I bought my first tank.

[pagan.n.damaged]

After being a member for about a month and watching a friends tank for a few months I finally bought a tank. Its a nano and its only about 12.5 gallons including sump. I bought it at Aquatek in Austin off their consignment. It has a built in sump that is at the very back of the tank. It came with a power compact light made by CAD. Its the 6 light dual select. Its just starting to cycle. Its been up almost a week now and the salinity is stabilized at 1.022. I added some live rock and live sand from a friends tank to help with the cycle.

With it being only a 12.5 including sump i know that limits me on what I can place in my tank. I was curious if I could do a pair of the black and white Ocellaris clownfish. I am also thinking about a sexy shrimp maybe 2 and a couple of gobies. We do intend on upgrading to a bigger tank (75+) around the middle of July at the latest so as they outgrow the little tank they will have a home. I'll take some pictures of the tank as it sits now and update monthly as it "hopefully" turns into a beautiful tank.

Dani

[JimD]

Thats a lot of load on such a small tank. Id stop at a pair of black & whites and a shrimp. Hold off on the gobies till you upgrade. Welcome and good luck !!

[pagan.n.damaged]

Thanks for the advice. I was worried about the black and whites being to much just on their own because some places say the recommend them for no smaller then a 20. Its killing me to look at an empty tank. my hubby keeps teasing me he's gonna take dry erase markers and draw fish on my tank so i'll quit talking about how i wish it would cycle enough to add fish.

[JimD]

Please take your time and dont rush anything, you'll be rewarded for it in the future.

[tony]

welcome to the club!!! its all downhill from here :D

i agree with what jimd has told you so far. 2 clowns in a 12 will be fine before getting my 30 cube i had two clowns in a 12

[ErikH]

Get ready to eat ramen!

Welcome to MAAST.

[zcatzmeow]

Woohoo! Welcome to the land of nano!

1) First rule - Small tank does not equal small price :bigsmile:
2) Add time in your schedule to obsess about your nano and stare at it for entirely too long.
3) Try your best to go slow. That hasn't worked out so well for me, but really it's the best way to go.
4) While you are waiting for what seems like an eternity, google your brains out, read & research, make wish lists. That helps the time go buy.
5) Even before you stock the tank, you will see creatures and such on the liverock. I spent quite a bit of time staring at my rock looking for the slightest movement :bigsmile:

[SoLiD]

So you took the plunge... :applause: Reading is good but experience is best. Both of which go a long way to being sucessful in this hobby. Read as much as you can, then read some more. And don't hesitate to ask questions (as silly as you think they may be).

And By The Way,

Welcom To MAAST!!!

[drgnbttrfly]

Well I kept teasing that I wanted to learn from her mistakes instead of mine...mine were costing me too much

So go ahead...cycle with a damsel...oh no it wont hurt em...they are super fish:ph34r:

Oh you think he is mean...its ok...put the most expensive fish you can afford in there with him...see what happens:bigsmile:
Oh he is not hurt he is a special sideways swimming fish...super rare..didn't you see him listed on ebay with the albino coral?

It will be fine:wub:


SO Glad I can tease you now. I know its torture waiting to get critters but this is the hardest part.

You can come visit my mess of tanks...bout the time you get yours up and running my display ought to be back up and running. I can't wait.

You decided where your anemone is going yet?

Public Service Announcement...do not try this at home...all things recommended to Pagan are a joke...inside or outside...do not attempt...injury will result.

[barderer]

I would really think over your live stock selection in such a small tank. If you make one bad choice you are really limited in future choices with a small tank. I think you could put two fish in there MAX. A bi color blenny and a goby with a pistol shrimp might be a good combo. Or you could put one mantis shrimp in there and have a very interesting tank. Stick with robust softies for coral for now until you get some better lights.

[pagan.n.damaged]

Seriously I have no clue where the anemone is going, I still have to find the rock for it and also put more rock in the tank. Everything i'm seeing anywhere is huge and i need more small rock then anything.

[pagan.n.damaged]

Not a huge coral fan, I'm still a little chicken about them. Its a small tank and I honestly don't plan on putting much in it. Its basically my starter tank and probably with in the year I'll get rid of it completely for a much bigger tank. A lot of the fish that I love are much to big for a tank that size so having them isn't possible at all. I couldn't put much more then clowns or a couple goby's in the tank and feel comfortable with it. Thanks for the advice though.

[KyleV]

How about some pics. The tank sounds interesting.

[crabman]

:applause:welcome to maast!!:applause: ...and welcome to being broke :bigsmile:!

[pagan.n.damaged]

So far the broke thing isn't bad. It just means fewer video games for the hubby but he'll live I'm sure. I'll try and get pictures up this weekend as soon as I can.

[drgnbttrfly]

I dunno...did you see the tshirts they both wore em pretty quick!...they sure love the games! Our husbands will die without games I think tolerate our fish obsession so they can game in peace. :lmao2:

[pagan.n.damaged]

Honestly your probably correct. He lets me tinker with the tank all day because he knows as long as i'm playing with it that i don't care if he's glued to the tv or the computer. He was up til 1 this morning playing games. I crashed out almost as soon as I got home.