55g Tank

Melissa

You can not put a lionfish in a tank in which you plan to breed fish. Especially with small fish. even if you do feed it well, it will still make a snack out of any small fish. Lions should only be kept with other large aggressive fish. They do not belong in community tanks. And just one other note, do not put maroon clowns on your list to breed. 2 maroon clowns should not be kept in anything less than 65 gallons. breed the smaller orange clowns if you go with clowns.

usmc121581

Yeah for the lionfish if he feels the urge he will have a snack. But the chances good be slim and might not be. Ive never seen a lionfish in anything but a prediater tank with something that can fend for himself. As for the eel. He will eat anything that will fit in his mouth. They also get 3' long. and can destroy a rock structure do to them wanting to bury themselfs.

Bamboo_Kitten_Shark

yeah, i didn't expect the eel to be good with the small fish. i was just making sure.

as for the lionfish, mellissa, someone said something about the fry, not about the adults, and if they did i did not see it. thats why i asked about the adults, becuase i thought it may be just the small babies. thanks for nicely misunderstanding my question. your a very kind helpful person -_-


i guess i will go for a piecful reef tank or something. if i go with a 55g, i think i will do the seahorses now. cause it may be hard to keep up with different types of small fish, especially if more then one is having babiesa t the same time. plus, many types of fish, have different amounts of babies, and i don't think it would be smart on my behalf to have different numerous amounts of fry at the same time.

so erectus seahorse it is. but please note, i'm still talking with others about the shark.

Bamboo_Kitten_Shark

ok, this is a quick update. i will be going with the 55g. well, unless there is some way i could fit a big pool in my house somewhere, and then i could breed tons of little fish and seahorses

ok, enough of the day dreaming, now about the 55g....

i'm thinking my best bet would be with the seahorses. i've already done tons of studying about them already, i'm a member at seahorse.org, and i've read nearly all of there articles. plus everything i could find on google.

i'm going to get the erectus species, that was the most recommended by other seahorse breeders.

i have some seahorse questions though. i'll probably have a thread at seahorse.org if your a member there also.

one question is, if i buy a male and female erectus, will they most likely pair up and have some babies and stuff, or will the female possibly reject the male? i'd prefer not to buy 2 males and a female, but if i need to, i want to know.

i'll be buying the 55g deluze from walmart. i hate walmart, mainly because the way they treat there fish. but they do have the best deal i've found.

the 55g comes with a filter, heater, light, hood, water treatment, thermometer, and i think thats it, but it's good. it will be $150, but with the taz i've found it will be about $160 or so. i currently have $100, but i should be getting more soon.

i have 30 lbs of live rock for the 55g. wich costed $105. so i've got some of the expense already purchased. here is my new seahorse to buy list.

2 erectus seahorses
medications (don't remember medication list i had, i lost it.)
salt (duh)
hydrometer
saltwater master water test kit
plants (suggestions?)
corals (suggestions?)
tube worms
scallops
clam+ mussels
snails
hermits
live rock (30lbs already bought)
live sand (30lbs already bought) ( for refugium)
refugium
chaeto (for refugium)
85-100 small white shrimp (to help start a colony)
phytoplankton
brine shrimp (already have TONS in like 5 different containers, lots and lots of young healthy brine shrimp. they will be enriched with phytoplankton)
copepods or rotifers?
emergency disease guide (already printed up) (for emergencies)
fry tank (just until they are a few inches, big enough to go into the 55g and not get lost, lol) (what size should this be? 20-25 or 35-40?)


theres probably more that i'm not thinking of, i lost my original list. need suggestions and if anyone knows the answers to any of my questions, please answer.

musho3210

get at least 55 pounds of live rock with 75 pounds even better, yes if you place a "dead" rock in there it will soon become live but not until a long time and you will have to deal with a lot of algae before it becomes "alive"

As for corals, dont do it if you are planning on breeding
For saltwater fish you will need very litterally optimal water conditions, so you will need a skimmer. Also ive read that sea-horses like a tall tank, so getting a cube wouldnt hurt as long as you understand that the less surface area, the less fish you can keep. I also think sea-horses like to cling onto sea weed and sea grass but im not sure. Make sure you have a strong lighting system too in order for the good algae to grow and for the light to penetrate the deepness of the cube tank, Compact flourecent at the minimum with MH reccomended. Try to maybe do 2-3 water changes weekly to help maintain good water conditions. Dont be surprised if the sea-horses dont breed within the first year, the tank will need to be very mature before you can move on to breeding.

Bamboo_Kitten_Shark

musho, seriously, your acting like i'm some person that hasn't read anything about keeping fish. i don't need someone to lecture about what i'm going to have to do with seahorses. don't you think after, like i said, studying a ton on them, that i know this stuff?

and what is up with you and live rock....?

they also like to hitch onto branching CORALS. since when have you became an expert on everything?

the seahorses don't need, and usually don't like very much rock. some live in reefs with branching corals, and others live in sand bottom areas with kelp and other plants. they aren't usually in a tank filled with rock.

the tank will have a couple piles of live rock, with some branching corals or something. and then the rest will be just a sand bed with tall plants.

so they can have a mix, have places to swim, and attatch to tall plants, and stay near the bottom, and hitching to corals.

musho3210

the rock is for filtration, not for the fishes need, it provides more surface area than a wet/dry trickle filter and contains nitrigying and de-nitrifying bacteria. Even in a normal tank when you dont plan on breeding you should get 1-1.5 pounds of live rock, it is not an oxymoron, it is important

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=40

on both sea-horse page it says they cling to seagrass, i took the assumption that they all like to, and told you that, if you read carefully (which i doubt you did) i said i THINK they need it, if you say you do a lot of research, try reading word for word. If you think you are the only person who researches here, maybe you should try to find another forum to boast about what you know.

Also, you researched...... What the heck does that mean, does it mean you know the color of them, or the exact organ location by the millimeter and can draw it out in a few minutes

here i am answering what you wanted to know, and get accused of telling you stuff you already know. Well unless i lived with you, how would i know if you knew that?

Rue

Why are you so set against taking advice?

If you've had some success breeding freshwater organisms and want to try salt...at least start small...and in a 55g Walmart tank you really have no option, esp. with your limited funds...

Get your saltwater tank up and running...see if you can even keep the fish alive for several months...and then think about breeding something easy to breed...

Melissa

ok, this is all im going to say on this matter. have you ever had a saltwater tank before? if not you can not just jump into it. lots of people do and loose everything. you need to take it slow, and get used to how you need to keep a saltwater tank running successfully first. then if you want fish get fish. and save your branching corals or whatever you want to get for last. you need good light for these types of corals you are looking for. then when you have everything established and running greatly you can try to breed fish or whatever. you will need excellent water conditions to breed anything. and i do not reccomend a beginner start with breeding in mind. keep the saltwater tank first then breed later.

and in your remark from earlier i was talking about small fish in gerneral. babies and adults. And please dont be crude to the experienced members here who are trying to offer you advise to help you and give you understanding.

caferacermike

Melissa don't worry yourself. Just read back through the post and the other threads started by this member and you'll quickly realize that this member is not looking for help but rather posting what they are going to do regardless of what others have to say. It's not a matter of seeking advice, more of a blog entry of how it's going to be.