This is where I will list each fish's' behavior, personality and the story of my according to some people on the web "unbelievable miracle tank"
The Idea: I will start off by saying that I've always wanted to get one of those aquarium coffee table fish tanks, but unfortunately I never had enough dough to get one. Well now I do, so I went bigger and better! I got an idea after receiving my new furniture, as I sat on my couch looking at my sofa table and the stupid lonely vase that was on it, I said to myself " how can I bring life into this house" Then I remembered my beautiful girlfriend say how much she wanted an aquarium. That was it! I called my LFS (Aquarium Creations " They really know their fish") and asked if they made an aquarium that would fit on my sofa table which was 48x18, they said yes, it was the 75 g. Perfect!
The Setup:After rushing home and setting up the tank and wet/dry filter, I added the crushed coral which I should have taken more time to rinse, then it was the dried coral decorator rock. Once I had that done I dragged the hose in the house and started filling the sump, once the sump was full I powered it up and started filling the tank with fresh water. I let that run over night, checked for leaks and let the water warm up. The next day i slowly added about the salt and let it get to the proper salinity(1.023 @ 78.F). Once everything stabilized and the water cleared up it was off to the fish store!
The Cycle: My first fish were 4 Yellow Damsels, they were acclimated perfectly according to the books and the guy at the other LFS( the Ideal Aquarium "they suck"), The oldest and biggest damsel was of course the bully and was picking on anything that moved. The next day I went back to the LFS and got 4 more Blue Damsels. Two days later I noticed one of the yellow damsels swimming in place and not really doing anything, I noticed some white spots on his fins and side( unfortunately it wasn't the bully).
The next day he was dead, and it looked like 2 more blue Damsels were infected, I took those two out and gave them a freshwater dip., Didn't work! They were dead the next day! 3 down 5 to go. Whatever the disease was, it was spreading like wildfire. 1 more yellow and 1 blue were now infected and barely moving, and the bully had it all over his lips and couldn't eat. well the 2 others kicked it but the bully was still hanging in there. Once I got the tank lights on a timer everything seemed to get better, including the bully, he started eating and moving around, after a week he was back at picking on the last 3. The Secret:The tank seemed to be getting much better, I purchased an ammonia/nitrite test kit from AC (Aquarium Creations) and was checking everything daily, they suggested I get some live rock if I wanted to help the cycle along. I got 16 lbs of LR and added it to the tank, my levels were slowly rising, but nothing dramatic, I think what really helped was the fact that it is very warm in my house and there was quite a bit of evaporation which kept me having to add about 1 big taco bell cup of water a day.
New : Well, after the third week my levels started dropping off and I was ready to start adding my main fish. The first one I added was the Coral Banded Shrimp. I acclimated him according to the book and everything went well, a slow drip to the specimen tank until he got used to the salinity and other levels. Everything went great with no problems. A few days later I noticed the shrimp on top of one of the Live Rocks, as I looked through the tank at the others to make sure everything was ok. I noticed another shrimp hanging under one of the other LR's. hmmm what's wrong with this picture I thought, I add one shrimp and it multiplies in two days? I quickly realized that the shrimp had molted (shed skin) and will do this once a month according to the moons or something like that.
My next addition was the Niger Trigger and Diamond Goby a week later. I was told that Niger triggers are very shy and peaceful, boy were they right, the Niger found a nice hole in one of the rocks and only came out for about 5 min a day to look around, If any fish was near him or i walked by there he went back to his hole for the rest of the day.
The Diamond Goby quickly started sifting through the sand and making a mess, he then found his home and started piling crushed coral all around this rock to his liking. He actually moved about 2 lbs of crushed coral in about 2 hrs, I actually had to go out and buy 5 more lbs or live sand to fill the crater he dug.
About 2 days later I added the Picasso Trigger , he too was shy and took to one of the rocks but started emerging within about 2-3 days, whereas the Niger started emerging after about 5 days.
Next was the Scooter Blenny, he was easy, just acclimate him and drop him in, no shyness and no one even bothers him, especially since he camouflages so well with the rocks. I read that they can be kept in pairs peacefully so i may be getting him a companion.
After him was the Coral Beauty, she came this <> close to getting returned to the store. She got an attitude with the Niger trigger and kept chasing him back into the hole. that lasted for about 2 days then the trigger snapped at her and everything was cool.....hheheheee
Then came the Royal Gramma, a beautiful fish which originates from Puerto Rico, and is graceful and peaceful. This fish store owner said that it may have a problem in my tank because of the triggers but I may be ok since the Gramma is so fast and has been added before any of the inhabitants are settled in. So far everything has been fine with all of them. The Coral beauty again was the only one causing problems for about a day.
I then added what I think is either a female Diamond Goby or an adolescent male which has not yet formed the dorsal fin. I say this because upon adding her to the tank there was an all out brawl. 1 day later the female goby has made a home under one of the rocks and is not seen during the day but i have seen her at night when the male goby is asleep. Hopefully this will only last a few days and they will begin to get along.
Finally came the Red Legged Hermit Crab, he was just plug and play, dropped him right in and he disappeared behind a rock so not much to tell about him.
Today 3/6/00 I added another adolescent Scooter Blenny since I read that they should be kept in pairs. After a little shrugging from the older, larger Blenny it seems that they are getting along fine.
3/7/00 I decided to remove the older Diamond Goby and return him to the LFS since there seems to be no bond forming between the gobies. I think this is because the Male is so much larger and older than the other. Now I have the younger one and will try to find a companion for it asap.
3/8/00 I found what I believe to be an adolescent male for the new female Diamond Goby at my LFS and added him to the tank with the hopes that there would not be another high noon showdown. Incredibly after a few minutes of shyness from the new male, he wandered over to the female and peacefully sat with her for about 5 min until the grouper decided to come over and make his presence known to the skittish Goby. Unfortunately since I added a cute pair of Scooter Blennies and a pair of Gobies I will be returning the Grouper to the LFS to abide by the 1" of fish per 5 gallon rule.
3/14/00 I gave the Panther Grouper to a friend of mine that has a 100 gallon tank with only two other fish. The hardest part of that was the day he came to pick him up I held a silverside in the tank so the Grouper could smell it and come out of the cave, when all of a sudden he shot out and came right to my hand and grabbed the silverside without any hesitation! damn it was hard to see him go, at least its a friend of mine and I can see him whenever I want.
3/15/00 Scooter Blennies are inseparable, they hop from rock to rock together and even sleep in the same cave.
3/21/00 Today I added a Red Sea cleaner Wrasse about 2" long, he immediately went to the Royal Gramma and picked something off of its mouth.
3/24/00 The cleaner wrasse has died ( some type of bacterial infection) no one else was affected.
3/28/00 decided to get 180 gallon tank
4/4/00 purchased 180 gallon tank
4/10/00 transferred everything to the 180.
6/4/00 sold Coral Beauty to my buddy
6/6/00 added sabae anemone to tank at 9:00am, by 9pm my percula clowns were making themselves comfy for bed in it.