AquaNano 40 Build

[si_sphinx]

Yep don't put a hermit in there. It will find the snails and eat them too easily. Just add some snails and a shrimp for CUC.

[Totara]

Now this is going to be a tough decision :bggrn:

Because it is in the living room the rest of the family has input on what goes in there. And they really want a hermit crab. There's quite a few spots the snails will be able to hide I believe and I'll make sure there is plenty of spare shells. I added two more frags the other day, Anthelia and another Zoa. I am getting ready to get a pair of clownfish sometime (hopefully) next week. What do other people give their clowns to mix up their diet? Just looking for some input to make sure mine get good feedings.

Will

[kinnadian]

Pellets, mysis, bloodworms, chopped/crushed nori. If you feel like it you can make "blender mush", this is basically blended seafood (fish, clams, mussle, shrimp, etc, whatever you feel like) and frozen and fed out. Really cheap and you can put things in like vitamins, fish oil, krill/spirulina, nori, garlic, etc.

[Totara]

I've got some standard marine flakes I'll feed for the first few days until I sort some bloodworms etc. Later on I will try freezing my own food. Is two small feedings a day of flakes enough for baby clowns? Morning and night?

[kinnadian]

Yeah that should be fine.

If you get pellets make sure you get the extra small ones as baby clowns have very small mouths!

I have moved to a larger feeding on even days and a smaller feeding on odd days, once a day.

You will tailor your feeding to minimise growth of algae or diatoms (even food that is consumed and then excreted will add to excess tank nutrients), but it will be hard in your cycle since you will have excess of these anyways. Might also be a good idea to start off with quite small feedings while your clowns get used to their new tank and your bacteria get used to the bioload. Fish can go a long time with very little or no food and regularly do in the wild.

Have you confirmed that your cycle is 100% complete? Currently no ammonia or nitrate, and if you feed out say a full days worth of food at once, you should have no ammonia or nitrate within 12ish hours (no greater than 24), depending on your circulation and any tank dead spots.

[Totara]

I am pretty sure the tank is cycled, I have talked to the guy from Living Reef quite extensively and he is sure that it will be fine. So I just do with the flakes what I did for my Tetras? Crumble it into the tank so it can fit into their mouths? I will start with little more than one or two flakes, to get the tank used to the bioload.

[wasp]

For my clowns I got some live mussels & boiled lightly, just enough to get them out of the shell in one piece. Then deep freeze & once frozen grate on the cheese grater & re freeze immediately before it thaws.

This closely mimics a clowns natural diet and they thrive on it. However clowns are tough and adaptable little fish and will do well on just about anything including flake.

The trick is not overfeed, in nature a fish does not know where it's next meal is coming from so if opportunity presents they will gorge themselves. No point adding unnecessary phosphate to the tank ecosystem.