Originally Posted by
Floyd R Turbo
1) You can find this information online. Many fish will eat whatever you give them, some like a specific type. Some fish are picky about what they will eat, just like kids. Tangs are herbivores so you want to provide them with seaweed (Nori) or some kind of vegetable. Others can chime in on this.
2) Basically you feed the fish, and the waste from the fish will feed the corals - for the most part. You can also feed the corals directly, or you can prepare your own mixture of various foods and "feed the entire tank" every time you feed the fish. Raw table shrimp should be your primary ingredient in a DIY food mixture, then you can add many other things that you can either buy in a store or buy online and then make a batch of food and freeze it in a flat ziplock bag, and cut it up into cubes for daily feeding.
3) you can use the appearance of the tank, fish, and corals to judge the water quality, but this may not help you determine how to solve an issue - you would be guessing, and without a LOT of experience, your guesses would likely be wrong. I would suggest the following test kits (warning - chemical names coming!!):
Either Salifert Alkalinity or Hanna Checker Alkalinity (I have both, and both are excellent)
Salifert Calcium
Salifert Magnesium
Salifert Nitrate
Hanna Checker Phosphate (get extra reagents)
Some kind of pH test kit, but don't get worried about the level, you just want to try to keep it between 7.8 and 8.4 without swinging wildly (maintaining proper alkalinity prevents this)
Some kind of salinity testing device, at a minimum, I would suggest a handheld refractometer
4) there are many schools of thought on this issue. You should not over crowd a tank as some fish will suffer. Clownfish should be added in pairs, and you can add multiple pairs if introduced at the same time, or add pairs later but there will likely be a territorial battle. Tangs, if you put a tang in a tank less than 4' long and 100 gallons, you will encourage the "tang police" to stop by LOL. Tangs just need room to swim. Stocking your fish in the tank is more about making sure they are all compatible, adding them in the right order, and providing enough structure so that there are not too many territorial issues. Fish are like people in that each has their own personality, and reading online will only get you so far.
Hope that helps.
Bud