Fish/Invert only Saltwater

I had a saltwater tank 10 years ago but had to give it up. I started up a 20 gallon recently that will be fish and invert only. Corals are beautiful, but I'm not ready to get that deep into it. I just really like saltwater fish. An insane amount of equipment and information has changed since I last kept fish so I'm learning a lot every day. Fish keeping is a lot more 'fly by the seat of your pants' care than reptile keeping.

I added some fake corals. I wasn't sure if I would like them but they bring some nice color.

Inhabitants at the moment:

2 Clowns
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Tiger Conch
4 Astraea Snail
1 Banded trochus snail

I'll let Genjo introduce the tank! He was interested in the ocean smell. Excuse the giant white filter sponge. I'm seeding it with bacteria for a quarantine tank.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/8cLrYTH.jpg



My first fish inhabitants are a couple of clowns. Sometimes they fight with each when figuring out which will be male and female but these two have been getting along.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/iYk8VJu.jpg

This peppermint shrimp often turns into a Richard. When he's hungry he'll go after anything, but he's fun to watch and feed. He roots out pest hitchhikers like pest anemone and sea stars.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/mdEuap4.jpg

This tiger conch is crazy looking. The shrimp will harass the conch when it gets hungry. I feed the shrimp with tweezers so I know it gets food but if I ever go away for more than a day I think I will put the shrimp in a breeder net/shrimp jail. When I first added the conch the shrimp wouldn't leave it alone so I turned on the wave maker. The shrimp turned translucent (meaning its upset) and did laps around the tank with the current.

I pick the conch up and move it to places where there's a lot of algae on the send bed or on the glass near the bottom and it cleans the stuff right up.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/oxOUaSa.jpg

Ocellaris Clownfish have a lot of color/stripe variety. When I went to get my fish I had a hard time telling the basic coloration from some of the other patterns. I forgot they use the term 'designer' so I asked for the 'regular morph'. I wonder if that gave me away as a reptile keeper.

Reefs can be so rewarding but it is so much more work and initial investment so I'm totally feeling you on that choice! Right this minute the fake coral is looking a bit out of place, but as your coraline develops I think it will really look nice in there.

You have a nice little group of animals. Clowns will always be one of my favorites. It's really hard to beat their contrast and bright coloration at such a reasonable price and hardy animal. Plus they aren't quite the jerks damsels can be and stay moderately small :P I've never messed around with marine shrimp, but they look really cool and I know some species are really great with cleanup.

Looking forward to updates :)

I always admire a reef tank when I see one. I know how much care was put into them when I see them.

The tank looked funny/naked and still does. There is some coralline growth and I can't wait for it to take over.

I cycled my first tank with a blue damsel and that thing was the devil to everything I put in after it. Never again.

Shrimp can be...hit or miss. Peppermint shrimp do a good job of eating critters and left over food off the sand bed and rocks. Downside is they can be coral and snail eaters if they get too hungry. They come running when its dinner time. They have a bloodhound sense of smell and will swim up the water column to try and catch food floating down.

Looks good. Clowns are awesome to watch more so when they pair up. I have a pair of mocha storm occelaris in my 112 gallon tank. careful though its a addiction I started small went to a 65 then to a 112, and now planning a 200 gallon haha. My bank account hates me.

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Originally Posted by Stormyvt

Looks good. Clowns are awesome to watch more so when they pair up. I have a pair of mocha storm occelaris in my 112 gallon tank. careful though its a addiction I started small went to a 65 then to a 112, and now planning a 200 gallon haha. My bank account hates me.

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Clownfish are one of my favorites and I hope they pair up. Moca storms are so cool. I'd love to see pics of your current tank and your new one whenever you get it setup. Both of those are huge! I can't even imagine how you do water changes on those monsters.

I wanted a black and white clown but I wasn't willing to spend that much on my first fish after so long. So far so good, though. I keep them in my home office so I can look at them when thinking or need a screen break.

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Originally Posted by Trinityblood

I cycled my first tank with a blue damsel and that thing was the devil to everything I put in after it. Never again.

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Right there with you! I had a domino damsel that was the same way. Moved him to an established tank with pretty aggressive species once he got big and he did good in there but geez.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stormyvt

I have a pair of mocha storm occelaris in my 112 gallon tank. careful though its a addiction I started small went to a 65 then to a 112, and now planning a 200 gallon haha. My bank account hates me.

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Yep. It grows and grows just like the reptiles. Some of the designer clowns being produced these days those are insanely cool.

im trying to get some picture but can't figure how to upload from my iPhone. ill post some when I figure it out sorry. I think I have the wrong file format and im not very good with computers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stormyvt

im trying to get some picture but can't figure how to upload from my iPhone. ill post some when I figure it out sorry. I think I have the wrong file format and im not very good with computers.

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This may help: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures

Nice to see a thread for your tank, Trinityblood! Hopefully I'll have a thread of my own like this up and running in a few years. ;)

Yeah, clownfish are a lot less aggressive than other damselfish. Between them and the peppermint shrimp, I think you've got a nice selection of fairy hardy early inhabitants there. I'd definitely hold off on adding anything else until your tank is at least three months old, though. Marine tanks take a bit more time to establish and stabilize compared to freshwater ones.

Little fighting conchs like yours can actually be a bit tricky to keep alive, particularly in small tanks. If your shrimp is trying to steal its food while you feed, try occupying your shrimp by hand-feeding it, instead of using current to push it away or putting it in a breeding net. I hand-fed the fish and shrimp in my reef tank and it worked like a charm - the bolder critters like my percula clowns and cleaner shrimp would come and eat out of my fingers, while the other critters fed on the bits of food that drifted away from the block. Little bits of dried seaweed sheet left near the bottom may also be a nice little snack for your conch to feed on.

If you'd like to add a little something colorful and coral-like in the future, try looking into mushroom corals/polyps and Zoanthus polyps. They aren't particularly demanding in terms of water quality, lighting, and trace minerals and tend to do well in smaller tanks.