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I currently have 2 false perc. clowns, four 3 striped damsels, and a few anenomes. I bought a bicolor angel which looked great in with them... but it died for no apparent reason. I thought it could have been the damsels but I never saw them mess with him. I also checked my water and all my levels look good. What can I put in my tank with fish i have now that wont get picked on by the gang of damsels? Anybody have ideas of why my angel died?Its a 55gal. with live rock.

Also, I have noticed that the brown slimmy, stringy algae is covering my live sand extremely quickly. It will regrow overnite after I clean it. Any ideas whats up w/ that?

a2hotz

Just saying your water quality is "good" doesn't tell us much. Exact levels could help. If you could, please post ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, pH, alk (dKh) and calcium if you can. Also, more details about your system. I'm curious to know how you're achieving circulation, and how much oxygen exchange you're having. Is there a sump on this tank? A skimmer?

My advice is going to be just get those damsels out of there. They're going to cause way too much trouble for you. Most damsels grow aggressive with age, making them a bad choice as a permanent resident in most tanks.

One fish comes to my mind though, that might fit in. Commonly referred to as the neon dottyback, this vibrant colored fish is small but can have a big attitude at times. I'll have to look up the scientific name for you, although it should be on the Cookie Cutters list stickied to the top of this forum. They're common in the trade and relatively inexpensive. In addition, tank raised specimens are available, and thats always a plus!

I'm assuming this is a fowlr tank. In this case, are you looking for fish and invert recommendations? If you're willing to get rid of the damsels I have a few ideas.

-Ferret



[hr width='40%'][font color="#000080"]I’m here without you baby, but your still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby, and I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby, but your still with me in my dreams

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Oh, about the algae...probably some sort of cyano would be my guess.

Excessive algae growth typically means you have excess nutrients in your water. Keep up with your water changes, I'd be doing weekly. Try not to overfeed, as this is usually the main source of excessive nutrients. If you can, switch to RO or RO/DI water. You can purchase your own unit, or usually purchase by the gallon at most LFS'.

If the tank was bigger I'd suggest herbivorous surgeonfish, like a yellow tang, but most tangs deserve at least 75 gallons so you'd have to plan on upgrading. Instead, a nice alternative might be some sort of lawnmower blenny. This isn't a cure, but it might help.

What kind of lights do you have, and whats the photoperiod like? That could also be a contributing factor.

**Side note, I wonder why I cant edit my previous post?

-Ferret



[hr width='40%'][font color="#000080"]I’m here without you baby, but your still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby, and I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby, but your still with me in my dreams

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Well the exact levels I dont remember. I water sample into the petstore I work at and had my manager take a look at it because hes really good with fish and he said they looked excellent and I went with that. As far as filtration and stuff I have a emperpor 280 and a magnum 350 filtering. I also have a protein skimmer but I cant get it to work (its a peice of junk ]:| ). For lighting I have power compact lighting 4x96w. I have a rock flower anemone and 3 haitian pink tip anemones. I have some live rock but I will soon be adding 40lbs. (its in a curing tank). I am willing so get rid of the damsels because there completely stupid. I would like to have live coral and inverts. I love butteryflies but I know that all I ve seen arent reef safe . Oh, and i have an arrow crab, a horseshoe crab and 3 turbo snails. I like to keep all my fish colorful and under $40 most of the time.

Any suggestions?

Okay I am not an expert at all at all! So I will give some expertise from a great book I found: marine fishes by scott micheal.

One of the only butterfly fishs that are termed EXCELLENT for reef capatability is the BIG LONGNOSE BUTTERFLYFISH (or forcipiger longirostris) Varied diet, small meaty foods, mysid shrimp, crustasians flesh. The tiny mouth limits it to small food items. Needs live rock or reef tank that supports natural prey organisma. (they'll graze on the live rock) Max length 8.7inches

One more thing I read up on your three strip damsels~and they are called REAL TERRORS!! they fight with everything and are only kept together in male female pairs, they can be kept in moderatly aggresive tanks (Lionfish, triggers, eels, angelfish, puffers, etc.)

BTW how long has your tank been established? do you have any corals? Can you try and get your numbers on your parameters?

Thanks JESS

Marine Fishes by Scott W. Michael is a great read. Scott is a very knowlegable person, and a great speaker. Hehe, and I met him.

Aaaanway, the long nose butterfly fish is something I wouldn't recommend for a tank unless there is over a hundred pounds of well established rock in the tank. We have one in at the store I work at now, and it's true that their pointy nose does complicate eating a bit. An established tank with lots of room for eating off the rocks seems like it'd be best for one of these guys. Jusy my opinion. Anyway, they get sort of large too.

Most, if not all damsels tend to grow very nippy with age. They will terrorize other tankmates given the chance, so care should be taken when considering them a common resident. I feel this is especially true with the Humbug, Blue, Yellow Tail Blue, and Domino damselfish so get yours out asap.

A few fish that come to mind for you to possibly add would be the 6 line wrasse, a purple pseudochromis, a royal gramma, maybe some of the smaller anthias, a purple or red firefish (as long as your tank is tightly covered, being part of the dartfish family they're e to sudden jumps when frightened) a bicolor blenny, a flame angel (any of the pygmy angels for that matter) there's a lot of possibilites. I think it'd be easier for you to tell us whats available to you, and what you're interested in. Since you dont have corals right now, (I think?) that makes the tank about ten times easier to stock.

Last edited by Ferretfish at 16-Jul-2005 09:07

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Thanks for the info guys...

As far as those water levels, I havent been able have it tested since I posted. I did check my salinity and it was at like 1.031. Too high. I did a 25% water change and re-acclimated my fish to 1.024 over 5 hours or so. Could this be the reason for the death of my angel? I think it was.

My algae problem hasnt gone away though. Its kinda pinkish brown. Will the water change remove some nutrients and help stop the algae? I think it could be comming from the intense lighting. 4x96w. (8 1/2hrs a day)

As far as stocking my tank again, I have decided to get rid of the damsels. That should help but I am eventually going to get some corals... Any suggestions for corals?
Im going to get another bicolor angel for sure.

Thanks guys.

As far as those water levels, I havent been able have it tested since I posted. I did check my salinity and it was at like 1.031. Too high. I did a 25% water change and re-acclimated my fish to 1.024 over 5 hours or so. Could this be the reason for the death of my angel? I think it was.

Yep. Fish are very sensitive to changes in salinity. That could have done it, especially if he was already stressed.

My algae problem hasnt gone away though. Its kinda pinkish brown. Will the water change remove some nutrients and help stop the algae? I think it could be comming from the intense lighting. 4x96w. (8 1/2hrs a day)

I think excess nutrients is more the root of the problem. You dont have a long photoperiod. Try switching to RO/DI water to keep the phosphate and silica content down.

As far as stocking my tank again, I have decided to get rid of the damsels. That should help but I am eventually going to get some corals... Any suggestions for corals?
Im going to get another bicolor angel for sure.

With the type of lighting you have, I'd stick with softies and maybe eventually some LPS, if you keep them higher up.

Some pygmy angels are hit and miss with corals, so be careful.

-Ferret


Last edited by Ferretfish at 22-Jul-2005 21:02

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish