How Fast Should You Stock The Aquarium

Throughout the years lots has been written about the stocking rates in saltwater aquariums - some of this information has been very informative and unfortunately some has been very misleading.

Misleading information provided has been along the lines of ‘1 cm of fish for every 5 litres of water’, ‘1 cm of fish for every 13 litres of water’ etc.

As you can see just from the above two examples it can be very misleading!

On top of the above there has been limited differentiation between fish only aquariums, coral only aquariums and mixed reef aquariums!

The main trouble is when it comes to stocking the aquarium - each aquarium is different. Each aquarium has different equipment, different animals etc. Even if you have two aquariums with exactly the same equipment then they would still be variances.

Overstocking in an aquarium is unfortunately something that the majority of aquarists do. For a long time they get away with it until something changes and the aquarium starts to go downhill. Basically if the correct care and maintenance is performed on a weekly basis and no equipment fails then some aquarists may be able to get away with overstock - until some area of the care and maintenance is missed, a piece of equipment fails and then the trouble starts.

The issue is not just with the aquarium being overstocked. Another issue is when the aquarium is stocked too quickly. This could either be that fish are introduced into the aquarium prior to the aquarium finishing its cycle, too many fish are introduced at the same time or not enough time is left in between the introduction of fish.

The first thing that the aquarist needs to ensure is that the aquarium is ready for the introduction of fish. By this I mean that the filtration in the aquarium is ready to process the waste created by the fish, uneaten food etc. This, as already mentioned is the cycle. In the cycle Ammonia is converted to Nitrite which is in turn converted to Nitrate. Both Ammonia and Nitrite are toxic to fish therefore no readings of these should be evident in the system.

At first testing only for ammonia will suffice, then testing for nitrite. When the ammonia levels reduce the nitrite should increase which should then reduce only for the nitrate to increase.

Nitrate is not toxic to fish but should be controlled either by water changes, natural methods etc to ensure that it stays within the recommended parameters for the type of aquarium you keep.

Once you have no readings at all for ammonia or nitrite then the aquarium is ready for the introduction of a fish - just the one don’t get greedy and overdo it. I appreciate that this is hard as there will be lots of beautiful fish in the shop which you could walk out with but you need to resist the temptation.

Before you go out to the shop though you need to realistically have a think about what fish you are hoping to keep in the aquarium (as well as corals and invertebrates if you are hoping to keep these). When you are thinking about this consider talking to more experienced aquarists or a couple of aquarium shops who you have started to build a bit of trust with. In my opinion it is good to build a good relationship with your local fish shop as they will get to know both yourself and your aquarium and you never know when you may need them.

When thinking about your list what you want to ensure is that all the fish you hope to keep will live happily with each other (and corals/invertebrates if you are keeping them).

There is something else you need to think about at this point - the hardiness of the first fish.

It is recommended that a hardy fish be introduced first into the aquarium at the start of its life. In my opinion this is correct as everything in the aquarium is new and basically the water is raw and too clean. A hardy fish is good but what you do not want is a territorial fish. A good example of this is the damsel fish. Whilst the fish is hardy it will quickly believe that the entire aquarium is its territory and when you introduce other fish into the aquarium they could easily get bullied which in turn leads to stress, disease and possibly death.

What you are looking for is a fish which is hardy yet is not territorial.

A good example of this is the common clownfish - tank bred if possible.

So let’s pretend at this point that you have gone to your local fish shop and ignored all the other fantastic fish and purchased just the one - a common clownfish.

Well done to you!

Now you have it home and you need to follow the correct acclimatisation procedures. A lot of people ask me if they need to quarantine their first fish. In my opinion there is no need to do this as there is nothing else in the aquarium which could be effected if this one becomes sick but if you are on the cautious side then quarantine the fish for a week - it won’t do any harm.

One the fish has been acclimatised to your aquarium it should soon start to explore, take food and perhaps even become bold.

At this point you may become tempted to go out and purchase one, two, three etc more fish. You should not do that though. You need to test the water. Prior to adding the first fish to the aquarium the filtration had nothing to deal with other than the cycle and any areas of die off which may have occurred. Now that a fish is in the aquarium you will be feeding it and not all that will be eaten and will fall to the bottom. What is eaten will eventually pass out of the other end and needs to be dealt with.

All this is processed by the filtration and the filtration needs time for the bacteria levels to increase. This is what you are waiting for - stability in the filtration.

This can again be done by testing for nitrite and nitrate. Even if these readings are zero for nitrite I would still wait a couple of weeks prior to adding a new fish. Give the aquarium time to settle and enjoy your new fish.

