Needing some sound advice please!

[bc-matty]

Hey everyone! It has been awhile since I was last on the forum. I have a 4 month old 33 gal reef tank. It is about 16 inches high and 3 feet long. I liked the fact that it was shallow allowing the light to reach the bottom more efficiently. I have live rock that extends the entire length of the tank and goes half way up to the top. As for my live stock at the moment I have a pair of clowns and 4 green damsels.

I am kinda stuck on a few things... one is I want to add my corals soon by the years end.. I need better lighting, except that my hood is only 6 inches wide and holds one bulb. So obviously I am going to need better lighting.. any suggestions. I am planning on keeping easy beginner corals.. no fuss if possible.. and feather worms. Any suggestions?

I am also thinking off adding one more fish or at the most two any ideas?

Lastly I have seen a few weird things go on in my tank.
My percs were very happy at the pet store. Both were in the same tank... both deep orange. They stayed like that in my tank for two weeks. Now one is bigger ( I assume female ) and one is small. The small one is pale and only comes out when the lights are off and in the early morning. The Large one chases it constantly when the lights are on.. however in the early morning I see them rubbing their bodies together. Are they happy like this? And is this normal behaviour.

Hermit crab weirdness: This well sound like I am making this up, but it is true. My hermit crabs every so often gather together on one rock and look at each other.. sometimes touching claws. Also I have one crab that likes to do hand stands at the front of the tank as he runs from one end to the other. Is this normal behaviour? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[danmhippo]

For lighting, I would suggest a single pendant MH (150W would suffice, 250W better) that hangs down from the ceiling. If you perfer PC lighing, they have PC pendant as well. Or you can go on to hellolight.com for DIY parts.

Fish-wise, Since your fish hangs about the mid and top sections mostly, I would try to get a bottom dweller such as species of Goby, or a colorful rock dwelling fish such as royal gramma, or pseudochromis. You could also get a fairy wrass that is both active and extremely colorful for your tank.

As for clown behavior, how big were they when you first purchased them? The reason I asked is if assuming you picked them up when they are already larger, and you picked the 2 most brilliantly colorful clown, they could both be female already at the time of purchase.

I have never really studied hermit often, as I do not trust them in my tank, I would leave the hermit question for others to answer.

HTH

 

[bc-matty]

More about my clown fish:

When I went to buy them at the store they were the only two in the same tank. There were no other clowns. In the store tank they were both the same colour and seemed to be very peaceful with each other.. as in rubbing each other. They do rub each other in my tank but only when the lights are off ( sounds a little kinky.. not intended that way :lol: ) This lasts until the later morning. Sometimes the pale clown fish will go with days of not coming out. He/She is living in a cave in one of my live rocks.

About my hermits.. they came along with my live rock.. meaning that the one fish store that I bought a few pieces from had decided to but all their hermits with the live rock. Basically my hermits wouldn't let go of their " rocks". I am wondering if the strange hand stand thing might be the crab adjusting his shell. I don't have any spare shells in the tank. Is this bad.. my crabs have been in the tank for more than a few months.

 

[bc-matty]

Oh I guess I should mention... since I am renting I am not able to hang a light fixture above my tank. So basically my lights would have to be built into a canopy.. I would prefer a canopy that is already set-up and ready to go. Just not sure which lighting system is good for me. I would most likely keep mushrooms and zoo's... something simple.