What fishes u all keep?

[souphamster]

i keep 5 domino damster, one dunno what butterfly, one trigger and a bicolour goby in my 2 feet tank. Feeling that my domino are too aggressive with one another. IS it wise to get one breed of its kind or school fishes?

Those guys here with cam, care to share with us your fish photos ?

Keep marine keeping going man.... .

cheerz!!

[Chris]

You have selected the more agressive ones in the family. Domino damsels is one and the Trigger is another terror. The buttlefly will also make your tank unsuitable for reef. I suspect your trigger will try to catch your damsel but can't and your damsel will start ot nip at its tail and fins.

If you are keeping triggers and buttleflys, you can only do a Fish-only system. IMO, get rid of the dominos. Also, the trigger will not be happy if you decided to add in another.

[souphamster]

my baby trigger is only 1.5inches long, why is that butterflys are not suitable with reefs? They eat up the good algaes on the live rock? my Butterfly is only 1inche in size. i choose them on purpose for the small scale size, due to my tank size. Anyway they will be bigger in 6mths time i guess.

I was thinking of getting a yellow tang to add. What are the charactoristic of tang family? thanks...

[nleong]

souphamster,

with 2 ft, you have got like 8 fishes in it. dun you think its a little too crowded ?

i hope the fishes are living well ?

[newdamsel]

souphamster

With that kinda loading, even if your butterfly and trigger do not eat up your corals, your nitrate level will kill all corals in your tank. Did you test your nitrate level? How long has the fishes been in your tank? 3 days? For a 2 footer and that much fishes, prepare to see deaths in say 1~2 months time.

Maybe water changes of 30% everyweek may be able to help you...

[Phang]

my baby trigger is only 1.5inches long, why is that butterflys are not suitable with reefs? They eat up the good algaes on the live rock? my Butterfly is only 1inche in size. i choose them on purpose for the small scale size, due to my tank size. Anyway they will be bigger in 6mths time i guess.

I was thinking of getting a yellow tang to add. What are the charactoristic of tang family? thanks...

Baby triggers will get territorial as they grow.... hav you check on their potiential size???

Butterflys are not suitable for reefs as they will pick at coral polyps..... and some are difficult to sustain if they don't get the proper diet... only few specimens are reef safe....

If you are thinking of getting a yellow Tang, pls check on their potiential size before commiting... your 2 dt reef is definitely too small and already overcrowded......

[Achilles Tang]

You have OVERSTOCKED with INCOMPATIBLE fish species. bro!

Triggers are better off in a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tank.

Butterfly fishes are mostly coral obligates (eat coral polyps) and they also eat up all your worms eg. tubeworms. They are also very sensitive to poor quality water. They may take some time to adapt to eating mysis shrimp.

Damsels are monsters just like clownfishes. They get uglier and meaner with age. Highly territorial. They will not hesitate to attack your hands.

You have to remove both of the 3 species you keep. Or you can keep the damsels with the trigger. I dun encourage beginners to keep butterfly fishes.

You may have to upgrade your tank or your filtration system coz a small system can only support a few fishes without crashing badly if you cannot give a lot of time changing water weekly.

AT

[souphamster]

i am thinking of getting rid of my dammsel, but how? flush into toliet bowl meh? my water condition is ok, i have the fishes for about 1.5mths plus. I always do partial water change and keep alook out for. I think 6 fishes are ok in my 2'x1.5'tall tank. As for my corals.. they are all very ok and well. My leathers erected with buds, my mushrooms are spreading nicely. And i feed my anemone 2times a week. I wanted to give up my damsels, due to overly active!

[Achilles Tang]

Release them into the sea.

Return them to LFS for free.

Give away to Phang's mantis.

[souphamster]

hmm... if that the case... ok. I shall release to the sea this week end then.

[lona]

Hi Souphamster,

Why don't you go to wetwebmedia and liveaquaria.com and check out the fish you wanna buy before you actually go and buy them? These two websites are quite comprehensive (at least that's what I feel lar..my humble opinion... ). They actually tell you which fish are peaceful, semi aggressive and aggressive. They even have ID galleries for you to find out what type of fish they are. Very very informative. Even have advice on how to add fish. Good for beginners like me.

