please rate my aquarium.

Question
QUESTION: hi jennifer..
i have a 34g tank (red sea max) with about 50 lbs of live rock and 3" live sand.  Tanks has a skimmer, phosban reactor and a uv light.

i have a total of 6 fish.. a purple fire fish (2.25"), 2 t. percula (1.5" and 1.75"), a algae blenny (2.75"), a dynamic pygmy hawk (1.5") and a green mandrin (2.25").

i also have 3 emerald crabs (1 large(1.5"), 1 medium (1") and 1 small (.5"), 1 coral banded shrimp (2 " body), and 1 peppermint shrimp (1.5").  I have about a few snails.  4 mexican turbo, 10 nassarius snail, 10 astraea turbo snail, 5 cerith snail. and about 10 hermit crabs.

and finally, i have lots of corals.

i'm thinking about adding a cleaner shrimp, bta and possibly another fish.

is there any thing wrong with my aquarium set up? i'm open to any suggestion to keep my tank in balance, including taking away any live stock.

thank you for being so helpful.

sincerely,

james


 


ANSWER: Hi James. As long as you are not having any problems with your water quality there is no need to worry about your tank. You do have allot of livestock in your tank; more then what is recommended(3 inches of fish per gallon) but if you are not having any problems then you are fine. Keep a close eye on your nitrates as this may be the only problem I see you running into.
Be careful about adding a cleaner shrimp into the mix. Coral banded shrimps will often go after other shrimps and you are getting away with having a peppermint shrimp in there already. The coral banded may not tolerate another shrimp in his territory.
Bubble tip anemones are a very hardy anemone to add to any tank. They do get rather large and will sting and kill any corals that it may come in contact with. You say you have allot of corals in your tank and unless you have an open area large enough in your tank where the BTA can expand and not come into contact with any of your corals I would not add one if I were you. Bubble tips also have a tendency to wander a little and even though you may have a space big enough for it that doesn't necessarily mean it will stay there. I have lost several corals due to the fact that my bubble tips get bigger and change position slightly only to wind up too close to one of my corals and there is no coming back from an anemone sting if not caught in time. With the addition of any anemone expect the possibility of losing a coral or two from a sting.
 Adding another fish will be okay as long as it is small and your nitrates are not high(over 20ppm) now. Most corals are not very tolerant of the build up of fish wastes and will not do so well once this starts to build up. As long as you are keeping up on your water quality and everything checks out okay and you are willing to possibly have to do more frequent partials to keep up on your waters quality, you can add another small fish. Thats the beauty of having a saltwater tank. Each one is completely different than any other and only you truly know what would be best for your tank!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi jennifer..thanks again for your wonderful advice.
i would like to keep an anemone in my tank so my clowns can have a decent place to rest.  cause they are the only ones with out a proper home. i've read somewhere that keeping an anemone in a pvc pipe can prevent it from wondering around..is this a good method of keeping an anemone? and safe?
thanks..
sincerely,
james


ANSWER: Hello again. PVC pipe is perfectly safe in a saltwater tank, as long as it is the white kind and not the kind rated for electrical wire or the black sewage pipes. Bubble tip anemones like to bury their foot in a small crevice in a rock and you will have to get a few small pieces to simulate this. If you are planning on using a larger piece of PVC the anemone will most likely move out from inside of it. They are very stubborn creatures and will settle down in a spot that they want to and not where you want them to. I have six of them in my tank(started out with just one four years ago) and not one of them is in a place where I can see it very well. Occasionally one will shift positions from where it is and the tentacles will come in contact with one of my corals. They do this quite often so be prepared to move some corals around when this happens. You can try the PVC but if the anemone does not want to be where you put it, it simply will move to somewhere else in your tank. I've even seen them crawl over tank dividers to get to where they want to be. Not much can totally contain them.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hello jennnifer.
i'm finally at the final stage of setting up my aquarium.
yesterday, i stopped by a lfs and got a rbta i couldn't resist.:(...cost me a lot....anyway, as i stated earlier, i have 2 t. perculas and last nite i kinna forced(?) them to host the anemone and luckly it worked...
currently, rbta is in a pvs like pipe and today will be the first day of hosting clowns...i've read some articles stating that with clowns hosting, anemones don't need extra feeding....is it true?....i'm just concerned and really want my aquarium to work.  if you have any thoughts, or tips to share would be very appreciated.
another possible disaster is that i spot a gorgeous looking flame angel..from christma isle...and couldn't stop myself from purchasing it..it's coming today. sould i be concerned?

your thoughs are always appreciated.

thanks..


Answer
Hi again James. Bubble tip anemones only need to be fed if your lighting is not quite adequate for them. If you notice it getting smaller over a period of a couple weeks you may need to supplement it by feeding it once a week. Usually the clown fish will take care of that task but I have seen clowns that don't feed their anemone regularly enough to keep it healthy. I feed my bubble tips once a month(at least I try to remember to) just to be on the safe side. My maroon clown has a pretty big appetite so she may be eating most of the food for herself.
Be very cautious with a flame angel in a reef tank. They are not always reef safe and have been known to nip at some coral polyps, tubeworms and anemones. If well fed this should not be a problem however keep in mind that it is always a possibility. They are beautiful though and very hard to resist!