Once your readings are ok and at least a couple of weeks have passed then you can go and get another fish if you want to. Basically at this point you do the same again. Test the water and wait for stability.

Basically you should stock the aquarium very slowly. The quicker you stock it the more load you are putting on the filtration system and it may not cope. That in turn will mean that you may get ammonia or nitrite readings which are not good and as said are toxic to fish.

Also don’t forget that the faster you stock the aquarium the quicker it will get full. Enjoy stocking it and take your time.

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Tags: Aquarium Filter, Aquarium Maintenance, aquarium-livestock, Care, Equipment, quarantine

SPS Corals - Are They For The Beginner?

More than two decades ago the marine aquarist would be pleased if fish survived in the aquarium, never mind corals of any type. The aquarium would have a fairly deep coarse sand bed, and underneath the sand would be an under-gravel filter plate. Another filtration method was a canister filter.

Canister filters can still be put to good use but for the most part under-gravel filters have seen their day. However, the advance of aquarium technology has changed a lot of things. No longer are marine aquariums decorated with white dead coral skeletons on a sand base, they have rock structures (often live rock) with just fish, or contain a full captive reef.

Having a living reef in an aquarium was an impossible dream to those earlier aquarists. Now, though, aquarists can achieve water quality at a high level by using commonly available equipment, and just as important can keep the quality high. Many of the captive reefs that are kept by ordinary aquarists are stunning, whatever the size of aquarium. They are so good that potential aquarists see them and are often persuaded to go to the local marine store to see what is available. Once at that point they are very nearly committed.

So should a potential aquarist consider corals at all? If so, should SPS (small polyp stony) corals be considered?

The ideal answer is ‘no.’ For the sake of the livestock, it would be better if the new aquarist obtained experience before moving to corals. This does not prohibit the keeping of marine fish - in fact, with a fish only aquarium the aquarist could keep some fish that are unsuitable to the captive reef, and also more of them. A really colourful and interesting display is obtainable.

The important point about keeping fish only is that it permits time for experience to develop - experience in maintenance. Ongoing maintenance is essential for success with an aquarium of any type, and particularly with a reef of SPS corals and their particular demands. It allows the aquarist to experience feeding techniques, one area that is more than likely to cause grief with seawater quality. All the required maintenance will become routine and used to, and that other essential will also develop - patience.

However, as said, the above describes, to my mind anyway, an ideal world, having fish only to start with. In the real world, the new aquarist is faced with enormous temptation. All the equipment available suggests that ‘it isn’t hard’, and indeed it isn’t - all things into consideration. The one thing that will never change is that no matter how much sophisticated equipment there might be, if the basics understood by the aquarist are lacking, which of course includes the necessities of husbandry, there are going to be problems or even failure.

So let’s consider the aquarist who is looking to set up a reef tank and cannot be dissuaded. Fair enough.

From the outset it needs to be understood that the fish that could be kept will be restricted. The types kept must be ‘reef friendly’, but there are plenty of those. The number of fish in the aquarium needs to be restricted, and this restriction applies to size as well as actual numbers. There could be, say, two largish surgeons or four small 2″ or 3″ size other fish. (This is not a guideline, just an ‘out of the air’ example.) Larger fish in ones put pressure on seawater quality equivalent to smaller fish in greater numbers.

Ok, so the aquarist wants to keep corals and accepts there will be restrictions on fish numbers. So SPS corals?

Again, I would attempt to dissuade the newcomer from taking the plunge into SPS corals. Look at the unarguably beautiful soft corals with their lovely pastel shades, different shapes, and how some sway so attractively in the currents. Many aquarists prefer soft corals to the hard types (including me). The great thing about soft corals is that they are generally easier to keep (there are exceptions) and have a better chance of surviving the mistakes a beginner could make. Soft corals are generally available and make a very attractive display.

At this point most newcomers will have got the message. There will be some who are adamant that it is to be SPS corals or nothing. Ah well, ok.

I’ll now appear to contradict all that has been written above - there isn’t any reason why SPS corals cannot be kept by the beginner. But, the aquarist must be willing to sit down and learn and hopefully have a mentor, such as a friendly local experienced aquarist or a local dealer (who is genuinely interested in livestock welfare and not just sales). This is a good thing for any type aquarium system, but particularly so for what some see as the pinnacle of the hobby.

SPS corals make the most demands. The aquarist carries sole responsibility to meet those demands (as with any aquarium type). Just a couple of examples - to start with, seawater movement needs to be strong, so powerful and possibly more pumps or powerheads are required. Seawater quality has to be high, and within this there is a requirement to maintain, for example, a high calcium level. This will mean in a smaller aquarium using supplements, or in a larger one employing equipment such as a calcium reactor. This equipment needs maintenance and of course costs additionally in the first place. Then there is the lighting. This will need to be powerful, so metal halides will usually be employed. If the aquarium is a deep one, then higher wattage bulbs will be needed to permit sufficient light penetration. Along with heating, metal halide lighting is hungry for electricity, and electricity becomes ever more expensive.

