My first frag

[War Eagle]

I have had my 14 gal nano cube running for approx 8 months now. I have a green cromis, a coral chromis (not sure of the name but he is a chromis with a white body and yellow dorsil outlined in blue) and a sand sifting goby which the LFS guy told me was a dragon goby but I don't think it is from the pictures I have found (yes I have sand substrate). I also have a very nice coral banded shrimp. Several small hermits and 4 turbos. The goby along with crabs and snails do a great job of keeping the tank clean.

Last week I bought my first frag. A small rock approx 4 x4 x 1 with 8 to 10 polyps on it and several small feather dusters. I'm not sure of the name of the frag but they have bright orange coloring around what I assume is the mouth. When I got them home a dripped them for about an hour and they opened within a couple hours after I placed them in the tank. But now they seem to be dying. I feed them plankton everyother day. I have them sitting a little over 1/2 way up the tank. My lights are the stock lights that came with the cube, probably 2 years old. My levels are normal, I do 3 - 5 gal water changes weekly.

Any ideas what might be wrong? Too close to the light, not enough light, water conditions that I may not be checking? Is there anything I need to add to the water? Calcium, zink (what do these do?)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm not planning on alot of frags but I would like to keep a few simple items. what's best to start with?

 

[zoalover34]

Really we need to know exactly what kind of coral you have to help you here.. Is there a way you can post pics? The simplest things to start with are soft corals, mushrooms, leathers, zoas stuff like that..

 

[War Eagle]

Thanks Jim, I'll try to post a couple pic tonight. I was just sitting at work and thought I would ask a general question. I've been meaning to post some pics anyway to see if someone can ID my goby.

 

[Lorna]

I would also check your nitrates, sounds like you are feeding the corals and it isn't necessary. Btw that dragon gobie is going to get too big for that tank.

 

[War Eagle]

Why don't I need to feed it? Like I said I don't think it's a dragon goby. When I googled dragon goby I found something no even remotely like what I have. I have not been able to find him in any of the ID sites. I'll try to post a pic of him.

 

[Lotus]

For corals, you should aim for:
Nitrates as close to zero as possible
Calcium around 400
KH at around 9 dKH

It's really hard to say whether you should feed or not as it depends on the type of coral. I think most of us are assuming it's a zoanthid or palythoa that you have (which don't need feeding). Most corals make most of their food from light. Only some benefit from supplemental feeding. Pictures would really help.

 

[Lorna]

The fish you have is more likely a barred gobie which is often sold as a dragon gobie. I agree the pics are not the same fish. I had one once and though they sift sand they unlike diamond gobies tend to pick up the sand and drop it from mid tank level and cover many corals by doing so.....the diamonds tend to sift in place which is nice.

 

[War Eagle]

I googled barred goby. The body shape of the half barred goby is definitly close but mine is a much lighter color with almost neon light blue vertical stripes close to his gills. And yes he sifts sand all over the place. When he does it near the korilia it makes a big mess on my rocks. Will that be an issue for any frags I may get?

 

[Lorna]

It could be as sand constantly dropping on them iritates most.

This is the one that I had

Google Image Result for http://www.reefclassroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dragon-goby-284x300.jpg

 

[War Eagle]

Yea, that's my goby. I love him. He is very active and eat's very well. He sifts sand all the time, he eat's algea from the rocks and will also eat brine shrimp and flakes.

I have some pics but can't figure out how to post them. I do not have any loaded into snapfish or anything like that. I tried to load a couple into the gallery section but they are too large.

 

[Lotus]

I have a pair of those gobies, too. Very nice fish.

If you want to use larger pictures, you'll need to set up a Photobucket (or other online account, like Google's Picasa, that allow hot-linking). Then, you can paste the link/image code into the forum.