TANK CYCLED!!!

[nightrydaz04]

Well thanks to S. Reef, and Camaro1979 and my PATIENTENCE...which I have very little of my tank is finally matured I currently have 2 domino damsels in there to test the effectiveness of the bacteria for 2 weeks if all works out well I plan on buy 2 percula clown fish, I think I should get some more cleaners but i'm kinda hesitant due to the fact i bought a crab before and he didn't have enough to eat so her tried eating one of the fish while they were sleeping. However my tank never got through the ammonia cycle when I had that crab in there so i think i could get another hermit crab and shrimp but i don't want to overcrowd my tank. My friend says he want's to set up a 900 gallon tank and have only a lionfish in it??? He's going to put lots of anenomes in the tank and he says he'll only let the cycle process go for like a week and a half before he starts throwing coral and fish in there I told him he should give it a month or so... and he should put more than one fish in there. I don't know if enough bacteria/algae would be produced off just one fish and live rock for everything else to live off of... I know the fish would probably live if he cycled the tank right but I don't know about the coral's or the anenome I don't think he knows what he's getting him self into so I'm going to kinda force my opinions upon him... I just can't see a piece of nature's unrecreatable resources goto waste... That's why I'm scared to put coral and anenomes into my tank... My girlfriend wants to buy me a 150 gallon for christmas but i think i only want a 70 - 100 due to the fact i'll probably be moving a couple months. I don't want to put that much stress on the fish and the coral. I don't really have any questions in this post just wanted to let everyone know whats going on in my fish lab... My fish are SOOOO HAPPY as opposed to when I had my ammonia bomb they swim fight and everything... I just want to thank S. REEF AND CAMARO for their advice and now that I have a good idea of how salt water aquatics I'll help other users with there tanks espescially MIXSPELL or however you spell it the one with the oversized tank on that little stand he needs a lot of help...
TANK STATS:
PH - 8.2
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 10
AMMONIA - 0
SALINITY - 1.021

20 GALLON FOWLR
2 Domino Damsels
330 PowerFilter w/ Bio-Wheel (NOT A PROBLEM YET)
550 PowerHead

 

[wayne]

I know people who haven't put any fish in for the first 6 months (!) and they're the ones with the best tanks. If you think your tank is stable just because you can't measure ammonia, think again.
I wouldn't have touched domino damsels with a stick. Leave them in there by themselves for a month or two and they become so 'weded' to their territory your clowns, and a lot of other fish, will soon be killed.

 

[nightrydaz04]

no saltwater tank is ever 100% completely stable especially a 20 gallon you all ways have to keep an eye on your levels, and monitor every aspect. for my purposes my tank is safe 4 fish. I've had damsels and clowns before the clowns end up running the tank. They come from the same family of fish, so I've done my research the domino damsel is less territorial fish of the damsel family i've had blue yellow tailed damsels and those didn't like anything coming in there space. Have you actually tried mixing the two before or are you just going off what you've read... I read the same thing but I tried it anyway and they got along fine after about a week.

 

[DSK]

When i started my first tank i had 2 white and black 4 strips, 2 yellow tailed damsels, 1 orange tail damsel, and a tomato clown.

everything was good . until i got a domino damsel he was about the size of a silver dollar. anyway my tank became his tank and needless to say i had to take him back but the moral or story is domino's are crazy. do not try to mix them with anything else is the same tank unless it is alot bigger and much more aggresive than the damsel.

 

[S.Reef]

Well, I agree with Wayne. The Domino Damsels are one of the most agressive damselfish out there. Keeping two of these in a 20 with two clowns is suicide. Perculas are one of the most docile fish there are so I would rethink the plan. Why not get rid of the damsels and replace with the clowns and a few gobies. Thats my recommendation.

 

[1979camaro]

more like murder than suicide

agree on getting rid of the damsels

 

[nightrydaz04]

My plan is to have only 2 percula's but I've had perculas and domino's in the same tank before and they got along fine, Even the guy at the fish store thought it was weird...

 

[BOWDY]

DAMSELS

I have Dominos, I actually have a damsel tank. These fish do have dramas from time to time, however due to being paired up and as you can see below, tend to get on fine. I did have Behn's damsel but he had an accident.
1 x fluro pink dotty
2 x dominos
2 x yellow tails
2 x lemon damsels
2 x banded damsels
2 x blue devil ( female became crab **** )
2 x talbots damsals
2 x humbug dascyllus
1 x Moroon spine cheek clown

 

[BOWDY]

I FORGOT TO SAY

Infact I would recommend to start of with damsels, their hardy as.

I have collected them on low tides in dirty water (tidal mud flats) and small pockets of water, i mean small, size of a fist pockets.

do you remember when we had TARGET fish when breeding cichlids, with a tank full of damsels, their all TARGETS. they chase each other with little damage, when i look at my tank it seems docile

 

[1979camaro]

but, bowdy, your tank is more of an agressive community...maroon clowns are the toughest clowns (and get big enough to handle the damsels) and dottybacks are tough little sobs too...perculas are, as sam mentioned, peaceful and tiny...not a good combination with aggresive fish...especially in a small tank

 

[nightrydaz04]

My percula's before were aqua cultured and they seemed to give the domino's the run for their money it was really weird because I did have a true percula and it was nice and sweet but it couldn't handle stress of any kind so he's not with us anymore but then i went out and bought the two aqua cultured one's and they were a thuggish little fish.

 

[nightrydaz04]

ohh I had the percula's and the domino's in a 5 gallon before i setup my 20... they would all sleep together except for one of the domino's he would sleep behind one of the rocks.

 

[S.Reef]

Okay, nightydaz, your trying to prove your point, yet you keep digging deeper into the whole. How long did you have the percs and dominos in the 5? Its very unwise to keep basically any fish in 5 gallon tank let alone damsels and clowns. As for Bowdy, you did not mention the size of your tank. Yes, you have a point that damsels are hardy, but they will terrorize tanks after being established. I have had a yellowtail damsel kill a tomato clown, pigmy angel, and assorted other fish. Damsels belong in big, aggressive tanks.

 

[dbacksrat]

you also have to realize that you are biased towards damsels because it takes either skill or luck to keep that many species of damsels in the average aquarium...just be sure to listen to 1979camaro, s. reef, and wayne--they definetly know their stuff

 

[nightrydaz04]

It's took a lot of both skill and luck... I had them in the 5 gallon for like a month and then I prematurely transfered them to the 20 gallon before it cycled I know now that I should've started with at least a 20 gallon preferably a 40 but I was just starting and I was trying to be cost effiecent or cheap in otherwards which wasn't the best idea because i had to go out and buy all new equipment for my 20... So for arguments sake will just say the fish were to sick to fight with each other.

 

[wayne]

Or were jsut very , very small. These fish typically only really become aggressive when they start to mature. When they're very small they actually shoal with each other. One inch damsels are very nice little fish, they just don't stay that way.

 

[nightrydaz04]

ahh... how old until they start becoming little fin biters?? just curious...

 

[S.Reef]

Hmmm...point taken.

 

[wayne]

When they start to reach sexual maturity, which is kind of a factor of age and size. When you notice the spots on 3 spots starting to fade and the colour going from black to grey brown that's a bad sign.

 

[nightrydaz04]

I'm having difficulty keeping my crushed coral clean every week or so I have to stir everything up and suck up the algae of it... I think I need more than 1 hermit crab??? what cleaners clean the bottom of the tank the best i noticed my hermit crab really likes to pick at the live rocks but will occasionally pick at the crushed coral any suggestions...??? I have ALOT more purple now too the tank is really starting to develope.