Today on BRStv we are going to get a fish in this tank.
Hey guys my name is Ryan, welcome to another week of the BRS 160 where every week we do
our best to help you guys, members of the reefing community enjoy your tanks and find
new ways to explore the hobby.
We do that by following the set up and progression of this one hundred and sixty gallon reef
tank.
Today we are going to talk fish: not just how to select your first fish but how to build
a fish plan.
Quarantine options, acclimating your fish, a high level look at feeding and then show
you what we selected as the first fish for the BRS160
There are all kinds of things to consider when you are stocking the tank, you really
need to consider the must haves and work your way back from there.
For instance if an eel or lion fish are something you just have to have it is probably going
to have to be a dwarf species of lion or dwarf golden moray so they don't eat your fish.
Even then you are probably ruling out smaller fish, shrimp, or crabs.
In fact if you really like shrimp and crabs there is a whole host of fish like many wrasses
and hawkfish which are basically off the table.
If you really want a mandarin at some point you need to skip fish like Coris wrasse which
will likely out-compete it for food.
The first part of the plan is really about the size and how many fish for your tank.
As size is concerned most fish stores or online vendors will be able to tell you pretty easy
if the size of the fish is appropriate for the tank.
Keep in mind this advice is generally on the liberal side and should really be considered
a maximum.
There is one big exception to that rule.
If you are willing to give the fish back to the store when it gets too big or trade it
with someone you know there is no reason you can’t put a juvenile fish in a tank which
is smaller than the adult version would live in.
In fact within the couple years that it takes to outgrow the tank you might even upgrade
to a larger tank.
A yellow tang is a good example of that I personally have no issues with putting a small
yellow tang in a sixty gallon cube or seventy gallon tank.
If you start fairly small it will likely be years before it outgrows the tank and it is
normally pretty easy to find homes for a healthy tang.
Make sure it isn't a species that doesn't grow disproportionately fast and try not to
be reckless but you can bend the rules if it is part of a long term plan and the health
of the fish is part of that plan.
There are a ton of rules about how many fish which are decent guidelines but I have never
met a single reefer who actively follows them religiously.
Most of us want as many fish as possible but every fish you add generally increases the
need for water changes, potential for nutrient issues like algae growth.
Too many fish, especially of the same type also reduces potential habitat and competition
for food sources.
When you are making your fish plan consider amount of available habitat.
There are three basic areas in the tank.
Sand dwellers like gobies, fish who like to perch on surfaces like hawk fish and fish
that spend most of their time in open water like tangs, chromis and anthias.
Try spreading the fish you select over the various habitats available in your aquascape.
It’s also wise to try and avoid fish which are going to out-compete each other for food
like the Coris wrasse and mandarin or get aggressive about food sources like tangs which
graze the rock for algae.
The first wave of fish should be fairly hardy fish, if the fish is labeled expert only or
costs five hundred dollars it’s also probably a poor choice.
Ideally your first fish should also not require a ton of food for a couple reasons.
First because the tanks biological filtration really isn't stable yet, even with ideal cycling.
Second because food turns into nutrients which can feed algae growth common with new tanks
which is obviously something we want to avoid.
Fish from the damsel family are more tolerant of new tanks and potential ammonia spikes
which make them ideal for the newer reefer who has little experience with properly cycling
tank.
The most popular damselfish of coarse is the clownfish and something almost every new reefer
ends up with.
Any time you add fish make sure to monitor your ammonia levels.
A really good rule of thumb is to never more than double your fish or food load in a month
which if followed you likely will avoid ammonia related issues.
If you would like to be really in touch with your biological filtration and the impacts
off adding new fish that Seneye monitor we talked about a couple weeks ago among other
things will provide real time ammonia readings and email you anytime things are off track.
That fish wave of fish or shortly after is a good time to add your more timid fish that
can really benefit from not being bothered while they establish some territory.
Shrimp and goby pairs, clown gobies, dartfish, blennies and basslets are good examples.
The next wave is generally fish that serve a purpose in newer tanks primarily eating
algae or pests common in new tanks.
Lawnmower blennies, rabbit fish maybe a dwarf angel if you are willing to risk it nipping
at corals later.