I find it so wasteful to have to buy fish without knowing what they are, whether you have the means to keep them, bringing them home and realising they're not good for your tank then letting them go into the sea again. I feel so sad for them..like unwanted pets..no home like that..

In fact, yesterday I was at an LFS, saw some panda butterflies, so ITCHY to buy I tell you..but have to tahan. Went home and was reading the sites, and realised that I don't have the means to maintain them..although sad that cannot keep..but which is better? Buy already then got to let go? or read properly then decide?

Fish stock will always have one lar..LFS will always bring them in..if you can't get them now, get them later lar..why so rush to stock the tank?

Try to think of the fish, whether he's going to be happy in your tank or not..instead of thinking of yourself and wanting to beautify your tank.

Sorry if I don't sound too polite, but I really feel so SAD for the fish..

[souphamster]

no, its not that.. the fact is now, too crowded fishes. i wont mind to convert my 4feet tank into a saltwater tank in 6mths time, THEN i can keep more fishes.Presently i am keeping a little crowded, so thinking of changing the type of fish rather than temperament.. although i know it does play part of the whole show.

[lona]

So i misunderstood?

Ok so sorry..but couldn't help it lar.. ..you know lar..heartpain for the fish...

No hard feelings ok?

[BlueTerror]

what is your nitrate level with those fish? how much water do u change everyweek?

i got 2 clowns n a royal dottyback in my 2ft. i also like the purple fire fish, would it be advisable to add tt?

[lona]

Don't know if everyone here already knows about this compatibility chart? Also not sure if accurate..but should be a good guideline?

Compatibility Chart.

Comments from the more experienced teachers here?

[Phang]

Release them into the sea.

Return them to LFS for free.

Give away to Phang's mantis.

sensitive statement man.... I'm not that cruel.....

[lona]

Phang> I should hope not..

Souphamster> Why don't you try calling the LFS tell them you bought the fish awhile back but you can't handle them since they're not getting along. See if they're willing to do an exchange with you to take other fish? Some LFS do allow a certain extent of exchange if it's reasonable if I'm not wrong. No harm in trying your luck right? See can 'cham shiong' with a friendly LFS..

[souphamster]

my fishes are well fed and overly hyper.. hope i get them a new home.. anyone here wants damsel? 5 for free?

i happen to come across a pic on the net, do u think its over crowed then?

[spade]

for a 20000gallon from Atlantis Marine World ? i dun think so

[Chris]

Don't bluff...that's a picture straight from the sea right!!!

I think this tank is from underwater world. If you have this tank at home, don't talk about overcrowding the tank...you are overcrowding your house!!!

[souphamster]

Don't bluff...that's a picture straight from the sea right!!!

I think this tank is from underwater world.  If you have this tank at home, don't talk about overcrowding the tank...you are overcrowding your house!!!

EXCUSE ME, please read carefully wat i said in page 1 before commenting jummping to conculsion okie? i have already said i saw this picture from the net and THIS IS NOT MY TANK! This is really a HOME AQUARIUM from some european's home. Here is the URL http://advancedaquarist.com/index/ and all the tanks there are proffessional award winning tanks in their country.

[spade]

is not a home aquarium

[souphamster]

why it is not? give me a good reason... Obviously it is a display tank that is kept indoor. Correct me if i am wrong..

[BlueTerror]

what is your nitrate level with those fish? how much water do u change everyweek?

hey can ans my qn?

[Phang]

why it is not? give me a good reason... Obviously it is a display tank that is kept indoor. Correct me if i am wrong..

Hi Soup hamster,

Think a 20 000 gallon reef is something not really a standard in most homes....looks more like a public aquarium setting.....

and these guys mean well regards to overstocking ...... esp when a reef is small..... though sometimes they dun phrase their comments well...with the right smilies of course....

But hope you understand that we are not here to criticise but really to help and assist you so you could have better experiences with reefkeeping.......

It would be good to heed their advices... they do mean well......

Happy reefing....