Fish only tank

[bignose]

I got a free maroon clown fish and was wondering if I could have it in a bare tank with no rock. I'm starting up a new tank soon for this guy.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

What are you going to do for filtration?

[bignose]

I have started my old 55G tank and I'm going to put a whisper 60 filter for now. I also put in a couple of powerheads and a heater of coarse.

I just went to buy some live rock from a lady and she ended up giving me a 5-6" maroon clown, a 3-4" starfish and a whole bunch of snail for free.

Nice score if I can keep the clown alive.

[dabandit]

You running a skimmer,how many fish in the tank,how old is the setup,how deep is your sand if you use any ,are you running any carbon or other medias in your filter and are there any macro algaes present?

My wife keeps a 35g fowlr tank that only has about 10lbs of lr in it. I modified a 100g ehiem canister with liverock,carbon and phosmedia, that combined with a deep sand bed,a huge cheato colony and about 15x flow seems to be working for her. P.s her tank is well stocked with 4 fish

[bignose]

Hi,

I have is a nano tank running. I have a rs135 and a 150MH light that I can use the tank temporarily. Is is ok to place the skimmer right in the tank with the fish?

I'm just winging it right now becasue I've never been in a situation like this.

[dabandit]

Opinions are like a holes..............lol I'd say as long as he doesnt get sucked up and as long as you can keep everything in check go for it. But thats just one mans opinion.

[mike31154]

At 5 to 6 inches this 'guy' is more likely a gal by now. Maroons are quite hardy which is not to say she should be made to suffer, but I figure you should be ok with minimal rock work. Depends a little on the environment she was in before too I would suspect, but if you keep the water quality reasonable you're good to go. I've read that some folks will use pieces of pvc pipe as hiding places/refuges in their quarantine tanks to keep fish comfortable and lower stress. I've also read some people buy plastic or rubbery balls with tentacles as fake anemones for their clowns to host, but I think that was for juveniles in grow out tanks.

[bignose]

If it's a girl I have her in a large strainer that I put into my small tank for now.
I don't know if my flase percs will get along with it.

Sorry another newb question.
How long should I let a bare tank run berfore I swap the clown over?

[tang daddy]

I would not run a skimmer inside the tank with another fish while they may survive for awhile if they happen to swim by the pump one day and get sucked to the side the chances of them surviving is minimal especially if you catch it too late....I'm just going by personel experience even bigger fish can die from smaller pumps they aren't the smartest to know that open ended sucking devices are not safe.

On that note if the tank is cycled then the fish should be fine in the 55g with live rock and pumps etc. I would keep an eye on params though like nitrate and amonia. If that's the only fish in the 55g a 5 gallon wc once a week should be fine if you don't over feed.

My new set up is going to be skimmerless 48g. it will house 2-3 fish a golden rabbit a goby or jawfish and inverts like pistol shrimp, fire shrimp, anemone crabs etc, also corals. I have heard and seen positive results with going skimmerless and as long as you keep up with small wc on a small tank it should be fine.

[mark]

QT tanks a display tanks at LFS are often just BB with only the minimum of cover or shelter (easliy add just with some large PVC fitting).

For filtration on QT tanks I've used the HOB power filters and have also used a HOB skimmer (SS65).

As said big thing is to keep up on your testing for NH3 etc as can't build really fast.

Other option is have someone hold the clown for you until your display is ready.