There are those newcomers who have come into the aquarium hobby and made a success of it from the start. I bet they got down to it and did a lot of research and checking before making the final commitment.

There are also those newcomers who follow a list and set up an aquarium system, or buy a full system that is ‘plug and play’. All is fine at first, then problems arise, get worse, calls for help are made and after stress and possible livestock losses things are sorted out. The aquarist’s experience suddenly increased, at a cost.

Or there are those who join the hobby, do the research and find it straightforward. There may be the odd problem but it is sorted out. There may be the odd livestock loss. Overall, the aquarium is thought to be successful. Then it declines and is sold off. This is often because it is decided that the hobby is not for the aquarist. The ongoing maintenance becomes boring or gets in the way of other more tempting activities. Or, or maybe and, the cost of running the aquarium, mainly electricity, is high and perhaps too much.

I, along with other aquarists, want more newcomers to come into - and stay in - the hobby. The hobby is growing and that is a very healthy situation.

If experience is gained by advancing in steps, then the likelihood of problems is much diminished. Moving forward in steps reduces the danger to livestock - how sad it is that livestock is lost under any circumstance, there are considerable losses within the hobby and the majority of those are probably with newcomers. The newcomer will have found by experience the cost generally of running an aquarium and the effort required to maintain it and is more able to decide if the system should be upgraded to deal with more difficult livestock.

It is a personal opinion of course, but the answer to the title is “No.” Aquarium requirements seem to be confusing to many newcomers anyway, and, based on that, the ‘higher up’ the difficulty ladder the more confusion is going to arise.

Whatever marine system is set up, there are going to be demands. It is essential the aquarist understands the needs of the livestock and this means research and also experience.

It has been said that ‘knowledge is everything.’ It has also been said - ‘don’t build your house on sand.

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Tags: aquarium-fish, aquarium-livestock, Corals, marine reef, marine-aquarium, reef-tank

The Bubble Tip Anemone

There are a few anemones that find favour with aquarists and this is one of them. As well as the name in the title they are also commonly known as the four coloured anemone, the bulb tentacle anemone, and the bulb anemone. The proper name is Entacmaea quadricolor.

The anemone is one which requires good lighting as it contains symbiotic algae, and it is this algae that gives the anemone its colour. Good lighting is defined in the same way that lighting for corals is, and that is it must be sufficiently intense and of the correct spectrum. If the anemone is to be located quite low down in a deep aquarium then metal halides will be required.

Again in the same way as corals, good seawater movement is needed. This does not need to be particularly strong, just strong, moving the tentacles and swaying the body. Current from a power head should not hit the anemone directly.

The final requirement needed to settle the anemone happily in its home is to provide it with the correct position from a security point of view. When placing the anemone on the reef ensure that the anemone when fully open will not interfere with neighboring corals, but the most important point is to ensure that the foot of the anemone is located in a fairly deep crevice or hole, not a tight squeeze but a good generous loose fit. The anemone should anchor itself within the hole or crevice, which will also give it protection should it require it. It is unlikely that this will be needed in a home aquarium but the anemone doesn’t know this!

Failure to provide the named requirements, some of them, or one of them will either result in the demise of the anemone, or it will be very tiresome and start wandering around the aquarium looking for what is missing. I located an anemone in an earlier aquarium, meeting all the above needs, and it stayed put from the word go. Finally the anemone had to be removed as it just became too big.

Talking of size, the aquarist should be aware that this anemone could achieve a diameter of around 18″ (circa 45.75cm). Therefore it is not suitable for small aquariums; a length of say 48″ (circa 122cm) should be suitable.

It is my opinion that new aquarists without experience should not purchase this anemone (or any other) until such time as they have some experience. If the aquarist has kept an aquarium for a year successfully, that is, has maintained high seawater quality and the fish and corals have done and are doing well, then that is a reasonable time to consider an anemone.

Once in the aquarium a little time is needed for the anemone to indicate that it is settled. The indication is that it stays in one place, expands fully and is in good colour (meaning the algae are functioning therefore the lighting is acceptable).

Feeding is simplicity itself. First of all the anemone obtains nutrients from the symbiotic algae and feeding should not be overdone. When required, the anemone will accept a small piece of fish or mussel. This can be placed towards the mouth within the tentacles, when the anemone should respond and move the food to the mouth. Feed once or twice a week to start and build on experience.

