sand sitfing star, live sand, and stocking questions

[msn711]

Hi there...new member, here...I just moved to Austin last month.

First off, after doing some more reading, I think I may have jumped the gun on buying my sand sifting star. From the reading I had done, I thought it would be a good member of the cleaning crew, but now I'm almost certain the sand bed in my tank won't support it. In setting up the tank, I used arag-alive (about 50 lbs). I'm thinking that if I add a pound or two of live sand now, the sand star would quickly deplete anything alive in it. So first question, could I buy a pound or two of live sand, and place it in the bottom of my power filter (which currently contains some rock rubble), and would that function as a sort of refugium? The star doesn't hide in the sand too much, so would target feeding small pieces of shrimp and seafood also help? Any recommendations?

My next question, to avoid any more bad purchases, I'd like some comments on my wish list (I know I can't do all of these fish):
- Dwarf Angel (Bluefin, Flame, Coral Beauty or Black Nox)
- Gold Maroon Clownfish
- Blue Green Reef Chromis (I'm thinking 3, but would 1 be ok since in an aquarium they're likely to stop schooling?)
- Electric Blue Damsel
- Fourline or Sixline Wrasse (The sixline is easier to find, but I think the fourline's look better)
- Sand sifting goby (of course, I would definetly need some live sand then right?)
- Green Mandarin (1 year and a refugium later)

The tank is a 45g (36x18x16) with a prizm skimmer, 4x65w PC lighting, Penguin 125 power filter (no sponge or biowheel, just lr rubble; also using for circulation), a maxi jet 900, 20 lbs lr, 20 lbs base rock set up 07/14/04.

Current Occupants: 5 blue leg hermits, 1 emerald crab, 1 fire shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, and 1 sand sifting star

amm = 0, nitrite = 0, nitrate = 20, pH = 8.0 - 8.4, temp = 77 - 80

Right now, I'm waiting for the nitrates to come down, and then I'd like to add the chromis.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[dan]

can't do a mandarin if you have a wrasse. the wrasse will deplete the pod population like crazy and thats the food sorce for the mandarin. the mandarin will starve away. you could put it in the fuge but most of the time the fuge is hidden under the tank. in fact most of the fish you have choosen are pod eaters. of course the other fish will eat what you feed them but a mandarin is only looking for pods.

[Ram_Puppy]

yeah, the mandarin is definately out food wise, also, i was advised here (for a 30 gallon) that a maroon clownfish might be a bit to much of a bully for that size tank.

I would personally get rid of the sand sifting star, and give your tank time to mature before either re-adding it or just not getting one. I am sure plenty of people here wouldn't mind taking it off your hands either short term or long term.

[captexas]

Welcome to MAAST, you have come to the right place!

Yeah, I second what Ram stated. I did the same thing as you did when I first started. I got a sand sifting starfish with the clean-up crew I purchased. The reason any animal "sand sifts" is because they are looking for food. If you don't have an established sand bed, there is of course no food for it. Even if you did, you might not want to keep it as it eats all the good things that make a live sand bed functional. I would go with some snails or a cucumber to work your sandbed once you get it a little more established.

The best way to get it going is by either seeding it with some uncured live rock which you can't do now that you already have livestock in the tank, or by trading sand with people who have established tanks. There are a lot of members in the Austin area that I'm sure would be glad to trade a cup of sand with you. Sometimes people weed out there refugiums and their macro algae is filled with pods and critters as well.

As far as the fish choices go, the mandarin is of course out of the question for awhile. They eat pods and need a well established food source. The wrasse is along the same lines. I have one and it is constantly foraging through the rock looking for pods and other critters to chomp on. I know that my pod population in my tank is much lower than it used to be because of it. As far as angels go, I wouldn't recommend the flame. It is a beautiful fish, always been my favorite, but they need ideal water conditions and they have not fared well over the past year or two going through capture and shipping. They seem to be ok for awhile, but then die. There are several others out there that are good choices. The coral beauty is one and their colors vary some from fish to fish. I have a flameback angel and like him a lot. There are two different ones, an African and a Brazilian, one being much rarer than the other and of course more expensive. Hopefully this helps and keep the questions coming! :-)

[msn711]

Thanks a lot everyone.

So if I do a wrasse, how long should I wait before considering adding one? Would you consider a refugium a necessity for keeping one healthy?

Ram_puppy: not sure if that was a typo, but I have a 45g tank (not a 30). A maroon clown would be ok in there right?

captexas: I thought most cucumbers could poison a tank if they were to die or get agitated...am I wrong or did I misread that somewhere? Any recommendations on a safe cucumber? Also, the 20 lbs of rock I used was uncured. But I ordered it from eTropicals and they ship it in damp newspaper, so it was pretty dry when I got it...I haven't really noticed in life on it.

One more questions, are the fish on my list very active fish in your experience? One thing I learned from freshwater is that I'm not crazy about fish that are relatively inactive.

Thanks again.

Oh, and if anyone would like to trade the star for the chromis or live sand, let me know.