livestock

Question
QUESTION: Hi I wonder if you can help me? I have a new marine setup, the water is about 4 weeks old now and yesterdau i added the first lot of fish which were two yellow tailed damsels and two clown fish, I have several peices of live rock and was just wondering really if I was able to add yellow damsels and green chromis to the tank? would these fish be compatiable, do you have any other suggestions of live stock I could add? the tank size is 100cm x 45cm x 45cm
many thanks

ANSWER: hi, damsels tend to be a big no no when it comes to community tanks, some types are so aggressive its untrue.

i myself used to keep damsels, and i was amazed at the ammount of aggression i saw, they tend to claim a patch of reef about 50cm square and then defend it to the death. in the wild they even take on predators that stray onto their patch.

the yellow tails are not too bad but the yellows will probably kill eveything you have in there. as for the chromis, they are peacefull damsels to other fish but tend to kill off the weakest members of their shoal, its best to have them in shoals of 5 or more and bearing in mind the size of your tank, i think their bioload will be too much for it.

there are hundreds of other fish you could choose from, why go for a booring yellow damsels?
a fire fish would do fine in your tank if you have some bolt holes in your rock for it.
look at the wide range of gobies (make sure you stay away from the mandarin gobies)
certain wrasses would be ok too, very beautifull fish.

i would make sure you don't overstock though, you can probably add another 2-3 small fish to your tank, if you ditch the damsels it will open up your options.

hope that helps
paul.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi thats very helpful thanks, are there any more hardy fish i could add at the moment, I didnt want to add anything too delicate, as it is the first time I have kept marine fish so i dont want to kill them what about another type of clown fish?
thanks

Answer
if you were to add more clowns they will fight amongst them selves, you should only keep a pair to a tank or there will be trouble.

my fire fish is a very hardy little thing, he has been out of the tank a few times as he takes to hiding in rock. only last week he was flipping about on the floor having dived out of a bit of rock i took out the tank.

if you looking to add some colour to your tank why not get a few easy to keep soft corals? its a common misconception that they are hard to look after, as long as your lighting levels are good and the flow is right they are a sinch.

any type of mushroom will do fine.
sacrophytons are a good softie to keep.
finger leathers do well in aquariums bet some need suplimentation of essential elements.
if your after some more in-depth info on corals here is my e-mail address
paul_griff1@hotmail.com