When me and my husband buy a house (hopefully soon) I was looking at getting a 55G Cichlid tank and turning my 29G into a SW. I am looking at doing some live rock, 1 Yellow Tang, 2 Common Clowns, 3 Cleaner Shrimp, 3 Blue Damsels, and 2 Domino Damsels. How easy are Seahorses? I might do a couple of those too. Is that too much or should I switch it around and use the 55G as the SW? (cause that is the mix that I want) Anything really important that I should know? I did read the sticky about starting a new SW. Thanks for the thoughts.
Just Doing Some Early Research And Would Opinions
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i have a yellow tang and he's fine on my 55g. He's like 4 inches, but he swims a lot and takes space..he's the boss. I've had it since october i think and he grew quite fast. For his size it's ok but later on i might have to move him, 'cause they get really big. I've seen an 8 inches specimen. Domino damsels i've seen are overly aggressive.
You were told they would be fine with clowns. The LFS guy told ya that?
Damsels are cute and inexpensive but they're often demonic. Ask the people here who had some. When you wanna get rid of it, the fun begins..they're impossible to catch .
I've seen "peaceful" damsels getting along with clowns and it's : http://www.wetwebmedia.com/chromis.htm
You were told they would be fine with clowns. The LFS guy told ya that?
Damsels are cute and inexpensive but they're often demonic. Ask the people here who had some. When you wanna get rid of it, the fun begins..they're impossible to catch .
I've seen "peaceful" damsels getting along with clowns and it's : http://www.wetwebmedia.com/chromis.htm
It was a friend of mine that told me they would get along. And the Profiles say nothing about Damsels being agressive. Everything that I have read about a Yellow Tang tells me they get 5-7 inches and that is the size of an angel. I still dont understand how a 55G isnt big enough. ??? Im not trying to argue, but what you guys are saying is completely opposite what I have read. ???
Well it depends on were you collected the info. Liveaquaria.com seems to be the first site everyone checks, but their main goal is to sell and diminish the needs of the livestock. In theory you could even keep an angel in a 30g, but how long ??
Usually the fishies in the stores aren't kept long enough to become sick.
I think and wish it's possible to keep a yellow tang in a 55g..but in my case, if mine becomes too big, i'll try to find him a new home. BTW the yellow tang and most damsels are semi-aggressive. They are territorial. So if your tang swims a lot he could bash fishies in his path. Mine doesn't hunt others..but protect what he claims to be his territory..protect enough to kill my banggai card and now i can't find my gold banded sleeper goby. Maybe i have a psychotang. His only good friend is a false percula ( clownfish )
Anyways you can try having damsels+clowns+tang. You're just warned. I've had yellow tail damsels and they were fine until i introduced a ( once ) scared little yellow tang. They began to shred each others apart..i removed them and gave them to a LFS.
Usually the fishies in the stores aren't kept long enough to become sick.
I think and wish it's possible to keep a yellow tang in a 55g..but in my case, if mine becomes too big, i'll try to find him a new home. BTW the yellow tang and most damsels are semi-aggressive. They are territorial. So if your tang swims a lot he could bash fishies in his path. Mine doesn't hunt others..but protect what he claims to be his territory..protect enough to kill my banggai card and now i can't find my gold banded sleeper goby. Maybe i have a psychotang. His only good friend is a false percula ( clownfish )
Anyways you can try having damsels+clowns+tang. You're just warned. I've had yellow tail damsels and they were fine until i introduced a ( once ) scared little yellow tang. They began to shred each others apart..i removed them and gave them to a LFS.
territory and aggression is the key. the docile SW fish can be compared to your fairly agressive SA cichlids (like convicts)...semi-aggressive in SW = african cichlids at least...so territorial needs are much greater especially with aggressive species. beyond that, there is less disolved oxygen in saltwater so the actual carrying capacity is lower in the same size body of water.
as far as the SW profiles here, unfortunately they are quite old and often innacurate or at least misleading (though not intentionally)
it really is a very different world. i would reccomend reading "new marine aquarium" by tony calfo and "conscientious marine aquarist" by bob fenner
as far as the SW profiles here, unfortunately they are quite old and often innacurate or at least misleading (though not intentionally)
it really is a very different world. i would reccomend reading "new marine aquarium" by tony calfo and "conscientious marine aquarist" by bob fenner
Well it makes sense when you put it that way. Now I see that stocking can be different, or should I say is. So basically doing 2 Clowns, 3 Blue Damsels, and 3 Cleaner Shrimp is like putting a Male Betta in with Tetras or Livebearers? I have plenty of time to do some reading (which I plan to do). I just wanted to get the ideas flowing. Thanks.
