can you have a damsel tank? FYI

Sk8r · 08/15/2008, 06:07 PM

Actually, they make a very good large tank fish. Tough, rarely doing in anybody, always on the move, but nippy, they certainly keep things moving.
If you have 100g and just want scores of colorful fish diving around your reef of corals, you could do much worse than the damsels. I've had the blue velvet (meanest of all damsels), the domino, 3-stripe, blue devil, yellowtail, and reef chromis all playing 'chase' through my rocks and they never harmed: dragonets, blennies, gobies, hawkfish, basslets, wrasses---in point of fact, the only fish they ever harmed were fish of their own exact kind. They never nipped a coral, never caused a fight, and generally were inexpensive, bright, colorful, and fast.

The key to it all is size: these fish are buzzsaws. Put them in a too-small tank and they'll toss someone "off the island" fast. With enough room, however, especially like 100g up, they each stake out a rock and then tour the tank violating everybody else's territory while defending their own.

08/15/2008, 06:07 PM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	can you have a damsel tank? FYI Actually, they make a very good large tank fish. Tough, rarely doing in anybody, always on the move, but nippy, they certainly keep things moving. If you have 100g and just want scores of colorful fish diving around your reef of corals, you could do much worse than the damsels. I've had the blue velvet (meanest of all damsels), the domino, 3-stripe, blue devil, yellowtail, and reef chromis all playing 'chase' through my rocks and they never harmed: dragonets, blennies, gobies, hawkfish, basslets, wrasses---in point of fact, the only fish they ever harmed were fish of their own exact kind. They never nipped a coral, never caused a fight, and generally were inexpensive, bright, colorful, and fast. The key to it all is size: these fish are buzzsaws. Put them in a too-small tank and they'll toss someone "off the island" fast. With enough room, however, especially like 100g up, they each stake out a rock and then tour the tank violating everybody else's territory while defending their own. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.