This anemone in common with others contains nematocysts in the tentacles, which are like small harpoons that are activated on contact with a fish or shrimp. They penetrate the body of the victim and inject a toxin enabling the anemone to overpower and devour. There isn’t usually a distinction made for the aquarist’s prize livestock! Having said that, most fish seem to have an inbuilt instinct to keep away from the danger. I clearly recall becoming tense on more than one occasion when a lovely fish, intent on its search for food, seemed to be so, so close to the anemone ” but I didn’t lose any.

Many aquarists are keen to associate an anemone with a clownfish. Well, Entacmaea quadricolor is one of the anemones that act as hosts for clownfish. It is important not to overload an anemone with clownfish, usually one or maybe two is quite sufficient in an aquarium. No attempt should be made to host a clownfish until the anemone is known to be settled. The clownfish that are known to inhabit this anemone are Amphiprion clarki, Amphiprion ephippium, Amphiprion frenatus and Amphiprion melanopus.

It has been known, more than once, that a suitable clownfish has been placed in an aquarium containing a host anemone, only for the clownfish to totally ignore the anemone. Why this is I cannot say - is it because the fish was aquarium bred? If so, perhaps the fish doesn’t know it is supposed to live in an anemone! As said, I don’t really know. Fortunately, I have managed to obtain clownfish in the past that have been cooperative.

So if the aquarist has the experience and can provide the conditions, an anemone is worthwhile. If the anemone settles well and a clownfish (of the correct type) is introduced, then the aquarist will have the pleasure of seeing one of Nature’s strange and amazing combinations.

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Tags: anemone, aquarium-fish, aquarium-livestock, coral, invertebrate, marine-fish, reef-fish

How To Acclimitise Corals Correctly To Aquarium Lighting

Too often do I hear of people who go to an aquarium shop, see a coral, think to themselves ‘that would fit great in x position’, purchase it, take it home and put it straight into position.

To me this is wrong.

Corals when collected, propagated or aqua-cultured come from areas where they have been accustomed to different lighting levels to that of your aquarium. In the wild they may be collected from areas of different depths or even from under overhangs etc. In the propagated aspect they may have been grown out in an aquarium which is under weaker/stronger lighting than your aquarium. In the aqua-cultured aspect the corals may have been grown out in the ocean at a depth again where the light in your aquarium is either weaker or stronger than they have become accustomed to.

So what should you do?

Simply really - accustom them to the lighting slowly.

This is actually really simple to do yet it does require patience - doesn’t everything in this hobby?

When you purchase the coral be this at your local shop or via an online store you will of course researched it first - wont you? You then need to slowly acclimitise it to your water conditions. Once this has been performed and you are ready to add the coral to your aquarium do not simply place it in the area where you have planned for it place it at the bottom of the aquarium.

Leave it in this position for a few days whilst it becomes accustomed to the light it is receiving in this area. After a couple of days move is slightly higher towards its final position for again a couple of days.

A few days later do the same again and every few days move it slowly higher towards its final position.

Taking your time accustoming the coral to its new home will allow the coral to get used to the lighting slowly rather than being subject to too much lighting at once. This will also be beneficial to the symbiotic algae contained within the coral (dependent upon the coral of course).

Doing this does not mean that your coral will grow faster or be more colourful than other corals in your aquarium it simply means that you have given the coral enough time to adjust.

Let’s face it the corals cannot speak, they cannot tell you when they feel discomfort. For all you know the coral could slowly be getting burnt by lighting which is too powerful for it, the symbiotic algae may be expelled or worse the coral could perish.

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Tags: Aquarium Lighting, aquarium-livestock, Care, Corals, Equipment, reef-tank

Brine Shrimp - Should You Use Them In A Salt Water Aquarium

Feeding the livestock in a marine system is of very great importance. All living things need food to obtain energy and remain healthy. Without an adequate food supply - adequate in both quantity and quality - livestock will soon start to have problems.

Brine shrimp have been in use for many years. They can be obtained frozen and live and, though I haven’t seen any for a while, they are also available dry.

One of the tricks that can be employed when a new fish is reluctant to eat is to use brine shrimp. When they go into the aquarium the other resident fish chase them with gusto and often the new fish will become involved in this and take a few. If the new fish is on its own a brine shrimp or two dancing in the current is hard to ignore.

I would guess that the majority of aquarists use the frozen type. These come in a flat pack which is divided into segments, each segment is broken free as required. The segments can be cut down into smaller amounts according to need. Before the food is introduced it needs to be defrosted and this process should be done in seawater or a little reverse osmosis water. The food should be allowed to defrost on its own without the assistance of a microwave or similar. Some aquarists rinse the defrosted food before use.

