Wow, thanks all for the responses - wasn't really expecting that! Good to know about the ph. I do have a skimmer but it's not running yet. I did a dumb right off the bat and need to wait until after a water change or two to get it going. (Ran out of ro water and figured a couple gallons of tap water wouldn't hurt. Stress Coat did though. Won't be making that mistake again!)

I'm just headed to work though, so I'll put up a better reply on my break. Just wanted to say thanks in the meantime!

Couldn't figure out how to edit my last post, sorry.


Dearth & Aquattro - thank you for the welcome! If it's all the same to you I think I'm going to ignore the link for the time being based on the response to it :lol:

Doug - good to know about the fire shrimp. Maybe I'll just stick with a regular cleaner with that in mind. I love the look of the fires, but not at the expense of any other shrimp I may want.

WarDog - I know I'll have to move a lot slower without the live rock, I'm okay with that. It's really only the bristleworms I'd have a hard time with, despite the way I made myself sound I'm not usually squeamish with these sorts of things. That just happens to be my weak spot. If I get them despite my best efforts then I'll deal with it, but I am going to do everything within my power to avoid them to begin with!


So you think my stocking levels will be okay? The last thing I want to do is try to stick too much in there and set myself up to fail!

You've all been totally awesome already. I can't stress enough how much I appreciate the help!

Your choice of fish is fine, all stay small and are usually peaceful. You can add all 4 fish you listed in a 26g. The blenny and goby are more sitters than swimmers. Don't be alarmed if your firefish disappears for a couple days when first introduced to the tank, they are shy at first and will hide in a hole in the rock work.

If you like Fire shrimp I would add them one day. Thats how mine behaved but yours may not. They are truly beautiful shrimp. I would add another pair but have 10 peppermints and besides momma perc would likely do them in again. :lol:

Ur no fun.

I have been told this on occasion, yes... But come on, I'm not going to walk into a trap I've been tipped off about!

Do you figure they'd be better if they were added after any other inverts? I'd like to get a couple sexy shrimp and/or pom pom crabs at some point as well. I'd rather just go with the regular cleaner if there's a high chance that they'll get killed by the fire. Would they be less aggressive singly, maybe?