Starter Fish?..New To Saltwater

[Sk8r]

A 60 is a bit small for damsels, but the milder chromis variety would be ok, no more than 3...if you have a lot of hiding-holes for them. They den at nght. Ideal would be royal gramma (1) firefish (1, and guard your surface: they jump!) and blennies and gobies.

[Fizz71]

What's an LFS? You mean you don't have all these memorized yet? j/k.

And I've yet to keep a linkia alive for more than a few months, and that was with a 105g healthy reef. They are pretty, and if I ever see a purple one I'll have to give it a shot since I've never had one in my 240g and I'm hoping it might work out better, but who knows.

[mcardenas]

FIZZ...

Ha ha funny lol....that will definitely go into my favorites. I will hold of on that starfish they are amazing looking. I guess ill start of with the 2 clownfishs and a cleanup crew.

How big of a CUC do you recommend for my 65 gallon tank?

[Fizz71]

CUCs are a constant debate on here...some like snails, some like crabs, some like both, some like snail a but not snail b, or snail a with crab c...yada yada. The number of snails per gallon is also heavily debated. Some say 1 per g others 1 per 1.5g some say less and I'm sure somebody out there says more...who knows the "right" answer. I just know I have a lot because I find them interesting as well as beneficial...plus certain ones mate like rabbits.

I have a 240g and now I have atleast 200 snails roaming around (at night) because somebody has an active social life! I also have about 30 crabs (don't tell my wife...bah-dum dum)...and yes they occasionally eat a snail, but them's the breaks. I probably have about 50 purchased snails too..the ones I WISH reproduced but don't even though they lay eggs all the time.

I like blue leg hermits, scarlet hermits, nassarius snails, turbo snails, cerith snails and trochus snails. I try to avoid the snails that can't right themselves when they fall like astreas. Turbo snails actually have that problem too but because of their size they usually land someplace within reach of something so it's not a big deal. I think I also have some red leg hermits and I have had margarita snails in the past but I don't think any survived (I bought 6). I've had bumblebees in previous tanks that were OK but didn't last long...which is probably good because I heard bad things about them. I also had LARGE Halloween and electric blue hermits just for fun but only one Halloween crab is still alive after 1 1/2 years.

I would recommend just going with a detritivore/algea kit (or pack or whatever they call it) from someplace to the tune of maybe 20 to 30 pieces. They'll usually give you their recommendation based on tank size (typically 1 per g)--you don't need to get them ALL now if you don't want, but getting a kit/pack usually gives you a nice blend of detritus eating (sh*t eating ) creatures as well as algea eaters that will occupy different parts of the tank: rocks, sand, glass.

But the first question you need to answer for yourself is: snails, crabs or gamble on both.

[mcardenas]

FIZZ..

I bet you have a nice tank. What I'm going to do is just get one of those CUP package that liveaquaria.com have. I have heard that snails can over populate, but from what I understand , you indicated that if you have plenty it's a good thing. This is based on your experience. So far since I have gotten my tank it has been a learning experience. I know once I have my tank all set everything will be worth it. I hope lol ..

I sort of want both lol . I think both are cool creatures. I believe that will be just fine right? Lol ha

[Fizz71]

Some snails like Stomatella can grow to plague proportions. As long as they don't start chowing down on corals I don't get concerned. I've never seen an overpopulation of snails attack anything but dead matter but other people may have. I figure with the population of crabs I have everything is kept in check. I also had mini-carpet anemones that used to each have several Stomatella shells in them all the time...I kind of feel sorry for the snails but the whole circle of life thing is what it is.

You do also have to realize that they do contribute to your bioload to some extent. So you can definitely buy too many, but I don't do anything about the ones that reproduce on their own.

I kind of look at them like lemmings...they're going to grow and sustain themselves to the level of their food supply. What you have to watch when you BUY snails that you make sure they're fed. So I wouldn't buy a full load of herbivores if you don't have a lot of algae for them yet...but get SOME. Your detritivores will eat leftover food..you can always add more food but still don't want a full load of them because you're just wasting food and pushing up your nitrates.

[mcardenas]

FIZZ....

I will have 2 clownfish. I am looking into a CUC package of 30, but I am wondering since I am only going to have 2 fishes , wouldn't they CUC start to die on me ? Since my fish tank hasn't had a CUC they will have plenty for several weeks since my tank has 40 pounds of rock and sand. I can possibly get another to fishes after several weeks after I get both my cuc and clownfishs.

[Hiruki]

I started off with clownfish, I had a pair. But tangs are kind of sensitive, so I'd be careful with those guys. Maybe a cleaner shrimp?

[bpcass]

First of all get a clean up crew in there and then please feed it. A reef tank is an ecosystem and any good ecosystem has a solid base. The keys to a good base are time and your clean up crew. I personally don't like shrimp or crabs in my CUC, I feel they perform too much predation on my smaller detritovores, especially in a newer tank. If you put the clean up crew in before the microinfauna has had a chance to become established and don't feed them they will eat all the critters that you want and then starve. If you add the CUC and then feed them some food will go to the microinfauna helping to boost their population while you get the CUC established. Like Fizz71 said it is the circle of life. The longer you can restrain yourself from adding fish and larger predators the better.

A clown would be fine in your size tank but it may get bossy. A tang needs more space and a well established tank. If you like the bright yellow I would recommend a yellow assessor basslet. They are fascinating fish to watch, particularly if you can build in an overhang where they will swim upside down.

[joshyross70]

so question for all of you who are more experienced for myself aswell. what if he was to start the tank with some chromis? would that be wise choice? and also any good or bad expiriences with green emerald crabs?

[Fizz71]

A CUC can always be "fed" by feeding the tank. The only ones you can't really feed are the herbivores, but they don't rely on the fish population either so not having fish is actually BETTER for the herbivores since they don't have to compete with the "pickers" like tangs. Provided the rock has algae growth, they'll be fine.

And chromis aren't bad starter fish, but you will probably wind up regretting them later. Plus they usually dwindle their own population down eventually.

As for clowns...just be careful of WHICH clowns. I don't get tomato clowns because IMO they eventually turn evil, along with the maroon clowns. I've always like the occ. species. Yes they can still be territorial (and nip me if my hand is near their home) but their territory tends to be small and they don't travel too far from it. Over the years I've owned percs, skunks, sebaes, occs. and right now I have a "photon" and a occ. I had a pair of photons for a while but one died for no reason (that I could tell). Anyway..there are so many cool variations of occs and percs out there that that's where I'd look. Plus I'd definitely look for "tank bred"...I always lean towards raised fish over live caught..too many bad people in the fish catching industry.