Red Coris Wrasse question... large fishes in too small worlds    1/11/08
Hey WWM,
I am a relative newcomer to the marine aquarium hobby and have had a 55 gal tank up for about 2.5 years now. Currently my species include a Sebae Clown, Niger Trigger,
<Needs more room than this>
and a V-Tail Grouper,
<Ditto>
all of whom get along quite well.
<Not for long>
I have had my ups and downs on luck in maintaining the health of all my fish and a few hardships in the loss of some. As of late (the last 6 months or so) I have done a complete revamp of my tank and switched my substrate out from crushed coral to AragAlive Indo Pacific black sand and my tank is doing so much better, hardly ever needs cleaned. In addition to my 55gal I have a small 14gal BioCube (or whatever it is called) and I have a bag of AragAlive sand in that and a decent size live-rock, along with a 2 inch Red Coris.
<Also re the room thing>
This leads me to my main question...
I have been doing a lot of research on this topic as of late, and have found many helpful answers...but wanted a more direct response. I have had this gaimard for about 4 months now and was just wondering of the general care for him. He eats aggressively and I feed him daily a good amount of red worms and sometimes chunks of frozen krill. I do pretty steady water changes, because (as I'm told is common with little tanks) the levels are hard to maintain and it's always dirty.
<Yes>
I try to throw in some Vit C weekly and do a weekly maintenance of the (cycle stuff...to help with Nitrates). I was also wondering the average timeframe for him to mature and change color,
<Will be drawn out in such a small setting... a few negative feedbacks here...>
if there is anything else I should be giving him (some sort of vitamins other than C), and what size I should wait for him to get before putting him in my larger tank.
<... I wouldn't wait...>
My V-tail is pretty large (about 5 inches) , but timid and my Niger is about 4 inches...and the clown is, well he's a clown, he'll try to eat live food but spits it right back out. As is common, the trigger is pretty aggressive and gives the grouper a run for his money, so I just don't want the little guy to get either eaten, or harassed to death (which might happen anyways, since he has been in there the longest).
<A Coris gaimard needs more room than a 55...>
I was just hoping with the wrasse that he would be able to hide (have enough rocks) and then grow and become aggressive as well.
<Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against this fish in these settings... much more likely to perish from stress in a word>
I had a Lunare Wrasse in there (died, I think due to nitrates in the substrate causing him to refuse to bed down), and he and the niger got along well. So, is it still a bad idea to put a 2 inch juvenile wrasse in there with these big guys (I'm assuming that's a big YES, but I am the amateur here).
<Correct>
Any help is much appreciated, sorry for the length of this, and I'm very happy to have found this insanely helpful website.
<What you and your fish livestock really need is larger quarters... about twice what you have now... Is there someway to save up, provide this? Bob Fenner>

- Runnin with the Pony -  (clownfish/anemones, kingish angels, detritus helpers... marine maintenance)
cheers j-, <Cheers.> john here, dad always says you got a work horse and if he will get you to your destination, well ride em then son, it doesn't matter how you get there just get there! man all those pictures in the Fenner book I just bought makes my tongue drip sweat! if I had known about this sport years ago I'd have stopped baseball and put my trunks on a lot more often and been gone for weeks, but that's a different story isn't it. <Perhaps.> Jason , my question is this I really like the relationship that a clown fish and an anemone have, but can you have one separate, like I want an clown but not an anemone {I've seen then poop, its enough to put drapes around the tank while this happens.} <Yes, you can keep clownfish without an anemone - I have one, it does just fine.> I know the yellow clown is very friendly. but I think maybe my x-mas wrasse will kill it. <It's possible but for whatever reason most fish don't seem bother clownfish with the exception of the super-mean and those with giant mouths.> the wrasse is to busy running from my blue angel. sometime they get along sometimes the angel gets a hair up his wazoo and has to show his domination! will this ever stop. <Probably not until one is no longer there.> and if I take the angel back will the wrasse get kingish {if you know what I mean}? <Yes, quite possibly.> and another thing Jason  what is the best thing to put in the tank to clean detritus {my angel puts it out in buckets} keeping in mind that I have a scooter blenny. <Well... two things, first scooter blennies don't eat detritus. Next your best bet is to add more circulation so that the detritus stays in the water column where is can be picked up by your filtration.> ps the live rock I have is starting to spit out all kinds odd critters I love it although some of these things are probably bad! <Not necessarily.> I know how the game is played. its called take some bad with the good, and grin and bare it. <Hmm... not my definition of a game.> thanks in advance cheer man...
<Cheers, J -- >

Atlantic cod keeping, sourcing   10/1/06
Hi,
I was just wondering if you could keep Atlantic cod in a aquarium. If so how big would the aquarium need to be and also where could I find them for sale. Paul
<Mmm, depending on the initial size... and how long you want to keep them... a hundred or so gallons... to several hundred... With a chiller... Source... I'd look to a public aquarium that shows Northern Atlantic fishes for their input. Bob Fenner>

Another half-baked idea? SW, FW tog.  – 4/9/07
Someone on another forum discovered this. I have no idea if it's a wind-up or not. But it's certainly insane!
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6016770.html
Now you *can* keep marine fishes in your freshwater aquarium!
Cheers, Neale
<I see future queries with titles such as "Clown Trigger not Getting alone with Koi fish..." Thanks for sharing...Adam J.>
<<The real issue... compatibility... Brings back memories of the "Magic Ocean", "Wonder Water", other sucrose products that would allow this temporary association... Raising specific gravity, osmotic pressure sans ionic content. Bob Fenner>