The best frozen shrimps to use are those that are ‘enriched’. Brine shrimp is not particularly rich though it probably provides good roughage. Some aquarists insist on a product that has been irradiated, which means that there will not be any disease causing dangers present.

Live brine shrimp are usually purchased from a local store by the bag. The shrimp are definitely fresh and the storekeeper should be able to state their origin and if they have been enriched. Some aquarists are concerned about the possibility of disease. I used live shrimp for two years or so from a local store and never had a problem. I ceased using them as the supply to the storekeeper dried up. At that point I switched to frozen.

Brine shrimp are available dried. I did try them once and found them not to be particularly worthwhile for the simple reason that they had to be pre-soaked for quite a time or they would float around on the surface - once soaked they did sink but the fish were not overly enthusiastic. As said I haven’t seen the dried variety available for a good while. I also wondered about the nutritional value. Without any evidence I always had the feeling that this was poor.

Producing live brine shrimp at home is easy. All it needs is a suitable container with vigorous water movement, a convenient location and a supply of eggs. The eggs have become much more expensive (or they have in my area) and it may be found that the frozen variety is more economical. There are brine shrimp hatching kits available commercially, and these come with full instructions which are straight forward. Just don’t put too many eggs in like I once did: there’ll be so many brine shrimp they’ll need feeding themselves before they can be used. Using tiny newly hatched shrimp is good for corals and fish.

Brine shrimp are not a complete food in themselves, more of a supplement. There isn’t a reason why an aquarist couldn’t use them every day, but it would be better to use them along with other ‘supplements’, a good example is mysis shrimp. A fully nutritional food such as marine flake and the like should be the base diet. In addition attention must be given to the dietary requirements of livestock. Surgeon fish for example will usually eat brine shrimp without problem, but they need more nutrition as mentioned plus a good supply of suitable algae.

Brine shrimp is an excellent part of the marine aquarist’s food store. Stored and used properly it will add dietary variety and the fish seem to enjoy chasing it down.

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Tags: aquarium food, Aquarium Maintenance, aquarium-livestock, Care, invertebrate, marine-fish

Is This A Courageous Aquarist?

There are a few ‘be careful with this’ and ‘avoid doing that’ in the marine hobby. Some are born of experience, occasionally painful, and others of practicality.

Most marine aquarists are aware of the mantis shrimp. They come in two models, the ‘clubbers’ who bash their victims and the ‘spearers’ who, well, spear them. They can also grow large - I believe the biggest ones can grow to 40″ (circa 101.5 cm).

Have a look at the video that has been uploaded in the Social/Forum area (just go to the area and then click on Videos). There are two about mantis shrimps, the one relevant here is “Watch Those Fingers”…

This is a sizeable mantis being handled in a very carefree fashion. The mantis is incredibly tolerant! Maybe the aquarist has had it a long time and knows exactly what the shrimp will do…he hopes!

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Tags: aquarium, aquarium-livestock, mantis shrimp

Fish Identification

There are so many fish available for the marine aquarium. What could the aquarist do to be sure of the identity of a fish and therefore be sure it is the one for the aquarium?

The aquarist may have a ‘possible’ list and wish to reduce it to ensure there isn’t any overstocking and still be sure the fish are the ones really wanted. Maybe a new fish is being contemplated to add to existing stock and a check needs to be made.

The trouble is that many aquarists, and retailers too for that matter, use common names rather than the ‘proper’ Latin ones. Common names can lead to confusion, which could lead to the wrong fish, particularly if an order is being placed to obtain a fish unseen.

Out of the ‘possible’ list compatible fish with a good mix of colours and shapes are required. Or perhaps one fish is required for the collection. Whatever, the internet is a wonderful source of information and so it is in this case.

Following is a link to an identification database:

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/index.htm

Having got to the website the aquarist can choose to search for the fish by species, by common name, or by type. If the common name or species is not known, then type of fish can be used. If the common name is known clearly that should be used. The fish can be seen and confirmed - or not - to be the one required. If it is the one, note the common name and also note the Latin name given. When ordering, the Latin name and common name should about guarantee the correct fish. If buying a fish already seen, a visual check will confirm the choice.

The fish list is alphabetical and a great number of fish are present so the list is long. Most of us aquarists can safely ignore the sharks and the obvious ‘not for me’ fish so it is not as difficult as it could seem. If a common name such as ‘Emperor Angel’ for example is known, scroll to the E’s and click on that.

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Tags: aquarium, aquarium-fish, aquarium-livestock, marine-fish, reef-fish, reef-tank

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