is like a must-have especially for a reef, not so much on a fish-only.

105, you're heading in the right direction with that refuge.

With the mandarin, keep feeding it a variety of foods. It sounds like you'll be OK.

If you keep up your partial water changes, then you may be able to get a pair of firefish or something in there. I will get yelled at for this one.

Definitely look into that refuge and probably a better skimmer, especially if you want to keep corals and an increased bio-load. Even better would be a sump with an in-sump refugium and the skimmer. THat would maximize the bio-load capacity of the tank.

I believe that the tang will eventually outgrow your tank, but in the meantime I don't think you'll have any problems.

Good Luck and Hope this Helps!

FF2

 

[TheZooFarmer]

fishfantic do you know what style and tank size that 105 has?

 

[fishfanatic2]

Yes, I do know that he has a corner tank, and that could prove problematic in itself. However, I see no reason why that should inhibit him from anything. Go ahead, prove me wrong, but I think that you should stop being so, uh, blockheaded. I don't want to give him bad info just to make him feel good, and I know you mean well, just try helping with solutions to the problems you identify, instead of saying "Well, he's screwed cause he has this, this and this.

I write this with good intentions.

 

[Anonymous]

Zooman, you totally misconstrued my comments. Had you read further, you would have seen that I was poking fun at the prophecy of doom for a tank that is still quite under control. I was merely conceding that these opinions were probably grounded in experience and fact, but still agreeing with your view that 105man should stick with his fish for now and not get turned off by the mandarin police and the nay-sayers.

Sorry, but it was hard to tell the tone of your reply.

 

[Anonymous]

zooman you do realize that UV sterilizer will considerably raise the temp of a small q- tank?

will you be running a uv when you get yoru q-tank up?

what size q-tank will you have?

can you tell us about your current main setup and the fish you house?

I have never run a UV sterilizer so I don't know how much it would raise the temp of a q-tank. I don't know if 105 even has a q-tank or the size of it, so I can't comment on that. Most q-tanks aren't going to have much light over them, so they won't be getting extra heat there, therefore I can't imagine that a UV sterilizer would push the temp up too high. I could be wrong, what are others experiences with this?
No I won't be running a UV sterilizer on my q-tank, it's not absolutely necessary, but if I had one already I would probably put it on there.
I'm not sure of the size of q-tank I will have, maybe a standard 3' tank. Something relatively cheap anyway.
My current setup is a 4x2x2 tank. I have 2 150W 10,000K MH units and one actinic fluro lighting it up. I run an under powered protein skimmer and a fuge for filtration. The fuge is lit by 60W of fluro light. I have plenty of water circulation from in-tank powerheads. I have plenty of LR, lots of soft corals, two clowns, a sleeper goby and blue tang.

 

[Anonymous]

theZooFarmer, you dodged my question about wether you had ever seen water go through a pump.

 

[Anonymous]

hmmm...

i am curious about something...

by how much will various wattage uv sterilizers raise various size tanks's temps at various ambient room temps?

anyone know any formulas for calculating this?

 

[TheZooFarmer]

zooman says

"Most q-tanks aren't going to have much light over them"

well since you have already said you have never setup a q-tank, how many q-tanks have you ever seen? And the q-tanks you have seen what was their lighting like?

and vitz are you saying that uv sterilizers do not add heat and raise the temp of water? do you not run large 25 or 50 watt sterilizers in your store?

and zooman well since you asked the STUPID QUESTION

"wether you had ever seen water go through a pump"

yes, every single day I watch water go through my pump, but PLEASE OH PLEASE say I dont, I would love to make you look as dumb as your question!

fishfanatic says

"Yes, I do know that he has a corner tank, and that could prove problematic in itself. However, I see no reason why that should inhibit him from anything."

well fish since you have CLEARY stated he can do anything how about him throwing a couple of vlamangis in the little corner tank?

 

[Anonymous]

zooman says

"Most q-tanks aren't going to have much light over them"

well since you have already said you have never setup a q-tank, how many q-tanks have you ever seen? And the q-tanks you have seen what was their lighting like?

and vitz are you saying that uv sterilizers do not add heat and raise the temp of water? do you not run large 25 or 50 watt sterilizers in your store?

and zooman well since you asked the STUPID QUESTION

"wether you had ever seen water go through a pump"

yes, every single day I watch water go through my pump, but PLEASE OH PLEASE say I dont, I would love to make you look as dumb as your question!

fishfanatic says

"Yes, I do know that he has a corner tank, and that could prove problematic in itself. However, I see no reason why that should inhibit him from anything."

well fish since you have CLEARY stated he can do anything how about him throwing a couple of vlamangis in the little corner tank?

You don't need much light over a q-tank and I'm sure that most people don't have much. I have seen many peoples setups, most with just a single or double fluro over their q-tank.
So you have actually seen water pass though a pump, is that right? You have a see-through pump that you can see the water pass through?

 

[TheZooFarmer]

well zoo my simple minded friend since you asked I shall make you look like the fool you are. I feed my tank through the last chamber of my sump. I do this becasue I have an enclosed canopy. So everything I feed I see it go into my pump inlet and out the returns. But I will even do you one better then that. When I feed mysis I add HUFA, this discolors the water, so I pour this discolored water into my sump I se it go into my pump and out my returns. In the inlet and out the returns therfore making a "THROUGH" action.

 

[Anonymous]

I see, so would you also say that you can see the wind?