finally cycled

[scarpenter]

I am finally cycled, I have 4 small clowns as well as 1 small blue and yellow damsel in this 110 gal. I am planning on adding 2 or 3 PJ cardinals and then 2 very small regal tangs the first of the week. Sound cool?

[sir_dudeguy]

Dont go so fast. Your bacteria wont have time to bounce back from the newly added "large" bioload...those 2 tangs alone are gonna be the main factors, but so are the cardinals. Only add 1 maybe 2 fish every month.

Also, a 110 may be enough room, but generally when you put more than 2 clowns together, theres gonna be fights...specially if they pair to form 2 pairs.

Last, i dont know if putting 2 tangs in a 110 would be a good idea to beging with. I see many people recomending at least a 125 for multiple tangs. Not because there isnt enough swimming room, but because of territorial issues.

The main thing...go slow. Theres no need to rush in and get a ton of fish at once, otherwise you're probably gonna see a spike in amonia or something, which will have a chance to kill your fish.

[BurntOutReefer]

"when you put more than 2 clowns together, theres gonna be fights...specially if they pair to form 2 pairs. "
Not entirely true. Depends on breed.

but the rest of the advice is good.....

[akrimmel]

scarpenter
dont rush anything, patience is a virtue in this hobby. nothing good comes fast when it comes to these tanks. you will overload the bioload if you add all those fish in at once. then downhill from there, not the fish police just trying to help out.

[batguano]

The toughest thing to do in this hobby is to resist the urge to get another new fish or all the fish you want at once. It is also the most common mistake. Take everyone's advice. Go slow, your tank won't spike as easily, your fish will be much less stressed and you will have much more enjoyment of your tank. I know from personal experience that this is tough advice to take, but take it. No one here is trying to tell you what to do, they are offering advice from experience. :)

[TekCat]

Totally agree on going slow. Wait a bit, and then adjust your cleaning crew accordingly to handle your current fish load. They will poop, so adding some detrius eating critters may be a good idea.

[scarpenter]

tonight I added 3 cardinals along with 2 cleaner fire shrimp. I will see how it goes from here before I add the regals. I will go slow though...but it seems that with the addition of a deep bacteria sand bed and plants in my sump the levels seem to be equalizing quickly.

[flinka]

I agree with everyone who has counseled patience.

It might also be helpful to perform daily water tests for a few days (ammonia and nitrites) to see if you spike either so that you can take protective measures, if necessary.

[scarpenter]

just tested the water. Ammonia is at 0, Nitrite at 0, and Nitrate at 0

[scarpenter]

I nned to do Ph here in a minute

[sir_dudeguy]

pH wont swing just by adding fish.

But those levels are good...except they wont go up right away always. It can be a few days before they'll go up. But even if they do go back to 0 in like 2 weeks...i still wouldnt get anything untill at least 3 weeks after...a month in between is better.

burnout...what types of clowns wont fight when in groups?

I'm pretty sure that maroons would, because they're mean anyways.
Percs..i've seen a few groups of more than just 2 fight. And i''m thinking i saw a thread a while ago about this too..the guy had like 6 percs in a larger tank and they were fighting.

Also, a friend of mine has a perc pair and a...saddleback? i think its a saddleback..anyways he's got those 3 in a 90 and they fight pretty often.

[scarpenter]

I have 4 small Ocellaris tank breed clowns. They seem to group two of them together.

[Fountainhead]

If you put 4 clowns in a tank, does one become the female with three males? Certainly thay can't pair up with two females and two males, can they? Wouldn't the females fight? Or do they stay in some sort of sexless state?

I dunno. I'd be concerned about four clowns in a single tank over the long haul.

[scarpenter]

over the long hall yes, there is room for concern. This is the start of more tanks to follow. I have 2 55 gal. cichlid tanks that I will hopefully convert to salt the first of the year. As for sexing clowns, in my case I would guess that is will most likely be 3 males to one female. I have a friend who has 5 in a 75 gal. that was his case. atleast he says, I am still not sure how to tell.

[DAW1906]

CLOWNS CHANGE THER SEX FROM MALE TO FEMALE (THEY ALL START AS MALES) AS I AM SURE YOU KNOW AND IF YOU HAVE 4 I AM QUITE POSITVE THAT YOU WILL GET TWO DISTINCT PAIRS AND NOT A HAREM OF 1 FEMALE AND THREE MALES

JUST MY .02

[Raibaru]

I'm not an expert (hell, water is still the limit for me!) but I believe I read somewhere from either a book or various forums that with groups of clowns that dont pair off, you will get a harem type arrangement where there will be one female, one male and the rest will remain asexual. This way if something happens to the female, the male will be come the female and another dominent juvinile will then become the male.

Don't quote me though and I can't remember if this came from a book or not (think it was over at the rare clown fish forum though).

Good luck all the same though. I am planning to get my Live Rock this weekend despite still having problems with my water and I know all to well the temptations of buying everything you see. Infact, there is a sale at the local Petco this weekend and it is taking all my will power not to swing by there and buy a $2.00 damsel just to see what happens.

[sir_dudeguy]

Certainly thay can't pair up with two females and two males, can they? Wouldn't the females fight? Or do they stay in some sort of sexless state?

If you get 2 females then yes, there will be a problem. Tho like you say, i dont know what will happen...will only 1 grow to female? will 2? will none? (or worse case...will all? lol)

But no they wont be sexless. All clowns start off as males. Then one will show dominence and will grow slightly larger. That one is the female. Once their dominence is established tho, there will be no fights between the 2 fish in the future. At least mine never did. I got a clown pair that had already paired off. One clown jumped up and got stuck above a powerhead and died :( so i got another one that was small so that it was still a male for sure, because i didnt know which one of mine died. One was bigger than the other yes, but by the time i got back to the tank, the dead one was completely shrivled, so i didnt really take the time to try and compair it to the other one for size.

But the new little guy i got went right up to the older one, and they've stuck together since minute one. About a week ago the older one did show a little bit of "aggression" towards the small one, but nothing since, so i'm guessing they've established their roles.

As for that harem thing...who knows, could be true...but i doubt it since so many people warned me about keeping multiple clowns together. (thats what my original list was...4 clowns)

[batguano]

Sounds like things are going well scarpenter. Good luck.