Next I would add anything you don't consider aggressive to other fish and you want to add
to the tank, chromis or anthias schools, reef safe wrasses, some hawkfish really anything
from your tanks fish plan that isn't aggressive.
After that it is time for aggressive fish that will actively go after territory, protect
food sources and attract similar species in the tank.
Tangs are probably biggest example of this.
It is just a good idea to always add aggressive fish last.
This way all of the more timid fish have already established their territory and it will be
less stressful for them.
This is even more important if you plan on adding multiple aggressive species like a
few tangs to the same tank.
You are way more likely to have success if you add them at the same time.
This is especially true of tangs from the same species family.
If you add them at separate times the chances of the first one attacking the second later
addition are pretty high.
In my experiences as long as the tank is appropriately sized and there is a stable food supply added
together as juveniles the chances multiple tangs will get along are pretty good.
In many cases a school of three to five or more in large tanks will do better than two
as well because it allows a chance to diffuse aggression.
This is also the case with our office clown harem tank were three or four clowns added
separate times is almost always ends in disaster.
However adding thirty at a juvenile state combined with proper habitat and stable food
source has been a recipe for success.
A harem like this will always have a somewhat aggressive nature to it as they squabble for
dominance but it is diffused and typically not focused on a single individual.
Last wave of fish are those that require established systems to have high survival rates mandarin
gobies and sand sifting gobies are good examples of that because both of these require developed
and sustainable microfauna population to survive.
Once you have selected your fish it’s time to discuss one of the more hotly debated topics,
quarantining your fish.
Fact is fish come with all kinds of diseases and parasites on them and if you stay in the
hobby long enough the chances you will run into one is fairly high.
There are two basic types of quarantine system the first is more or less just an observation
tank.
Easiest way to set this up is to keep a sponge or some filtration media like marine pure
in the sump.
When you need to set up your quarantine tank remove the media and add it to the quarantine
tank.
This will likely keep the ammonia in check but you should absolutely test it daily for
the first week or so to make sure.
If you happen to have something like the Seneye I would personally take it off my main tank
and put it in the quarantine tank during this time.
More or less just observe the fish for a month or so and if you see no signs of disease or
parasites add them to the tank.
The second quarantine system designed to treat fish with medications like copper regardless
of signs of disease, often starts with a freshwater or medicated dip which will cause many parasites
to release on their own and then weeks to a month in the medicated tank to insure the
fish is safe for the tank.
The nature of this type of quarantine makes it obviously much more successful than simple
observation.
Here is where the debate comes in while quarantining your fish is obviously a good idea from the
perspective of preventing the introduction of disease to the tank throwing fish into
an unstable tank that was just set up often with low salinity or full of harsh medications
also has its own mortality issues.
There absolutely is a learning curve to designing, setting up and maintaining a quarantine system
properly.
Some fish will likely die that would have otherwise made it if they had been added directly
to a healthy stable tank.
And like any other best practice there is often budgetary and space constraints that
might prevent success.
If you don't have the space or money that about sums it up, end of discussion.
Even if you do have the money is this the best place to put your time and resources.
You could argue all day on the merits of an aquarium controller or quarantine system being
more likely to be the best expenditure of money to protect your system or home.
End of the day my advice is best practice says you should quarantine.
Every type of fish is best served with a different method of quarantining and medications so
do your research and protect your tank.
For everyone else don’t worry it is very possible to have a successful reef tank without
a quarantine system and you are almost certainly in the majority of reefers out there.
There are many other ways you can reduce the chances of introducing disease or parasites
into the tank.
First one is being picky where you buy your fish from.
Find a fish store you trust, the staff knows their stuff, it's clean and they obviously
care about the business and health of the animals.
Even better if they can show you the quarantine system they use prior to putting the fish
on sale to you.
In person you can closely inspect the fish which is the most important step of buying
a healthy fish and why buying online is such a gamble.
If you buy fish online it is much more important to have a proper quarantine system because
you don't know what you are getting and because if a fish does come slightly sick most of
reefers don't have the heart to flush it so they throw it in the tank anyways and risk
the lives of all the other fish in the tank which is obviously a bad move.
