Fish Policy (who's first?)

[Creetin]

ok i have a starter common clown in my 38g right now wif LR. i am planning my list of future fish: a royal gramma, a bi-colored blenny, a flame angel, a coral beauty angel, and a mandarin fish. My questions are:

1. can the 2 angelfish co-exist together? (knowing the flame is quite a fierce chap)

2. when would u intro them into the tank? which is first? heres my view:

Clownfish is in already so next is royal gramma, den the bi-colored blenny, n den both angels at the same time and the long wait before the mandarin - is this good? pls advise!

[X_Japan]

angels of different species do not fight together unless ther body patterns are almost the same

I have 2 angels in my tank and they do not fight.

[anakjoh]

same choice here, creetin, tho I will go for flame angel alone - no special reason, just a small tank.

[onghm]

Royal gramma is generally peaceful as what I've gathered from books/internet.

But what most lfs have is the false gramma (royal dottyback, pseudochromis paccagnellae) and it look just like the real one.

This species is however very territorial.

I'm wondering if it would wack the mandarin...

Maybe others could comment....

[eprouve]

The royal gamma is generally peaceful, but it does want to have its own territory. It will also tend to have this open mouth (you could almost hear it roaring ) posture in an attempt to show the other fish that he means business: NO TRESPASSING! But its usually harmless and will NOT end up in a bite fight.

The royal gamma is an excellent fish to keep. A cool dude! Mine used to ROC literally ! It lies on its side on a LR in his cosy little corner.

[kelstorm]

ok i have a starter common clown in my 38g right now wif LR. i am planning my list of future fish: a royal gramma, a bi-colored blenny, a flame angel, a coral beauty angel, and a mandarin fish. My questions are:

1. can the 2 angelfish co-exist together? (knowing the flame is quite a fierce chap)

2. when would u intro them into the tank? which is first? heres my view:

Clownfish is in already so next is royal gramma, den the bi-colored blenny, n den both angels at the same time and the long wait before the mandarin - is this good? pls advise!

i dun recommend the mandarin unless u are able to provide lots of microscopic food for it.. they usually have very poor survival rates in captivity... save your money on it.. go for other fishes if possible,... another thing, i dun recommend having 2 angels inside unless your tank is very big..

[chanbi]

Your combination looks ok. But i agree with Ong/Kelvin..

1. Mandarin is out in a 38g tank. actually most tanks.. but do heard that

there are some lucky fellow which their mandarin accept frozen food.

2. Both angels must be introduce together. It is a bit cramp but since they

are dwarf angel, should still be possible.

3. Make sure it is a true royal gamma, pseudochromis (look similar but

smaller) can be very terriortial and don't be con by their size. They can

easily chase after another fish which is at least 2x its size.

[Creetin]

thanks for all your advice. most helpful esp regarding the fake n real royal gramma....hehe... i tink i am gonna give it a short, the dual angels thing...cos i have lotsa rock in my tank, figured i can get away wif it....btw, which would u guys rate as the fiercer one? flame or coral beauty?

i tot its the flame so i was thinking to minimise the possiblity of war, perhaps i can get a slightly bigger coral beauty....? wat u tink?

[chanbi]

I have kept both before and i think they are about the same. U should not see much problem if u introduce them at the same time.

[kelstorm]

thanks for all your advice. most helpful esp regarding the fake n real royal gramma....hehe... i tink i am gonna give it a short, the dual angels thing...cos i have lotsa rock in my tank, figured i can get away wif it....btw, which would u guys rate as the fiercer one? flame or coral beauty?

i tot its the flame so i was thinking to minimise the possiblity of war, perhaps i can get a slightly bigger coral beauty....? wat u tink?

creetin,

u better pray that the coral beauty dun bully your flame like mine used to do so, it caused my blood pressure to RISE!

[Creetin]

duh kelstorm, i tot flame lagi fierce? alamak.... looks the coral beauty has a beauty problem too? its like "I am beautiful so get lost" mentality in the reef world!!!!

