Setting Up a Reef Tank

Once the tank was up and running for a while, I was ready to look for some livestock. Keep in mind, if you are starting from scratch, you need to let the tank fully mature for 2-3 months with your rock and sand before adding your livestock. In my case, I used matured live rock and the same filters used on a matured tank. Although I could have stocked it within a day or two, I still ran the system for a couple of weeks, just to be sure everything was working the way it should. To mature a tank, you need to add a couple of fish and wait for the tank to cycle, although there are products available to greatly speed up the nitrification cycle.

The first fish I purchased were two yellow-tailed blue damsels, Chrysiptera parasema. These feisty little devils are very hardy, don't get very big (approximately 2 inches), are very active fish, make a good community reef fish, and are also good first fish for maturing a tank. They do tend to be territorial, and therefore a bit aggressive to intruders, but their size prevents them from doing any damage. Another good candidate, and a bit more docile, is the green chromis, Chromis viridis, which grows to about 3-4 inches. They are very active and are good schooling fish, in groups of three or more, with their iridescent green shimmering in the water as they dart back and forth along the upper levels of the tank.

The next candidate was a false clown anemonefish, Amphiprion ocellaris. These fish are a colorful orange with white vertical bands and black trim around the edges of all the fins. They make good community reef fish, grow to about 3.5 inches long, are active in the upper portion of the tank, and make an excellent choice for a reef tank. The clown anemonefish, Amphiprion percula has similar coloration, except the black lines are thicker separating the white bands from the orange on their bodies, among other distinctions. I also added a Clark's anemonefish, Amphiprion clarkii that a previous owner had for a few years, so he was fully-grown at about 5.5 inches. I guess because of his age and size, he is a bit bolder then the smaller percula clown, and lets everyone else in the tank know he's boss.

I hope this helps you in your quest for the first fish in your community reef tank, but I have only scratched the surface. There are many more fish that would make excellent tankmates. In the future, I hope to discuss them with you as I try them out in my reef tanks.

All the rock scrubbing was in vain, as when I returned from my trips, so had the algae. I loaded up the tank with approximately one crab per gallon, and every time I came back from a trip, you could see the algae disappearing, until after about three months, it was totally gone. These crabs not only eat the hair algae on the rocks, unlike the snails, they will pick the algae off the coral skeletons without stressing the corals. I was amazed at how fast they worked, around the clock, at removing the nuisance algae. They can get into the tightest areas, such as between the rocks and in the corners, to do their job, and do it well. And when the algae is gone, they will resort to scavenge the tank for leftover food on the bottom and in between the rocks.

Next, I found another unusual patterned fish know as the pajama cardinal, Sphaeramia nematoptera. Although this is a nocturnal fish, with the big red eyes, they tend to stay out during the day and just "hang" in the mid to upper levels of the tank as if suspended on a string. You can keep more than one of these fish in the same tank, and are a good fish to get two or three of at the same time. They can grow to a maximum 4-inch length. At the time I set up this tank, the banggai cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni was not available. This striking fish with black vertical bands against a silvery white background with many small white spots on the body and edging the fins, is another great fish to keep more than one in a community tank. They share the same traits as the pajama cardinal in that they sort of just hang there, although they are a bit more active, but they are a sight to see.

To take care of the lower portion of the tank, I obtained an algae blenny, Cryptocentrus caeruleomaculus, which can reach a length of 3 inches. These remind me of a stone, so ugly they are cute, as they will perch on a rock and not move for quite a while before suddenly bolting after a morsel of food or start "sucking" on the rocks or the glass for algae.

Astraea tecta snails fit the bill nicely, due to their relatively small size, which is about 1-1 inches. They are cone shaped, and because of their shape, they sometimes will fall and get stuck upside-down, when you will need to help them back on their "foot". Otherwise, they may fall prey to other scavengers.