Adding Fish to Your New Reef Tank
- Jan 28, 2024
- Anshika Mishra
- 100 0 0
You have completed the cycling process to add your first fish to the tank. For this article, we'll be taking this as a baseline and how you can add the first fish to the tank.
Choosing the First Fish
For any saltwater tank, a Clownfish is an ideal first fish choice because they are very hardy and a safe bet for the early stages of an early tank; however, if you want to get something unusual, go for File Fish.
You might not need to acclimate the fish to the new tank if the temperature and salinity in your quarantine tank are identical, but if not, make sure to acclimate the fish first.
Filefish, impersonating the Puffer, will be slightly more reef-safe than a proper Pruffer while still looking just as excellent. File fishes have an image of not-reef-safe fish. They rip out both LPS and SPS corals. But, they rarely attack the cleanup crew, something a puffer fish would do.
Therefore, if your tank is 100% soft coral, you have a better chance of success. However, before adding the fish, make sure to add a mesh over the tank since they are known for being jumpers.
For beginners, Filefish will not be a good choice. Clownfish are a much safer and much more relaxed option than filefish.
Tank Update
As a new fish, your tank will enter the ugly stage when ready for its first fish. That is normal; you don't need to know much about it. But you can pick some more cleanup crew.
Also, before adding, you can do a 50% water change to keep your levels in check and take the edge off any nutrients.
Feeding the Fish
With the new tank, you can feed the fish frozen mysis. It's the one thing every fish will eat. Also, since pellet food is much more nutrient dense than frozen food. Therefore, by feeding frozen, you won't risk adding too many nutrients to the tank, which is essential at this early stage.
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