too many questions I know!

[carroll]

Thanks to all for the help

I have a 29 gallon fowlr tank. I have a sailfin tang and a shrimp and I added 1 maroon clown. I added them at different times but they all stay in the corner of the tank near the bottom. The tang has been down there for a week. There is a heater in that corner under the gravel but the tank stays a steady 78.4-79.3. The clown was added today and it swam for a bit and settled in the bottom of the tank. The snails and hermit crabs go wherever. Does anyone have any ideas? The salinity and water quality have tested fine. I een tested copper and phosphates.

[leebca]

First, no problem asking questions. That's why we're here.

In this particular case, you have not provided enough information to give a reliable response.

The 29 is not suitable for the Sailfin Tang. That fish is or soon will be, space stressed. The Maroon is a fish that, if it is a female, can grow to 6" long. You can see that that fish needs a bigger tank too.

Other than the above advice to get them into proper aquariums, I would need to know the following information to help you out any further. Don't feel obligated to answer the questions below if you don't want to, but if you choose to provide the information, please provide it ALL:

How old is your tank? When did it originally cycle?
What is the size (dimensions and gallonage) of your aquarium? Does the gallonage include the volume from the sump and any refugium?
Do you use carbon, skimmer, mechanical or other chemical filtration?.
List all specimens sizes in the tank (fish, inverts, corals, clams, snails, crabs, shrimp, etc.).
Do you use a quarantine tank and procedure?
Foods you use and feeding schedules.
Do you use any vitamins? Fat additives? Any elemental or other additives? Please list all.
Chemistries – you gave some indication. What are the actual numbers? Do a new set of tests 1-2 hours after a feeding. Do you test for, alkalinity, calcium and magnesium (even though it is a FOWLR system)? Please give actual current numbers for everything. Have these numbers been changing lately?
Water parameters – please give actual numbers (pH and your pH range, salinity or sp. gr. & range, temperature range)
Do you see any of the following in your system: hair algae; micro algae; cyanobacteria growths (red slime algae); dinoflagellate (zooxanthellae) growths; brown algae; diatom growth; slimes; off-colored patches on rock or substrate that are not coralline; etc.?
Water changes (how much and how often).
What is your source water? (Tap water, RO water, DI water, RO/DI, distilled, etc.)
List what you added or taken out of your aquarium system (living, decorations, and equipment) during the past 6 weeks.
Maintenance schedule. What have you done lately?

[carroll]

Wow
I don't know what some of those things are.

My tank is a 29 gallon aquarium. It is about 6 weeks old. There are 4 snails and 5 hermit crabs and 1 scarlet hermit crab. These have been in the tank for a month. I have a cleaner shrimp also. There is about 13 pounds of live rock in the tank and about 3 inches of live sand. The live rock and sand cycled in the tank by itself for almost 3 weeks. The snails and crabs have been in there for about 3 weeks. The tang was added a week ago and the clown was added yesterday.

I use jungle testing strips to test my water but I do take my water to my local saltwater store weekly. I have the hang on the side of my tank for salinity which is actually 4 points off from the spechtrometer testing.

Sadly I think the tang is depressed.

The tang was an unfortunate purchase. The store suggested that fish for my first fish. I went home a looked this fish up and found that it will grow to a rediculous size. They are very familiar with my set up and tank size as I test my water there weekly and I purchase my saltwater from them for my water changes which I have done every two weeks. I top my tank daily when evaporation occurs with purified water.

The Tang in the tank a week I feed Nori twice a day and pellets none of which that fish eats. I also tried mysis shrimp which it does not eat either. It does peck at my live rocks but that is it.

My salinity is generally 1.024-1.025. My nitrates are at 10. I have no copper or phospates. My alkinity is ideal. (Iuse test strips). My calcium is 270 which is low and I have to add calcium daily. I have a biological wheel that is meant for a 50 gallon tank. I do no put any other additives or vitamins in the tank.

I was told the maroon clown would be fine in a 29 gallon tank.

[leebca]

I'm afraid you've learned (unfortunately the harder way) where the interests of your local fish store (LFS) lies. Their primary interest is selling fish. You see, they pay about $4 for that fish you bought for $$. Once they've sold you the equipment, there is no money in equipment to be gotten (unless you have problems and their 'solution' is to buy add-on equipment). All they can make money off of is salt and selling you more fish.

6 weeks old! Actually, the tank isn't ready for fish for about 6 months. Again, the gain of the LFS is that while your tank matures, you are killing off fishes and they are selling you more.

I know this is a link to a long post, but I sincerely believe you will learn a lot about how you should have begun setting up your FOWLR system: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

The above will be a good lead in to what we aquarists call a 'mature aquarium.' The mature aquarium is one where the marine system is ready for fish and sensitive invertebrates. More info on that here: The Mature Aquarium

You have much to unlearn. Sorry. Please don't be discouraged. You've come to the right place. You can become a responsible hobbyist in a few hours of reading if you're good at retaining what you read, then implementing what you've read. Take a look at this post. This post contains post and article links on various subjects. Just dig in and read, read, read. Table/Contents - Link List

What is written in all the links has no motivation to get you to buy things, In fact it asks you to go slow so that you don't have to replace fish or marine life forms, and to do what's right by your fish. Obviously you care about your fish, otherwise you wouldn't be here asking for recommendations. People with your kind of fish concern make the best marine aquarists. Don't give up on it. Just learn again the truth and what needs to be done.

The greatest thing a marine aquarist needs to develop is patience. This will become very apparent as you read.

In the meantime, I would seriously urge you to get rid of the fish in your tank. I know this is a bit of heart-breaker, but it is in their best interest to get to a mature marine system of the correct size, even if it means going back to the LFS and you taking a loss for it. Then, pick up the procedure for setting up an FOWLR marine system at about the 6-week place and go from there.

While the tank matures you can better learn how to feed the fish you want to have. This post is your best guide to that: Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition

You'll find that flakes and pellets are one of the worst food choices for marine fishes.

Then, you'll want to setup a quarantine tank and follow good quarantine procedures for all fish. As an aside, one fish is added to the display tank no faster than one about every 6-8 weeks. So you can clearly see, your tank being 6 weeks old would have no fish in it and it would take about 6 months for the tank to gear up for three fish AFTER it took about 6 months to mature enough to accept its first fish. Thus, a 29 with three (proper) fish in it would be about a year old.

We're here to help and answer questions, but it's going to take some unlearning and learning on your part. I hope you like to read.

Good luck!

[carlc]

Besides Lee's excellant advice you have some great clubs in your state. These people are almost always much more honest then a pet store. They can be a great wealth of information for new and old keepers alike. The members are friendly and you might have the chance to see other people set ups.

Here are links to the clubs.
Central Ohio Reef Aquarists (CORA) www.corareef.org
The Cincinnati Reefkeepers Society Cincinnati Reefkeepers Society

Carl

[carroll]

thank you very much. I will check into that.