About to get 3g, need advice

K

kaledrina

I'm going to be buying a 3g bowfront with pc lights and a 2.5g sump... I have some live rock w/ corals in my tank atm I would put in there. Its not going to have sand, just live/base rock to pretty it up. I was going to put a peppermint shrimp maybe and then I wanted to add a fish, but not sure if theres really anything that small. Gobies are okay, but I have some, and I wanted something a little different. Anybody got any suggestions? I don't have the dimensions but 3g is kind of small. I don't want to get some weird super sensitive fish since 3g has lots of room for swings in anything. I wanted a Damsel or Chromis but they seem like they need lots of room. And a seahorse is too difficult to care for unless I found a captive raised one that I knew would eat food... Then theres still the problem that they're sensitive and 3g has lots of room for swings. I know Marc hasa 2g with a seahorse, which is where I got the idea, but he's so ubersmart with all that stuff. A black seahorse would be super cute. If I let the liverock and such cycle enough maybe?
 
Hmm.... I was thinking about getting some sort of shrimp for the tank after the first month or two, and then getting a captive raised dwarf seahorse if possible. The seahorses are just so adorable! I just want a billion of them!
 
I admit to being clueless about the needs of a seahorse. I would post in the seahorse forum before adding one to a pico-i understand that they can be quite particular about their environment. Best of luck to you :D
 
Oh yeah I spent over an hour last night online reading about Dwarf Seahorses.. They seem to do pretty well in pico tanks and even better if captive raised, which will be the hard part, theres plenty of sites selling wild caught but I don't want to contribute to that. Seriously.. What would happen if everyone wanted a pet lion and started "harvesting" them... No more lions after a decade, right? right. So pretty much just make sure the tank is completely cycled and add them and give them special TLC. Which I can do! :)

If not then I have no clue what other kind of fish would work.
 
Good job researching before jumping in to things. If you go with dwarf seahorses then be sure to keep us updated. The wifey has been dying for a seahorse tank and I think i could afford a pico :D
 
Still bouncing back and forth on that. For now I'm just going to have it running with some live rock and a lonely clown goby that refuses to eat in my big tank. We'll see what I decide I want. It's so hard to limit myself, I want everything!
 
@kaledrina wrote:
Still bouncing back and forth on that. For now I'm just going to have it running with some live rock and a lonely clown goby that refuses to eat in my big tank. We'll see what I decide I want. It's so hard to limit myself said:
Hi,

Keep in mind that your clown goby could be feasting on pods at night, if you have had it a while and it is not losing weight then that's probably why. You can also try some finely chopped frozen or fresh food.....it's easy to make (make a small amount just to see if your goby will eat it) Even if it doesn't eat it, I'm willing to bet your other livestock will love it. If it's only eating pods right now then it might not be a good idea to put it in such a small newly setup tank. maybe if you decide to use sand(preferably LS from your current display) and a bit of LR it might be ok. Just some things to think about. HTH

Cheers!


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You can see every bone in his body... At any rate, I set up the pico tank and finally figured out the right flow rate down into the sump after spilling prolly a gallon of water on the carpet. got a Cascade 300 internal filter down in the sump (rated 70gph) and there's 3 PC lights on. I put 1/2" of sand, seeded from my tank, around 2lbs of base/live rock with some zoas, xenia, and some stupid Aiptasia that won't die. I put the goby in there and he's hung on for a while, which is strange, I've put tons of cyclops and all sorts of junk near him and he doesn't budge, even with lights out, the next day I find his food where I had left it. I've just decided that when he finally passes it would be better since he wouldn't have to suffer. I'll get pics of the progress soon. I also got a little fake plant thats just too cute. :D
 
Speaking of which... He just died overnight. I think the temp got too cold and he wasn't looking as skinny as before, but maybe he was just a big bloaty. Gross. Dead fish are gross. Soooo my options are now wide open on tank inhabitants. A goby/shrimp pair sounds cool but aren't pistol shrimp like... evil and break tank glass?

