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RoTTen2TheCore
02/27/2007, 12:39 PM
1. I have a 38 gal now cause my 35 sprung a leak and had to be quickly replaced (which was not very fun lemme tell joo!) so i just wanna kno if i can add more fish or am i at max stock? i have a royal gramma, oscillaris clown, mandarin goby, cleaner shrimp and a sleeper goby.

2. What is my best bet to keep my tank nice and clean of algea? more snails or a lawnmower blenny? or something else?
thanx :) apperciate what you guys are doing here.

papagimp
02/27/2007, 12:49 PM
I would consider ditching either the mandarin or sleepr goby and get another ocellaris. They do best in pairs, and both sleeper goby and mandarin "dragonette" will compete for the same food source. In that small of a tank, the mandarin will most likely loose the battle without a fuge hooked to the system to keep pod populations high.

Algae, water changes help, time for tank to mature completely, and a few snails. All new tanks go through algae for quite some time, it's normal and doesn't mean you have to add anything to the system to clear it out. Time takes care of that. But after the tank has had sufficient time to mature, lets say a year, if you still have algae problems, than you have something else going wrong and need to address that issue and not just add more snails to take care of the symptoms.

fwiw, I corrected your label on the mandarin, as they are not true gobies. They are dragonettes, like a scooter blenny. It's a dragonette, but for whatever reason people call him a blenny.

chaseracing
02/27/2007, 12:51 PM
Snails do a great job at keeping things clean. Crabs pick up whatever the snails do not get.

I sounds like you have several small fish. You should be ok to add another. A lot of fish just increase the bioload. Keep an eye on your water parameters. The numbers will let you know if you went to far.

If you have more fish than the tank can handle then you can add more Live rock, do more frequent water changes, or add supplements such as Essential Elements.

I think you still have a little ways before you overload. just do not go out and buy a 7" Tang and you should be ok.

How is the Mandarin doing? He may get a little hungary over the next month or so. Keep an eye on him.

-=E=-

RoTTen2TheCore
02/27/2007, 01:34 PM
yeh i mean dragonette not goby lol long day at work.. The mandarin is doing surprizingly well! i dont have a refugium for pods but he eats mysis shrimp like crazy, he actually swims up and grabs them and is staying nice and fat as he eats quite a bit of them.

chaseracing
02/27/2007, 01:39 PM
That is very cool. I was never able to get mine to eat mysis.

-=E=-

RoTTen2TheCore
02/27/2007, 01:57 PM
Did you buy it when it was small? i got mine at about 4 inches so either it has been captive bread for a while and learned to eat mysis over time or captive and not picky lol

chaseracing
02/27/2007, 02:02 PM
yep. Maybe 1.5" or so.

I am looking forward to getting another one in the near future. I just need the new tank to season a little bit more just in case it decides to eat live foods only.

-=E=-

RoTTen2TheCore
02/27/2007, 02:18 PM
good idea. good luck :)

papagimp
02/27/2007, 02:45 PM
If you plan to keep multiple dragonettes, get a male/female pair, if you end up with two males, expect lots of territorial behavior. Also make sure you train the newbie to eat mysis as well. Most find it extremely difficult if not all together impossible to get em on prepared foods, they're just picky little buggers. But great job! I've had mine for almost 2 years and he still won't touch mysis or anything else not swimming/crawling around.

Run over to the breeding forum and look up some threads on mandarin spawnings and all, very cool information and what a fun way to feed corals eh?