Fish stocking question

[wickjr]

My reef is almost 9 weeks old. All reads are good and coralline algae is taking over . I do not have any fish or corals to this point, only hermits and snails to control algae. Anyway, to get to the point. My favorite LFS is having a 50% off fish and invertebrate sale starting tomorrow, and I would like to add a few fish. Am I jumping the gun? I have a 46 gallon with around 100 pounds of LR and 50 pounds of live sand. I have my eye on two small Ocellaris Clowns and a Sailfin Blenny. An estimated total of maybe 6-8" of fish. I would also like to add a few peppermint shrimp. I don't want to get ahead of myself here and cause problems that will take a while to fix, but the prices are unbelievable and the fish are helathy. Is this too much to stock at this point all at once?

[fishinchick]

Your tank is ready if your parameters test good. I wouldnt add several fish at one time though to such a young system. Maybe 1 medium or 2 smaller sized fish.

IMHO you'll regret the lawnmower blenny and peppermint shrimps.

Many lawnmower blennies do not do well in captivity and the ones that do end up getting lazy and waiting for you to feed them even though they are supposed to be algae eaters. I have seen this with dozens and dozens of them at this point. Don't waste your space on one.

Peppermint shrimps are great if you have aiptasia. If you don't have aiptasia don't get them. When your aiptasia are gone, they'll eat your zoanthids, yellow polyps, star polyps and pick at other corals for food. Get some sexy shrimp or perhaps a common scarlet cleaner or a blood shrimp instead. Peppermint shrimps are less friendly than most other shrimps as well and you will see them much much less than the other alternatives that are out there.

A tank the size of yours is, however, perfect for a pair of clownfish. I'd also suggest a goby or two. Perhaps a yellow watchman goby (you can eventually get a pistol shrimp to go with it), a or a firefish.

A tank the size of yours you could also consider a fairy wrasse like a carpenters, red parrot or lubbocks fairy wrasse.

Good Luck!

[mps9506]

I can say I have never had problems with pep's eating any of my corals.
If you do have aiptasia I recomend adding them first before you have any fish, then you don't have to worry about feeding the tank, and the peppermint shrimp won't get lazy and eat the fish food, but will actually eat the aiptasia
And yes they are gennerally shy, nocturnal type critters.

Anyhow, I perfer to add my inverts first, since you already have you snails and hermits, shrimp and polyps etc, are the next step I usually take. I tend to add my fish last to my setups, usually only one or two at a time. Harder corals wait until I'm sure the tank is biologically stable.

[Little Luey]

One more vote for the PP shrimp here. I got them for Aiptasia control but I keep them because they are fun to watch. Mine (3) came out when I feed the fish to catch the extra food, I did not mind feeding them since they clean my tank of Aiptasia and they were out most of the time.

[fishinchick]

If you add peppermint shrimp before you have aiptasia ... what do you think they eat? They don't live on love.
They will eat similar things to aiptasia. I've seen it. When I was raising peppermint shrimp, I found out the hard way that I was unable to keep up my aiptasia population (sounds silly doesnt it). So I would buy cheap rocks of ugly brown zoanthids and yellow polyps to feed them with. They ate them, they'll eat yours too.

[wickjr]

The LFS is out of peppermint shrimp so I will wait on them. I did buy two Ocellaris Clowns, only about 3/4" long each. I also bought a very small Yellow Watchman Goby, couldn't resist. Oh, and a mushroom coral they had listed as a Single Morph Mushroom? From the books I have, the closest resemblence is a Rhodactis sp., but it is only half dollar sized or a little bigger. The rock it is attached to is interesting as well, with a lot of small feather dusters on it. I have attached a picture, my first so bear with me, of the mushroom if anyone can tell me exactly what it is. Not the greatest picture, but it is the only one in focus.

kids and tank 040.jpg
As far as the peppermint shrimp, the lady at the LFS was telling me that they are difficult to keep alive, as someone said already. She also said that only wild caught peps will eat Aiptasia, and most tank raised won't touch them. If this is true, maybe that explains the differing results. I only have three aiptasia that I can see, and I am gonna zap them with boiling water tomorrow and see what happens.

[cheeks69]

Originally Posted by fishinchick

If you add peppermint shrimp before you have aiptasia ... what do you think they eat? They don't live on love.
They will eat similar things to aiptasia. I've seen it. When I was raising peppermint shrimp, I found out the hard way that I was unable to keep up my aiptasia population (sounds silly doesnt it). So I would buy cheap rocks of ugly brown zoanthids and yellow polyps to feed them with. They ate them, they'll eat yours too.

Yes I agree with fishinchick. Although when I had them in my tank they never caused problems but in the display tank at my LFS they were eating corals and had to be removed.

Anyway, they are still interesting critters nonetheless, that do have some positive qualities. Many, many times they have come to the rescue in aquariums when Rock Anemones (Aiptasia spp.) have sprung up. These nearly indestructible little buggers are well known for burning and even killing corals, but for reasons unknown they happen to be on the Peppermint Shrimp’s menu. <Editor's note: This species has been implicated in nipping clams, corals, and other cnidarians, so do consider this when adding one to your reef tank>

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i2...ps/james_w.htm

[wickjr]

Does anything good come without possible problems in this hobby? It's kind of a catch 22 I guess. If you have a bad aiptasia problem, they damage the corals. But if you add peppermint shrimp, they'll eat the aiptasia, and maybe the corals, too.

[cheeks69]

wickjr I just want you to be aware of the potential problem it's very possible that the peppermints will be fine and won't bother anything. Just remember that there are no absolutes in reefing

[BoomerD]

Copperbanded butterfly fishes are often touted as the cure for aiptasia, but they bring with them their own set of problems. First is that they may not eat anything. I've read that the survival rate of most CBB's is less than 20% AFTER they've reached the LFS...That does NOT include the huge losses between collection and the LFS.
Next, IF you manage to get one that will eat prepared foods, then you have to get it to eat aiptasias...some will, others won't ...BUT, almost every single one WILL eat your featherdusters and tube worms, and many will nip at corals.
Dammed if ya do, dammed if ya don't...

[wickjr]

I've read that about the Copperbands as well. I would never, with the limited experience I have, try to keep a fish so demanding. I am trying to keep my tank as natural as possible, allowing fish and invertebrates to do most of the work as far as algae and detritus removal. I thought of adding the peppermint shrimp to control aiptasia, but since I don't really have a problem yet(only three that I see), I'll hold off till they have enough to keep them busy. Hopefully I never need 'em. Does anyone have an idea of what the mushroom is that I posted earlier in the thread?