Decided against Angel
 

I decided not to get a Dwarf Angel, and instead pick up a very nice Royal Gramma and 7 Yellow Tail Damsels. What a sight to behold. The schooling behaviour, and beautiful blue color of the Damsals are amazing. It really makes the tank look like a reef. On another note it has been a week since swaping over tanks and I now have a golden carpet of diatoms developing on the sand and some of the rock, although this adds color to the tank... I would rather not have it. I was told at fishy store that even thought my smaller tank was 2 years old, the new tank still has to go through this cycle period. They said can take 3 months!! Do any little critters like to eat this stuff. :smile:
Toni

The diatoms will go away by themselves. you can add things that will help eat them, but once they're gone, the critters starve.
Did you type that right? You added 8 fish at once? :eek:

If that's correct, I'd pay attention to any rise in NH3 over the next week. Make sure also that you don't feed a lot for a while.

Ya know what will really add excitment to that tank. A pair of Clark's Clownfish. And ya know what. I just happen to have a pair of yellows for sale.

Let us know if the Damsels start to pick on each other and try to kill each other. I tried three once, but that was their behaviour. It certainly did not work. I gave the remaining two to a friend with a six foot tank. They were able to set up territories far apart, and that still works. :mrgreen:

The damsals are pretty small, and no change is nitrites yet. Didn't think they would produce a whole lotta waste, after all the tank was up and running for a couple years.. the fish don't seem to be bothering anyone or themselves, just swimming around happily in the corals etc. :biggrin: but I'll certainly let you know cause if it works out, it's a beauty of a sight.

So is that a no on the clowns then

Well considering how much it would cost to ship those fish from Taber to Victoria... let's say $40 to get from Taber to the Calgary Airport, $30 for packing material and $80 to fly them on Westjet to the coast, that's $150 plus the cost of the fish, so maybe $175. Whoever pays for the shipping will walk out short a fair chunk of change, and Seamonkey can buy Clarkiis quite easily in Victoria or get them from Vancouver... why would he pay to get them from your tank in Taber?

:rofl:

Always marvelled at groups of those... if only they weren't such miserable little SOBs...

Can't wait to see your pictures! :biggrin:

Don't need any clowns, as I already have a pair of common clowns. They have a host anenome and lay clutches of eggs continuously. Pretty happy little couple. As for the damsals, they LFS felt it was better to get more than less in regard to fighting. Also felt these yellowtails were the most docile. Cross my fingers. :smile:

wetback had a FOWLR tank once and yellowtailed damsels who routinely used to kick the butts of the Triggers ( X 3 ) ... they only died over a period of months when they accidentally got eaten by the Volitan Lion

nasty tempers on those fish :eek:

To be fair to damsels, I have seen a small school live peacefully for a long time. They certainly were nice to look at.

I too like the look of Damsels but herd all the horror stories about them so I satyed away. But I found Chromis of coarse more docile, so I bought a couple of those ( blue green ) to try out, and no problems. I then came across ( chromis retrofasciata ) A very cute little fish that looks very much like a damsel. These two little fish are quite entertaining and hug the reef sturcture and by no way aggressive. The only thing that seems bother them, is me when I clean the tank. Thay are very protective of their reef from hairy arms. Can't say I blame them. Just thought I would mention it to you in case your damsels don't work out. I hope they do. Cheers

I know of an Orthodontists office that has a clown trigger in a FO tank. Apparently there used to be several fish in with it, but one by one it "eliminated" all but one yellow tail damsel. That damsel has survived for several years with the trigger. My dasmsels are staying out of my reef tank thankyou very much. I think my goby is much happier to be away from them now :biggrin: