Starting Over..

[hyrookin]

jack dempsey?

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

Thank you Hyroo!!!!

 

[Navarre]

A Jack Dempsey is a Cichlid isnt it?

Algea blennys are great fish with HUGE personalities but be warned. They grow quite large and most of them will ONLY eat algea. I have seen many cases where people have got algea blennys to help keep their algea down and they do this job superbly. But once the algea is wiped out the poor blenny dies of starvation.

I have an algea blenny in my tank but i do not scrap the backs or sides of the tank and this gives him enough algea to eat. With a rank of my size this just about keeps him going.. in a small tank howver i would not be sure if the surface area of the sides and back would be enough )

If you want a blenny for your tank then a Dot Dash Blenny (Ecsenius lineatus)

Or perhaps a Bi Colour blenny (Ecsenius bicolor)

both stay very small and will eat algea as well as readily accepting other foods. Great characters to watch also!


Ah now i see.. your sig: So you have a Jack Dempsey i n your basement! THey grow real big and very nasty too! Im sure he isnt very keen on being in 10 gallons either ) I have a friend who keeps Cichlids and he has a pair of Jack Dempseys in a 100 gallon tank And NO nothing else or it gets beaten up and eaten!

 

[hyrookin]

yeah, I seen he had jack..something, and figured it must be a dempsey.
it might be something else though, like you said, they do get real big
and I dont see a 10 yr. old one in a 10 gal.

darn dragon, how big is it?

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

the jack is about 8 or 9", pretty big. Im not sure how big exactly they get. It lives alone in a 15 gal (sorry, thought it was a 10 gal, concidering I dont go in the basement often), it still has room to swim since there isnt much of deco, just a few rocks that he rests on.

And I like the bicolor blenny's. I'll have to see what the shop has.

I tested the water (After a day of water changing) and all readings are normal (well, 1 tang). Nitrate and Nitrite is very low as well as ammonia. pH is 8.1 around there.

Since I want to do an invert tank, is it wise to add more live rocks now, or wait?

 

[Navarre]

Add more live rock. it will cycle the tank faster too!
Get as much liverock asyou can in tehre before adding livestock IMO.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

ok, I'll get some over the weekend. alittle at a time so i wont blow my money at once.

should I get rid of the gravel/live sand mix and put just live sand in?

 

[Navarre]

Hmm. good question.. Losing this will lower your bioload and put the livestock in danger but adding liverock along with new "Livesand" will help ebuild the bioload fast. Considering you have only 1 fish left now I would say that you should try to remove the old sand and add the new. It might not be ideal to begin with but over the longterm i really feel its the better option.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

you dont sound too sure about that one. maybe I'll just get some more matured live sand and mix it in more for good measure, but leave the gravel for color as well. they say rocks/gravel that been in tanks for a long time will become 'live' as well, is that true?

 

[Navarre]

Yes they will become live.. however the gravel you have is very large grain sized. this means less bioload than good quality sand that has a far great er surface area.

Removing the current sand gravel will reduce its capacity intitially but once new sand is added (Aragnite is the best you can get.. keep PH stable and keeps clacium fairly high) then your bioload will actually be better equiped. The reason i sounded a little unsure is becauase its a ltitle hard to decide what was best.. in the short term i would keep the exsisting sand.. longterm (and this is really whats important) then new sand should be used IMO.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

I have an algea blenny in my tank but i do not scrap the backs or sides of the tank and this gives him enough algea to eat. With a rank of my size this just about keeps him going.. in a small tank howver i would not be sure if the surface area of the sides and back would be enough

If you want a blenny for your tank then a Dot Dash Blenny (Ecsenius lineatus)

Or perhaps a Bi Colour blenny (Ecsenius bicolor)

going back to that, I was reading a book in the petshop, I think you got it backwards. The algea blenny will eat given left over food (frozen shrimp, ect ect), and the bi-coloured blenny will only eat algae. The quote for the bi-coloured "Will not thrive well on provided food, they eat only algae"

I was watching the algae blenny too, it was nibbling on other food in the tank, while the bi-coloured was not.

This is what I read and observed.. I just want to make sure I get the right one in the future

and I have about 4 or 5 lbs of live rock in my tank now, I'll get more as I get the extra cash

 

[Navarre]

I have had 2 Bi colour blennies. and 2 Algea blennies. My friend have had 3 algea blennies...

Bi colour #1: Died by jumping from the tank (atea anything and everything).
Bi colour #2: Died via whitespot in my sons tank after living happily in mine for oever a year (Ate anything and everything).

My Algea Blenny #1: Died when it was introdiced into a tank far too young to sustain it (It only ate algea)

My Algea blenny #2: Still going strong and growing very large! Had him now over a year and its lived in both my tanks. In all this time its only ever eaten algea on the rocks and glass. (It wont even touch dried nori seaweed).

Friends Algea blenny #1: Died due to starvation (No algea)
Friends Algea blenny #2: Died due to starvation (No algea)
Friends algea blenny #3: Already looking ill when purchased and also died due to starvation (No algea)


I have a Dot Dash blenny in my tank at the moment also.. the Algea blenny eats only algea.. the dot dash will eat anything.

I can only give information on my own experiences but I stand by my statement that Algea blennies need Algea or they will stave. Bi colours or dot dash blennies can sustain on other foods.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

hmm. I was doing some research on peteducation.com, and I saw a Neon Goby. I saw they're easy to care for, once a day feeding (while most are 2-3 times a day), its a cleaner and helps prevent diseases. What do you think about a Neon Goby for my tank? I can see if my LPS can order one for me when I am ready. I thought in my research, the Neon Goby is the best way for me to go instead of a blenny.

 

[Navarre]

Neon gobys are lovely little fish! Yes they do act as cleaners so they will help if there is an outbreak of whitespot.

Not very long lived though (i think 18 months is about average) but easy to look after all the same and they will be happy in a tank of this size.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

only 18 months? aww, I'll see how much they are first. otherwise, I'll keep researching.

Again, my parents bought without permission. They got me a feather duster. I guess its ok now since the tank's been stable for a few days now and I have about 6 or 7 lbs of live rock in it now. (will be adding more as i get the money)

I read up on them, got liquid food for them, any 'special' knowledge I need to know for them?