Yellow tangs get too big as they swim fast and long. They do not just trundle around like angels and bettas - they move, and they need to move a lot. For a 6 inch fish (a reasonable size to assume) 4 feet isn't much. It's frustration will be manifested as aggression.
Your books don't say damsels are aggressive - I can assure you dominoes are unbelievably aggressive (they will probably attack you if you put your hand inthe tank) once they're more than a couple inches in size, and some blues are pretty chippy as well. Ever kept convicts - that's your saltwater benchmark for medium aggressive.
Seahorses aren't hard to keep, they're hard to feed. They're not as hard as they were as sale of wild caught has been banned, but they're still not easy. They often require live food , and that won't be brine shrimp or guppy fry either as both are nutritionally inadequate.
I would go with the 55, get some reading done, and don't worry, there's still a lot of good fish for you
Your books don't say damsels are aggressive - I can assure you dominoes are unbelievably aggressive (they will probably attack you if you put your hand inthe tank) once they're more than a couple inches in size, and some blues are pretty chippy as well. Ever kept convicts - that's your saltwater benchmark for medium aggressive.
Seahorses aren't hard to keep, they're hard to feed. They're not as hard as they were as sale of wild caught has been banned, but they're still not easy. They often require live food , and that won't be brine shrimp or guppy fry either as both are nutritionally inadequate.
I would go with the 55, get some reading done, and don't worry, there's still a lot of good fish for you
Agreed, domino damsels and also four stripe damsels are unbelieveably nasty. I made that mistake when I started my tank and had to remove all the rock to get them out! You may regret buying them. Damsels will terrorize fish 3 times their own size. I also had a yellow tang in a similar sized tank that I had to trade in as he got too big and was causing stress to the other fish and himself. Yellow tangs are very energetic and require lots of swimming room as most tangs do. Overstocking will cause parasite probs and other diseases fast. It's hard to recommend stock for anyone, do some more reading and start stocking slowly.
I was just at my LFS and was told (by the guy that does the saltwater tanks and believe it or not they are beautiful...their freshwater is another story, and its not done by him.) that I can do 2 Clowns, a few Shrimp, and 4 of these other fish. I dont remeber what they are called. They are a light blueish/white and he said they are schooling. And they stay pretty small. (I cant find a pic to show you)
Camaro said that the dottybacks would fight till one was dead...so I'd take that to mean you could put ONE in the tank?
I've been looking at a lot of gobies...there are SO many of them. They're cute and most stay relatively small.
Have you looked at a 'firefish'?
I think in a 55 you could also get more than 3 shrimp, if you wanted some hermit crabs (the little kind, not the common bigger kind) or other inverts...there are SO many different kinds.
I've been looking at a lot of gobies...there are SO many of them. They're cute and most stay relatively small.
Have you looked at a 'firefish'?
I think in a 55 you could also get more than 3 shrimp, if you wanted some hermit crabs (the little kind, not the common bigger kind) or other inverts...there are SO many different kinds.
FYI...dottybacks (pseudochromis) are also very aggrressive and will not only attack one another but very likely anything that resembles their own body shape (experience talking here). An example would be you would want to exercise caution when putting a Firefish with any dottyback as they possess a similar elongated shape and size. You might want to check into a captive raised Friedman's (purple dottyback) as I hear they are much more docile. As camaro said, dwarf angels are nice. Another option for a single fish would be a Royal Gramma, they are hardy and beautiful.
Be very precise when talking dottybacks - some of the all purple ones are P. fridmani which are now captive bred, and not very aggressive at all, and would be fine. The others , from the Indo Pac are pretty rough. Purple colour in fins good, transparent fins bad.
Less than 5 chromis tends to be bad news in the longish run as they won't school property
Less than 5 chromis tends to be bad news in the longish run as they won't school property