fox face trouble

[tonycampos500]

I have a 55gal tank with a royal gramma, domino damsel, and some kind of blue and yellow damsel, as well as a few various inverts. Problem is all my paramaters are correct, but for 2 days the fox has been hiding, and now its laying next to a rock looking like this is it. I just dont know what to do for it.

[Alysiak00]

could be highly overcrowded. recommended tank size is 75gal or larger plus you have other tank mates

[tonycampos500]

the fox is about 3.5" and it is the largest creature in the tank

[steelhead77]

Oftentimes a Foxface will hide and look blotchy. Mine is the size of a good size trout and he hides behind a rock if anything even remotely scary happens with 25 feet of the tank. Does yours still eat? Does he swim around at all? As long as he is still swimming and eating, he should be ok. On the other hand, sometimes fish just die. Hopefully yours is the former and not the latter. Good luck.

[tonycampos500]

well got up in the middle of the night and it was swimming again, got up this morning and I have a $40 dead fish. I cant curse enough to express my lack of joy. how does the "bullet proof" fish go belly up and everything else is just fine.

[Conrad25]

Foxface are very skiddish and those Damsels I'm sure gave him hell so much that he stressed out too badly................... THey need to be in a tank where they can have there space without getting harassed by others or they usually don't survive well


Conrad

[mike_cmu04]

My foxface looks rough from time to time they are a very skiddish fish and he will probably be fine

[evsalty]

Sorry for your loss.

Were you offering veggies to him? Like nori on a clip.

[chimmike]

you put the guy in a tank too small for him with damsels, the most aggressive reef fish you can buy. Two bad conditions.

[rayn]

Know how you feel. Same thing happened to mine a couple months ago. Fine one day, gone the next

[tonycampos500]

Originally Posted by chimmike

you put the guy in a tank too small for him with damsels, the most aggressive reef fish you can buy. Two bad conditions.

thanks for "salting the wound" man. im new. thats why im here. i simply thought that a fish larger than the others would be ok. the fox was 3.5" and the domino 1.5", gramma 2", blue/yellow damsel 1.5" . is 55 gallons really too small for them at this size? BTW there is a 125gallon in the works just trying to figure out how to set up the 55gal sump/refug.

[evsalty]

Originally Posted by evsalty

Sorry for your loss.

Were you offering veggies to him? Like nori on a clip.

Originally Posted by tonycampos500

thanks for "salting the wound" man. im new. thats why im here. i simply thought that a fish larger than the others would be ok. the fox was 3.5" and the domino 1.5", gramma 2", blue/yellow damsel 1.5" . is 55 gallons really too small for them at this size? BTW there is a 125gallon in the works just trying to figure out how to set up the 55gal sump/refug.

Like I asked above were you feeding it nori or any other types of veggies? They need veggies to thrive as that is their main diet in the wild.

[Chris27]

A small foxface is just fine in a 55 Gal for a while, while they do get big eventually, they can be content with a smaller tank when they are small.

The trick to the Foxface is feeding, they need algae daily, live rock doesn't supply enough algae for grazing, so you need to supplement their diet very well with seaweed sheets. Just like a Tang, the Foxface is essentially a herbivore, the main part of their diet in the wild is strictly algae, when feeding pellets, flakes and most frozen foods, they just don't get enough nutrients to survive well.

As you have found out, damsels are the devil's soldiers, while most fish stay away from the spines of a Foxface, damsels are different and would probably go after JAWS if he got a little close.

Keep on it, everyone looses fish at some point, keep researching each one you want and make a valiant attempt to meet it's needs....oh and spear those damsels and feed them to your cat if you have one.

[Breathe13stars]

I had a foxface in a 55 for almost 2 years, now he's in a 180 but he did great in there just was skidish for the fist year or so, dont get me wrong he still is but he has became much more bolder to the point he makes me nervous when im in the tank lol but when i invite friends or family over he goes camo and hides. I guess it takes them awhile to warm up to new faces but he is an upstanding citizen and makes friends with everybody. I wouldn't give up on foxfaces since you lost yours because they are actually really cool fish just takes them forever to adjust. As far as the damsels go the domino will probably become very aggressive if not already the yellowtail blue damsel are actually not very aggressive i have 2 of them together in a 40 with some other fish and they are really peaceful 1 of them was in the 55 with the foxface also, i think out of all the fish my saddleback clown is the the most aggressive. Sorry for your loss!!

[evsalty]

Originally Posted by Breathe13stars

I had a foxface in a 55 for almost 2 years, now he's in a 180 but he did great in there just was skidish for the fist year or so, dont get me wrong he still is but he has became much more bolder to the point he makes me nervous when im in the tank lol but when i invite friends or family over he goes camo and hides. I guess it takes them awhile to warm up to new faces but he is an upstanding citizen and makes friends with everybody.

Not all of them are like this. When I bought my new little 2" fox face he was one of two in one tank and opposite of that tank were two more the same size. The two in his tank were both bold and right up front the moment you walked up to the tank while the other two instantly would hide. Obviously I picked one of the two bold ones. Previously I had a Mettalic fox face that was brought in from the wild only days before I got it and it too was very bold and upfront all the time.

[tonycampos500]

hey guys thanks for the advice, I will eventually get another foxface...maybe after the 125 is up and running.

evsalty....yes i was giving the seaweed sheets from petco, cant think of the name of em but im sure you are familiar with the stuff (im at work so i cant look at it)

once again thank you all, i found the thread for fish compatibility checking and will be sure to research my selections further.

[Breathe13stars]

I really like the look of the metallic foxface, and have actually considered getting one but have been hesitant on mixing them. How was your experience with them?

[evsalty]

Originally Posted by tonycampos500

hey guys thanks for the advice, I will eventually get another foxface...maybe after the 125 is up and running.

evsalty....yes i was giving the seaweed sheets from petco, cant think of the name of em but im sure you are familiar with the stuff (im at work so i cant look at it)

once again thank you all, i found the thread for fish compatibility checking and will be sure to research my selections further.

You should be more then fine to mix them. We have a Rainforest Cafe in one of our malls that mixes many rabbit fish together in almost every tank they have on site. There could always be a bad apple but for the most part fox faces will leave one another alone. Even the LFS that I got my one spot at had two one spots in the same tanks and had several tanks like this and no signs of fighting in any of the tanks. Infact they would more times then not be seen side by side.

Originally Posted by Breathe13stars

I really like the look of the metallic foxface, and have actually considered getting one but have been hesitant on mixing them. How was your experience with them?

The mettalic is just like the one spots and the bicolors and the......peacefull unless feeling threatened.