First off, I'm fairly new to this hobby ( which I'm enjoying emensley!) so any and all info and advice is welcome!
I have a 40 long wich contains about 30 lbs of live rock and about 30 lbs of sand with a tiny layer of crushed coral. I have several fish which include 2 clowns (false). a butterfly, a scooter blenny, 2 black & white damsels and a yellow tang (which I just replaced after loosing my 1st for some unknown reason). I also have 2 newly aquired feather dusters (1 large and 1 medium sized) and a coral banded shrimp. My many recruits of a clean up crew include 2 large emerald crabs, 4-5 turbos, and a good many blue and red legged hermits.
On to the questions ...
1) Since I have placed the large feather duster in the tank (about 7-8 days ago) I have noticed my butterfly always "attacking" the plumes. Is this normal for a butterfly to do as I thought they were suppose to be a community type fish and get along with everything? Is there anything I can do ... besides stand guard at the tank?
2) The new tang nibbles at the tube of the large feather duster, I think it is just cleaning things off of the tube (like algea and such) as the tube seems fine. Is this going to hurt the duster at all? Should I try to wedge the tub in a cubby to try to keep the Tang away from it?
3) Being new to the hobby I started off simply ... FO with some live rock. I've been having good success (except for a few faulty fish choices which I remedied quickly) and just the other day I bought a small colony of corals (my first) which the LFS guy says are very easy to keep. He told me I may want to switch my lighting from the bulb that came with the tank to a slightly different one made fro corals (which I will be doing next week). The corals he suggested (and which I bought) are small and yellow and kind of look like little feather dusters. They can pull themselves into their tubes also. He also suggested some kind of "green coral" I think he called it ... it was kind of reddish and green colored and again looked like a feather duster. ( I actually thought that's what these corals were when I saw then ... baby feather duster colonies. Anyway, I think I may start adding some of the more easily cared for corals like these to my tank to give it a more "alive" look. Are there any other good beginner soft corals I can look for? I actually just learned about soft and hard corals ... before when I thought of corals I thought of hard things.
I LOVE this hobby!
4) Last question ... I have a couple fake decorative things (a large pink coral thing and a stump looking thing) and I was wondering if they will pick up living things like the rock will or it they won't? Also, are fake plants a good thing to put in the tank of not? I had one in to start with but I always noticed it picking up alot of algea and debris. What are thoughts on plant decor? My LFS doesn't sell live SW plants.
Thanks.
I have a 40 long wich contains about 30 lbs of live rock and about 30 lbs of sand with a tiny layer of crushed coral. I have several fish which include 2 clowns (false). a butterfly, a scooter blenny, 2 black & white damsels and a yellow tang (which I just replaced after loosing my 1st for some unknown reason). I also have 2 newly aquired feather dusters (1 large and 1 medium sized) and a coral banded shrimp. My many recruits of a clean up crew include 2 large emerald crabs, 4-5 turbos, and a good many blue and red legged hermits.
On to the questions ...
1) Since I have placed the large feather duster in the tank (about 7-8 days ago) I have noticed my butterfly always "attacking" the plumes. Is this normal for a butterfly to do as I thought they were suppose to be a community type fish and get along with everything? Is there anything I can do ... besides stand guard at the tank?
2) The new tang nibbles at the tube of the large feather duster, I think it is just cleaning things off of the tube (like algea and such) as the tube seems fine. Is this going to hurt the duster at all? Should I try to wedge the tub in a cubby to try to keep the Tang away from it?
3) Being new to the hobby I started off simply ... FO with some live rock. I've been having good success (except for a few faulty fish choices which I remedied quickly) and just the other day I bought a small colony of corals (my first) which the LFS guy says are very easy to keep. He told me I may want to switch my lighting from the bulb that came with the tank to a slightly different one made fro corals (which I will be doing next week). The corals he suggested (and which I bought) are small and yellow and kind of look like little feather dusters. They can pull themselves into their tubes also. He also suggested some kind of "green coral" I think he called it ... it was kind of reddish and green colored and again looked like a feather duster. ( I actually thought that's what these corals were when I saw then ... baby feather duster colonies. Anyway, I think I may start adding some of the more easily cared for corals like these to my tank to give it a more "alive" look. Are there any other good beginner soft corals I can look for? I actually just learned about soft and hard corals ... before when I thought of corals I thought of hard things.
I LOVE this hobby!
4) Last question ... I have a couple fake decorative things (a large pink coral thing and a stump looking thing) and I was wondering if they will pick up living things like the rock will or it they won't? Also, are fake plants a good thing to put in the tank of not? I had one in to start with but I always noticed it picking up alot of algea and debris. What are thoughts on plant decor? My LFS doesn't sell live SW plants.
Thanks.
