help to plan ???

[clairewill4]

hi looking for help planning new fish for tank! got a 200g tank with half ocean rock half live no coral want want to get some that are easy to keep any ideas?
fish so far are one potters angel, one sailfin,one maroon clown, one run of the mil clown,
clean up crew needs work too got three hermit crabs and one shrimp suggestions??
in qt tank got one domonoe, two gobys.
like different fish , bright colours but not been doing this for long so easy to keep fish???
does any one buy online? where from? do the fish survive the stress ok??
please any ideas very welcome

[michael_cb_125]

Well It sounds like you need a good cleanup crew. I am in the process of setting up a 240 gllon tank, so I can help you out.
In my CUC I LOVE snails. Different snails perform different tasks so I like to have some variety. I Love the following snails: Tongan Nassarius Snails, Turbo, Nerite, Cerith, Magarita, and Trochus. With these snails you have a variety that will go to work on differnt varieties of algea.

[michael_cb_125]

I am not a huge fan of crabs, but I will be adding a few to my tank. Not hermite, I will be adding a few Emerald Mithrax crabs to help with bubble algea control. I like shrimp, they help clean up after feedings, but they are also very interesting to watch.
I buy EVERYTHING online. I but almost exclusively through Liveaquaria.com, they have great livestock and good prices as well.

[lcstorc]

Well the first thing you need to decide is what kind of reef you want. This plays a major part in deciding your lighting needs. If you already have your lights then we would need to know what you are running before we can really suggest corals etc. The one thing they all need is an established tank with stable water parameters. Generally speaking the soft corals are considered the easiest. They also require relatively low light. Mushrooms, Zoanthids, and leathers are among the most popular for beginners. LPS are Large polyp stoney corals. These generall have a hard base. Many of them sting so you have to be careful on placement. They are generally pretty easy to keep and require medium light. SPS are small polyp stoney corals. They require the most lighting and are generally harder to keep. Anemones and Clams also belong in the high light maximum stability category.
As far as fish I would get rid of the domino. Damsels are very nasty particularly when they get big. I woild say the same about the maroon clown. Also the angel is likely going to become a problem with corals,. particularly LPS. They are just too tempting to most angels. They can be fine for a length of time but most of them eventually get a taste for coral.
Yes I have ordered on-line. I have used a variety of RS sponsors and liveaquaria. All have been great and I have never had a problem when sticking to the sponsors.
As far as fish suggestions it really depends on what kind of reef you are going for.
Some of my favorites are midas blenneys, clown gobies, and engineer gobies.
As far as the cleanup crew I rely largely on snails for my cleanup. I do have two scarlet hermit crabs. They are the ones with the yellow eye stalks and are generally considered reef safe. I also have several shrimp along with variety of snails. Some to keep the sand turned, some to keep the rocks clean and others to keep the glass clean. Check and see what kinds are available to you and then do a search to find out what snails are better for what situations.
Hope that helps.

[clairewill4]

hi got deltec t5 with 2 x d+d aq aqua blue80 watt 5ft long and2 x arcadia marine blue 4 ft does not say wattage on it
had advice to change these three to white is this ok think we just go for soft coral having a problem getting rid of anemone at moment got three in tank is true they will destroy my coral? what do you do to get rid?

[clairewill4]

need a uk supplier i think for fish i am from scotland!

[Anselth]

Claire, check out Practical Fishkeeping. It's a big aquarium magazine based in the UK