Been 2 Hell & Back!

Right where to start - approx 3-4 weeks ago, following the addition to my tank of 2 Yellow Tailed Blue Damsels - all was going to plan - the shrimp, turbo snails and 2 new additions were happy as can be, levels were fine and I couldn't have been happier. Then.....................

I decided to add a couple of Percula Clowns, this was to be my final live stock, 2 percs and 2 damsels, the same day I lost one of the Clowns, and wasn't too sure why, I spoke to the shop and they said they would replace it, a day or so later, the other clown died - I was straight on to the shop for guidance/advice - levels were retested (but only by me) and back I went to my LFS for 2 replacement Clowns - these two went in and a first were fine - approx 1 week later, I had lost them both. I spoke to the shop and they advised to return with a sample of my water for them to test. Now this is where anyone looking to setup a Nano/Orca tank should take note:-

The Shop Readings Came out as follows:-

SG - 1.026 - a little too high
Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia - all present and ammonia had shot through the roof **
PH level about 7.9 - too low

I will continue my story in a sec - but for now this is where the advice needs to be given:-

Learn how to take readings perfectly - if you have never taken water readings before and measured them against a colour chart - you will need advice and tuition so you take the correct readings - thinking it looks blue and a bit green - so blue is the reading and that is okay - is not good enough - for me taking readings incorrectly cost me 4 percula clowns and around - £50. I then took my two damsels back to the shop for them to have, as I didn't want my poor tank conditions to harm them.

The damsels may have been okay - as they are tolerant to nitrites/ammonia, which was why they had survived.

So for fish that can take less than perfect condtions - go for damsels, chromis' etc - ask your LFS for details.

..............................the story continues

so my tank went from having 1x cleaner shrimp, 1x peppermint shrimp, 3 turbo snails, 2 blue damsels and 2(4) percula clowns to having just the clean up crew. The tank from approx 3 weeks ago looked fairly boring and empty - except for the shrimp and snails which to be fair to them and always remained happy and were loving the extra space they had.

So for 3 weeks, I returned to the LFS to take tank readings - every week, I came away disappointed as ammonia was present on every test, although decreasing steadily. Finally on Saturday 07th April, my tests results has returned to 0 for everything.........................I was allowed fish again - so this time I wanted to be sensible - so I (taking advice from my wife) bought 1 green chromis and 1 spotted hawk. They have now been in my tank for a few days, are extremely happy and the hawk is hilarious.

So my advice to anyone wanting it is, patients is a virtue, take your time, if your not sure ask, get all the help offered to you and don't put the first fish in to your tank until your levels have been checked by your LFS (unless your are experienced).

I have taken a steep learning curve and learnt the hard way, but in the end it has been worth it.

I now will be taking my time before adding anymore live stock.

Pictures will appear soon of my now replenished tank..

Dory, Bruce, Sherman & Cecil

My wife named them....

Dory is the confident "Yellow Tailed Blue" Damsel, always prominent around the tank

Bruce - is the shy (I know you work it out) YTB Damsel, always the first to shy away when anyone is near the tank

Sherman - is the confident cleaner shrimp, extremely tame, always inquisitive, wants to know what is going on whenever anyone is near the tank - eats like there is no tomorrow

Cecil - the dancing shrimp - is similar to Bruce in how shy he is - always at the back of the tank until lights out, seems happy enough though

Yellow Tailed Blues - new additions

Purchased 2 Yellow Tailed Blues today, Cecil and Sherman (Dancing & Cleaner Shrimp) didn't look too pleased, fish invading their tank space, but now all is okay - one of the blue damsels was confident from the off swimming straight out investigating, the other one took about an hour before it starting coming out from the rocks, but now both seem happy swimming around enjoying themselves. Bought some frozen brine for our new damsels also, so will give them their first feed in their new home later!

Piccys - not great but will do 4 now

Cleaner Shrimp, Dancing Shrimp & 3 Turbo Snails purchased!

Having checked all my levels and confirmed all was okay, I today went with the wife and her younger sister (11 yrs old) to RC&E and informed the shop owner that we were ready 4 the next level - he advised that we could either add further corals, purchase a damsel or 2 or get some clean up crew. We went 4 getting some clean up crew and some additional tank items - 1 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Dancing Shrimp, 3 Turbo Snails, 25 litres of RO Water, an additional pump, magicleaner, and more salt.

All added to the tank with the usual slow and concentrated introduction required to a new fish home, all went in - light off, snails obviously settled straight in no problems at all, shrimp were okay a little nervous but a few hours later they were happily moving swiftly around their new home. Even being introduced to my hairy crab (can't remember the name) they got on great.

Just got to add my additional pump as recommended by my LFS tomorrow and then leave things to settle for about a week b4 purchasing a few gobys or damsels to start of my live fish stock.

Check back soon, for further updates

Time for the clean up crew..

Tank is now coming into its third week of being setup and all PH, SG, Nitrate, water tempt tests/levels are fine - am picking up 2 peppermint shrimps and 1 cleaner today as maybe a few crabs and turbo snails. Depending on what I am advised my my local Aquatics Centre http://www.ratscatsandelephants.co.uk

Crab found in live rock

Well chuffed, just found a hairy crab in amongst my live rock, rock has been in 4 days now and really is coming to life, but this is my best discovery so far, the crab crawled out just b4 lights out time, crawled out of a hole around a few rock ledges then nestled in to a small cave and started nibbling on the rock surface, wasn't a bit afraid of my ugly mug staring at it for 10 mins.