Another common method of preventing disease or parasite introduction is a few minute freshwater
dip before adding the fish to the tank.
Most fish can tolerate freshwater for short periods of time but many invertebrate can’t
so they either die or fall right off the fish.
In addition to this many reefers will also medicate the dips as well.
Make sure to research how your specific fish tolerates freshwater and medications before
dipping them.
Beyond that maintaining a stable reef tank with ample habitat, husbandry and nutrition
is one of the best ways to make sure your fish stay healthy.
there is also equipment like UV sterilizers we covered in detail in week fourteen which
sterilize the water and reduce the pathogens and chances of an outbreak, not a replacement
for quarantining but a solid preventive measure for those with the space and cash to implement
a sterilizer.
Most of you are familiar with acclamation more or less you just replace small amounts
of water so the chemistry in the bag matches that in your tank and reduce stress.
If you are going dip you would want to do this before that.
I think the easiest way to do this is to throw the fish specimen container , hang it on a
five gallon bucket and drip water from the tank into the container until you have changed
over three to four times the water volume . Bigger fish you can do directly in the bucket.
One really important element here you do not want a single ounce of that water in your
tank because you don't know if the store or online shop uses copper or other meds and
you do not want to add them directly to the tank.
So pour the fish out into a net or something suitable for your particular fish over the
bucket and then add the fish only to the tank.
Last piece of this is you now have a new fish so you have to feed it.
We are going to do an in-depth episode on foods so super high level you can choose from
dry options like flake and pellets as well as frozen foods.
Most reefers prefer pellets over flake because they sink rather than go down the overflow.
A few of my favorite pellets are the Hikari, Elos and Fauna Marin.
The thing about pellets is they are super convenient because you can store them right
next to the tank but they are very nutrient dense so a little goes a long way.
You can pollute the tank really easy with foods like this so be careful.
This is particularly true with automatic feeders which dump the pellets in for you.
It is super easy to add too much and pollute the tank.
Automatic feeders great tools especially for fish that need a stable consistent source
of food like anthias or if you are out of town a lot but beware they can ruin a tank
just as easy by rapidly increasing nitrate and phosphate levels with extra food.
Frozen foods are much less nutrient dense because they contain a lot of water but they
are often much palatable and similar to a fishes natural food source than pellets.
Because they are much less nutrient dense it is much harder to overfeed and great for
new reefers as well.
Hikari Mysis is one of the most popular options out there.
So what did we select for the BRS160?
We decided to start with a handful of firefish we picked up at a local store I like a lot
called saltwater empire because they freshwater drip almost everything that comes into the
store.
Quarantine everything for a week in the back and the systems are medicated.
I know they care about the animals and the reefers who come in there.
We selected X fish because
This is more fish than you might add typically but we did a really solid job cycling the
tank with the red sea reef mature pro kit, have a ton of filtration media with the media
pure and the Seneye monitor we installed will give us real time ammonia updates so we can
treat the water if needed and if we need to move any of the fish I have twenty or so tanks
here so that’s no problem.
I am going to get blasted for this in the comments area for sure; we are not going to
quarantine the fish because I just don't have the space in the studio or available time
to set up another tank and monitor it daily.
I really strongly considered moving the Seneye to a new tank so I didn't have to monitor
the quarantine as closely and do test kits every day but open and honest I have just
seen more fish stress out and die in quarantine than I have seen disease outbreak in tanks.
A lot of reefers feel otherwise and based on their experiences I’d say they are equality
right.
This hobby is about fifty percent proven methods and fifty percent personal experiences emulating
your own and others you trust successes.
Between buying them from a store I trust who freshwater dips, quarantines and medicates
already and the medicated dip I am going to do here before addition, the giant oversized
sterilizer rated for a tank three times as big as this one and stable healthy system
we are putting them in I think we have done our due diligence at protecting the tank.
This tank is officially live now.
We have our first batch of fish next week we are going to talk evaporation and auto
top off solutions.
After that protein skimmers and then five weeks of lighting.
You don’t want to miss any of this so hit that subscribe button.
If you are interested in learning more about any of the products we talked about today
checkout this link, see you next week with episode sixteen of the BRS160 Auto top offs.