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Well im gonig to start a log for the set up of my 40B
Equipment
- 3 maxijet 600s
- vho custom canopy, 4 bulbs
-reef octopus hob skimmer
- cheap aquarium pharmisutical test kit
- portable hydrometer from dr F + S
- 200 watt ebo jag heater
-40 lbs carib sea sand


Live rock sohuld be coming today

Stock
not definate but i thnking
-flame hawk
-Fridmani Pseudochromis
- lawnmower blenny
- gobie shrimp combo
-clean up crew

Beware of the hydrometer. I have one, and I don't like it much. I never know how much the ever-present air bubbles are throwing it off, so I can't be sure my salinity reading is accurate. I've also seen quite a few posts on another forum which put down hydrometers. A refractometer would be a much better investment for the health of your system. May as well save yourself the ten bucks on the less accurate equipment.

Just be aware that the blenny will need a lot of algae to eat. You need to make sure that your tank will supply that algae, or you have to be prepared to feed him heavily. If you fail at both, the fish will starve. In a forty gallon, I'm going to bet the blenny clears out the algae supply pretty quick.

Be aware that there could be contention between the hawkfish and any shrimp. Hawkfish love to eat shrimp. Though a shy pistol shrimp will probably be able to avoid the hawk, you're still running a risk.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

i ment to say refractometer

PICS.....also, only 40 pounds of sand? I have that much in my 29..i would think you would want more,...espessially if you want shrimp/goby simbiolic relationship....but thats just my 2 cents...

29gall-2 bolivian rams, 6 neon tetra, 4 lemon tetra, 2 lamp eye tetra, 6 black skirt tetra(which are rescues...long story, but finding good home soon), 4 zebra danio 10gall, pretty much nothing but plants....2gall-female betta
1gall-female betta

If you're planning on obtaining a Shrimp Goby and its symbiotic shrimp, I would plan your furnishings very carefully to make sure they don't topple if the shrimp digs underneath a piece of your live rock.

I'd use some means of supporting the live rock so that if the shrimp tunnels under it, no heartbreaking accidents occur.

A somewhat expensive but effective way of doing this would be to get some Lego bricks and a flat baseplate. Then you can customise the supports to suit your live rock pieces, and build extra support where it's needed. Once you've worked out where it all goes, just bury the baseplate and the bricks under your sand. If you get a bag of grey bricks, they'll be even more unobtrusive should the shrimp accidentally expose one during its digging.

As for your fish stock, well, if you're planning on having a symbiotic goby of some sort (and there's several to choose from), plus a Lawnmower Blenny, I'd choose the other inmates with care. While Pseudochromis fridmani, the Orchid Dottyback, is reputed to be a relatively benign Dottyback, I'd still watch it with care just in case you're unlucky and get one that decides it's going to take over the tank. Plus, if you DO decide to run with this, make sure that you get a GENUINE fridmani (which has a black eye stripe) and don't pick up Pseudochromis porphyreus by mistake - first, porphyreus should be a LOT cheaper, and if you're sold one as a fridmani you're being ripped off, and second, porphyreus is a feisty little fish that can hold its own in a rough and tumble with Dascyllus Damselfishes, therefore is likely to be a rough customer alongside your peaceful goby and blennny choice.

As for the Hawkfish, well I'd abandon that idea in ANY aquarium containing ornamental shrimp. If you put a Hawkfish in an aquarium containing shrimps, the Hawkfish will thank you kindly for a very expensive lunch.

A page to browse in depth concerning Hawkfishes is this one, and should provide food for thought before you launch into the world of Hawkfishes.

Likewise, you should take a look at this page before taking on a Dottyback, even a supposedly 'mild' one like Pseduochromis fridmani (which will also be pretty expensive by the way unless you're lucky enough to alight upon tank-bred ones). Likewise, Dottybacks are likely to pose a threat to ornamental shrimps, even the Orchid, described on that page as being somewhat 'laid back' (though as the author says, with Dottybacks, this is always a relative term). Some Dottybacks are capable of taking on and dismantling Mantis Shrimps, which should give you an idea how feisty some of them can be! If you make the mistake of putting a Magenta Dottyback (i.e., the infamous porphyreus) in with shrimp, the shrimp will DEFINITELY end up as lunch - this fish will take on a shrimp bigger than itself, batter it to death and then munch on the bite sized pieces afterwards!

On that basis, if you're looking for something to go with the goby, an Assessor or, at a push, a Royal Gramma would probably be a MUCH better choice than a Dottyback. For your first marine setup, you'll have enough on your plate managing the water quality and keeping the fishes happy without dealing with outbreaks of warfare on top of this, and so I'd choose something other than the Dottyback and the Hawkfish as companions. If a Gramma or an Assessor isn't something on your shopping list go for one of the small species of Fairy Wrasse - Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis is a nice, small, and spectacularly coloured Fairy Wrasse that also boasts, in the male, spectacular finnage, and stays nice and small at 7.5 cm. This fish shuld not harass your goby or your blenny, though it is an active fish and so you might want to consider providing decor to suit - hiding places for the goby and the blenny would be a good idea. Oh, and if you run with a Fairy Wrasse, keep the aquarium WELL covered, as Cirrhilabrus Fairy Wrasses are rocket propelled jumpers!

Meanwhile, if you're looking for a spectacular Shrimp Goby, try the Yasha - Stonogobiops yasha - which is, as this page illustrates, a truly amazing fish! Another good one to track down is Stonogobiops xanthorhinica - if you can find it!

Best of luck with the new setup, by the way!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

thanks for the advice

SOME PICS
http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d6/importfan878/