I also found an amorphous white blob, which upon netting out, revealed reddish colored fins from my Scooter Blenny... Have no idea how long he was dead, since I normally don't see him too often.. I think the 'nem might have had a hand in it since he was within tentacles reach. Two in one night after 6 months of no deaths... Lets hope my luck turns.
 
Sorry to hear about your losses, that stinks :sad: On a happier note though-pistol shrimp don't break glass, you are thinking of mantis shrimp. Even then it isn't likely that one would break the glass. People confuse the two b/c pistol shrimp will make a clicking noise as will a mantis but trust me he won't get your glass.
 
Lol just when I get used to the sound of the tanks filtration at night I get to listen to a shrimp clicking at me for dinner... Oh well, the hard part will be finding the right goby.. Apparantly the high fin red banded gobies are more likely to be all symbiotic and cute, so we'll see if I can find one anytime soon. And a shrimp.

Here's some pics as of yesterday... No changes other than lack of a fish that isn't in the pics anyways.

Front View (needs cleaning on the outside)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y174/janey24516/DSC02119.jpg

Sump
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y174/janey24516/DSC02121.jpg

Ghetto overflow set up (Spot the now RIP Goby?!)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y174/janey24516/DSC02122.jpg

The overflow is kind of ghetto since I have no experience in sumps, and everything was stuff I had before and works really well. That little bowl works well to add some more water volume and helps reduce problems with overflow in the sump, and I can add a lot of stuff like new water (simply undo the clamp to start a faster siphon), nutrients, anything without having to bend down and get all under that table. Not much room for me under the table anyways.
 
w000 tank is down atm, theres a water leak and at least 1/2 gallon+ got spilled onto the carpet, and of course theres no spare towels or anything to clean it up with. Thank goodness I put the electric cords out of the way so I could fix it all up this morning. Just what I need. A leak.

:evil:
 
I fixed everything and set it up perfect. I put in 3lbs of Fiji liverock today from Petorama ($5.99 a lb!) and it still looks empty. Theres about a .5-1lb baserock in the refugium part to keep the filter in there from being noisy. I'll post pics later.

I did find a bristleworm though, good sign. Still thinking about inhabitants. Maybe a yellow watchman goby from Petco thats only about $20.
 
If you want a blue damsel for the tank then you can have mine for free :D

That being said, I know that nobody likes damsels, even free ones :sad:
 
Noooo thank you! Damsels are boring.

I was thinking about getting a Yellow Watchman Goby and a Pistol Shrimp.. However those gobies are slightly larger than the other ones. Still debating if he'd be cramped. The tank itself holds roughly 3g total (less w/ rock and sand) and the sump is about 1.5g total volume. I do have a filter with 10g capacity on it though... Ahhhh this is stressful, I don't want to screw up on this little tank, theres way too much room for error.

Heres two pics.. one of a front-view with new liverock (with lovely green stuff on it lol) and one of the sump. The hood is homemade by my BF, he's so awesome, and I'm just planning on waiting for coralline to cover up the chipped paint on the back. Too scared of painting it for fear of fumes and such.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y174/janey24516/DSC02143.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y174/janey24516/DSC02145.jpg
 
 
Nope! The only things I've had to buy are the filter, sand, liverock, and the light cover.

The only problem with the light cover is the PC lights get really hot. They're suspended on some foam strips but the bottom acrylic cover is still bending a bit from the heat. Have to go to Fry's and get a computer fan to cool it down in there. Still thinking about the Yellow Watchman Goby. Leaning more towards a Hi Fin Red Banded Goby and Candy Cane Striped Pistol Shrimp. They look cute..
 
I'm not sure that the yellow watchman would get as big as you think. I've got one and they really don't get that big. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I think that they are on the smaller end of the goby size scale. He would be a great addition!
 
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