Advice? Adding fish to established tank

I can grow corals like crazy - but have a difficult time adding fish to my tanks. I know - not the same thing - so I'm asking for advice.

I always QT (almost always) new fish. Problem comes in moving them to the main tank. Just had 2 fish die in the process. More on that later.

Yesterday I received 2 new fish which are destined for my Red Sea Max 130D (32 gal). The fish are currently in a 10 gallon QT. They are a red mandarin and a helfrichi dartfish. The helfrichi is beautiful and I want to do whatever I can to assure he survives!

Currently in my cube tank are a pair of clownfish (black/white clown and picasso), a black cap basslet and a green clown goby.

Initially I planned to immediately put the mandarin in the cube - hopefully I've got some pods there. But then I decided it might be better to add 2 fish together. I won the Reef nutrition food pack at Fall fest. So hopefully the mandarin will eat food from one of those bottles. Otherwise I'm checking on getting live copopods.

So after 2-3 weeks in the QT, it will be time to move to the cube tank. I'm looking for recommendation on how to do that. The cube tank is limited in space, so kind of hard to do much re-arranging. The basslet hides most of the day - except to come out for food - but I'm afraid he might turn to be a bit aggressive if the dartfish decides to check out his cave. The black/white clownfish came from MACNA Des Moines and is about 3" long. She might be a bit aggressive at first.

Should I try to capture the clownfish and basslet and move them to a QT tank - and put the mandarin and dart fish in the cube tank for a period of time? It would be difficult to do, but.....

I have an intank acrylic refugium - but that wouldn't be big enough for 2 fish for any length of time.

????? Suggestions ?????? @xroads

 

@xroads
Brine shrimp eggs - like this ??? Brine Shrimp Eggs

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

Today I picked up a pkg of San Francisco Bay Brine Shrimp eggs. That was my only choice locally. I'm trying right now to hatch some. Following the SFB instructions, I'm rehydrating them now, and in 1 hr I'll add the salt. I'm using a 1 gal plastic water jug. I've got an airstone - noisier than heck..... The instructions recommend a temp of 80 + degrees. Not sure how to do that, as I can't put a heater in the jug. Maybe put the jug in a 5 gal bucket with water and heater ????? After they hatch (24 hrs...... later), I'm assuming I want to feed only a small amt. How to I keep the remaining ones alive? Do I need to keep the temp up? Do I need to continue running the airstone? How long will they live? I've looked at the instructions on the SFB package and also at Brine Shrimp Direct - but didn't find that info. @xroads I'll keep looking for more info on hatching and feeding brine shrimp.

Last night I tried feeding it the Reef Nutrition beta-brine as well as some cyclopese - but the mandarin didn't go for it. The helfrichi dartfish ate anything I put in the tank. Tonight I'll try the Reef Nutrition Mysis Feast. @Boostedbolt - do you mean get it to eat the RN Mysis Feast - and then it will be easier to get it to eat frozen food?

The mandarin looks fat right now - how long can he go w/o eating before I have to be worried?

Hopefully tomorrow night I can try live brine shrimp!!!!

 

Thanks!

 

The mandarin I have in my DT has been there for 3 years. I hope it lives alot longer! As it was well established when I put it in the tank, I never needed to add copepods. There was a good supply of them. Now, I don't know if he lives off them (still plenty in the tank) or whether he eats the frozen food I feed.

 

So, my mandarin is still alive after 2 1/2 weeks in the QT tank. I've successfully hatched brine shrimp eggs and added them. I think he's eating them, but who knows. I see him going thru the motions of 'eating' something.

Couple of questions: Do I need to add the brine shrimp daily? Of if I put a bunch in - will that be enough for 2 days, 3 days ???? Since there is only the mandarin and the firefish in the QT tank, I don't think they would be eating them all at once. Will they live a few days in the tank - until something eats them? Could I put a super lot in the tank and it would be good for several - 4-5 days? Or does that pollute the tank?

If its eating the shrimp and alive thats good - but then how do I get it to start eating frozen foods - if it has a regular supply of brine shrimp?

I appreciate everyone's input on this!!!!!

 

Oh - and what's the best way to get a good live population of copepods in the cube tank? I've got them in the DT and my mandarin there is quite fat and happy - but never had to do anything to establish them in the DT. Not sure how they are started. ?????

 

@xroads - have any thoughts on my questions in the last 2 posts ????

 

I agree - I would much prefer that it eat frozen. Right now, I've got a set of Reef Nutrition products - Beta-brine, arcti-pods, mysis-feast, roti-feast. The challenge with them, frozen foods, and the live baby brine - is that I can't really tell if it is eating them or not. ??????