Farm Raised Clowns

[Mac73]

Hello All:

I have two farm raised clowns in my 46 gallon mixed reef/fish tank and have a couple of questions.....First, will farm raised clowns take to an anemone? If so,which is best for the clowns?

Second, I have an alveopora, deep see yellow gorgonian and a purple tunicate....Will anemones conflict with any of these corals?

Thanks,

Mac73

[firefish2020]

Second, I have an alveopora, deep see yellow gorgonian and a purple tunicate....Will anemones conflict with any of these corals?


I don't want to be the bringer of bad news here but you need to know a few things...
Any anemone can sting other coral if it touches it but thats not the real problem here. The real problem is that the coral you mentioned are nearly impossible to keep alive without special care. Alveopora, require special feedings of Cyclopeez based nutrients to keep them alive for any amount of time. Yellow gorgonia also require special feedings as they are not able to utilize photosynthesis. A purple tunicate is not a coral at all and in my own opinion should not be bought by anyone not familiar with the care of tunicates and sponges beforehand. I suggest doing a thourough search on line to see what others are doing to keep these animals alive.
As for your clowns hosting, they can I have seen it but most will host with something you don't want them to. In your case the alveopora might be more pleasing to your clowns than any anemone.

[dugg]

they might take to one, butthey don't need one to be happy. I see your experience is listed as 1 month, meaning your tank can't be much older right? An anemone is a hard to keep animal, that requires a tank that has been running for a year or more, and has very stable water conditions, and intense lighting. They are not a good purchase for someone that is new to the hobby. Here is a very good article to educate you about anemones and thier needs.

http://www.carlosreef.com/AnemoneFAQ.pdf

Also the other corals you have listed are really going to be touch and go trying to keep them alive in that new of a system. What type of lighting do you have on the tank? What type of filtration (sump/fuge, over the back filter, skimmer) ? Keeping a reef tank takes lots of patience as far as getting it set up the way you think it should be. It can take years to build a reef, just like in the ocean. NOTHING good come quick in this hobby. The only quick things are hair algae blooms, disease, and equipment failure. Everything else takes lots of time. Most of the really pretty corals need an established tank of a year or more to thrive. You should start with easier to keep corals, like mushrooms and polyp, them slowly as your tank matures, you can add the harder to keep corals. Anything that is a filter feeder will need a mature tank. Until the tank has matured all you can offer is light and water for the most part. There are suppliments, but they are just that (suppliments). They also need the natural bio diversity that comes with a mature tank to get everything they need to survive.

If you have a question about any corals that you may want, as to if they will be ok in a newer tank, ask here on the forum, and AVOID impulse purchases. Always take any info from a local fish store with a grain of salt. Remember, they are trying to sell you anything you will buy. The people here on the forum are here to help, and have nothing to gain.

Good luck and WELCOME to our nightmare i mean hobby :)

[BurntOutReefer]

dude.....return/trade thos corals.....way to hard to keep.

[Mac73]

Firefish2020 and Dugg:

Thanks for the info....I am very new to this and your input is much appreciated....I have already had a problem with my Alveopora which I attributed to poor lighting, so I upgraded to a 150W MH and 30W actinic to simulate sun-up and sun down....I run a Prism HOB skimmer, Penguin 350 dual bio-wheel filter, a 160 gph powerhead and 900 GPH pump/return from my chiller. My water paprameters are Ammonia O, PH 8.3, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, PO4 .05 and CA 400.

I thought that once my tank has cycled and parameters leveled out it would be ok to add coral....Is that not the case?

I am currently feeding the Gorgonian and Tunicate Kent Zoo-Plex and Coral-Accel on alternate days.....Any comments on these two products?

Thanks,

Mac73

[doodoobrown]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6797029#post6797029 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mac73
Firefish2020 and Dugg:



I thought that once my tank has cycled and parameters leveled out it would be ok to add coral....Is that not the case?



Thanks,

Mac73

once your tank has cycled it is ok to add some coral not all. as stated earlier these corals require a mature reef not just a cycled tank. there are many things that you will have to wait for. just part of it unfortunatly. the best things to add at this point would be softies such as zoas, shrooms etc... as your tank develops and your knowledge then you can move up to more advanced more attention requiring corals.

[dugg]

First off, great choice for lighting. Second, ditch the bio wheels imidiatly, before the tank gets established, they are nitrate factories just waiting to give you trouble. Take one out, then take the other out in about a week so it doesn't shock the system. The skimmer will do for now, but you will be wanting to upgrade that later. For a hang on the back skimmer, look into a remora pro, for an in sump model, look into an ASM or Euro reef skimmer. It looks like equipment wise, you are off to a good start overall.

As far as adding corals when the tank has cycled, you can add some things, but only the easy care things like mushrooms and polyps. After around 6 months, you can begin to add the LPS (large polyp stoney coral) like open brains and that sort of things. All of the current corals you have are hard to almost immpossible to keep even for the most experienced. Clams are pretty easy to keep after you have been set up for 4 to 6 months. I would take the stuff you have now back and trade them in for some mushrooms. Don't let them die in your tank, or they will pollute the system and cause un needed trouble.

[firefish2020]

Always take any info from a local fish store with a grain of salt. Remember, they are trying to sell you anything you will buy.


Please don't judge us all by some. I don't want to sell you anything, I want you to be successful in your hobby. So take this for what it's worth to you.


Second, ditch the bio wheels imidiatly, before the tank gets established, they are nitrate factories just waiting to give you trouble.


The truth of the matter is that this is an often quoted seldom proven statement. I have systems under my care that have had bio-balls in them for nearly a decade now. I suggest that you do rinse them off about every 6 months or so if you have a particularly high animal load. The best advice I can give you is to get a better skimmer ASAP. If you cant afford an ASM or Euroreef then get a Coralife Supper Skimmer, they produce a great amount of skimmate for the price.
Good to see you have halide lighting thats a great investment but your alveopora will prob do better under an overhang or in a light fall-off zone.

Also get rid of the HOB filter and get a sump or build yourself a refugium/Sump which would also increase your chances with aposymbiotic corals.


I am currently feeding the Gorgonian and Tunicate Kent Zoo-Plex and Coral-Accel on alternate days.....


Zooplex is not going to be able to sustain the gorgonia alone. Get some Cyclopeeze ASAP. Coral Accell is more like a vitamin for your reef than anything IMO.

Hope this helps some.