[mv3i]

is royal gamma compatible with fire goby

[kelstorm]

is royal gamma compatible with fire goby

royal gamma will usually go abt minding its own biz unless u enter its territory.. if the fire goby is minding it own biz and dun go to gamma's territory, it is fine.. but watch it.. the fire goby is a jumper. dun want u to realise that the next morning that u have a "giam he" on the floor.. if possible, u can try keeping 3-5 together.. i had that size till i sold them to spiff.

[Creetin]

are all gobies jumpers? do blennies jump too?

and is the royal gramma territorial or not territorial?

[mv3i]

hey kel ,

got 3 gobies now .... they are all together now .... happy ... and i have some acrylic cover on the tank .... they will have a bad headache if they try to jump ....likw hang over

[EbiTank]

my bi-color blenny has no jumping prob, but 6-line wrasse was found dried one morning..suspected that timer on light shocked it to jump.

my coral beauty has probs eating the food i gave, only took those brush like algae that looked like mini pink coconut trees. after 10 days nothing left to eat..and you know what else happened..

my intended sequence was :pink skunk, 6-line, bi-color, grammy and beauty .

worked really well until i found how hard it was to keep angels.. starting from scrach again..next week.

[kelstorm]

hey kel ,

got 3 gobies now .... they are all together now .... happy ... and i have some acrylic cover on the tank .... they will have a bad headache if they try to jump ....likw hang over

ok.. where did u get them from.. they are beautiful isn't it?? my fiancee says that they are like rockets.. always wanting to jump out of their world and enter our orbit..

[Chris]

The Mandarin requires lots of LR for it to search for microscopic food. However, even in my 4X2X2 tank with lots of LR, I have problem. Luckily, my present one was trained to take frozen brime shrimps. Try keeping them in a side holder and feed them Brime shrimps for a week. If they start eating, then you can put them in. Also, mandarins don't do well with other fast moving fish cause they take a long time looking at the food before deciding to eat. So, I think the Royal Gramma will snap up all the food. Mandarin can mix with angels because both are slow moving and eat slowly. If you have only 38g tank, I think only can put one angel. IMO, Flame nicer than Coral Beauty.

[Tigger]

Hi Chris,

Got a feeling I know U.

Rgds

Tig

[Creetin]

hi chris, tks for ur advice. btw where can i get the side holder thing?

[Chris]

The "side holder thing" is one of those seperators that fish shop use to keep their fish apart so they won't fight. It comes with plastic suctions and allow your fish to be separated from the other fish in the tank. I use it to accustom new fish into the tank. I did it with my smaller golden maroon clown and let my resident big maroon clown get use to the new guy before letting the new fish into the tank. Less fighting this way.

Tig, I may know you cause I often hang around LFS for chit-chatting and to heard new tips. BTw, my nick is my real name!

[kelstorm]

The "side holder thing" is one of those seperators that fish shop use to keep their fish apart so they won't fight. It comes with plastic suctions and allow your fish to be separated from the other fish in the tank. I use it to accustom new fish into the tank. I did it with my smaller golden maroon clown and let my resident big maroon clown get use to the new guy before letting the new fish into the tank. Less fighting this way.

interesting idea, chris..

anyway, those side holder thing are available at those infamous LH shops that are sprouting out like mushrooms near our neighbourhoods..... depending on what type u want.. the price ranges from 40cents to 80cents each.. and i recommend that u get 4 pieces to secure the acrylic.. coz i help my mom to setup her LH tank and 2 pieces is not enuff.. too filmsy.. not stable...

[Creetin]

kel, tks for the tip. since mi frens would drag me along to see LH (n i always go nicely w them since they r mi frens), this would prob be a good thing to loook out for...

btw chris where u bot ur mandarin? not every LFS have those tat eat frozen brine shrimp....! btw, do mandarins eat mysis shrimp?

[X_Japan]

Go to Kwang's aquarium

his fish all confirm feeding on food

unless it is brand new stock...

[Creetin]

tks. in fact i got mi clownfish from kwangs, and i must say its in very good shape...definitely kwangs for me when buying healthy fish at reasonable prices...marinelife also veri good in this sense. too bad gonna change boss, wonder if standard will still be there...