No. of Damsels in a 29 ? - Page 2

cody6766 · 12/07/2010, 07:56 PM

I don't have a whole lot of mixed damsel experience, but I do have a bit of general advice.

The fish that seem to turn up in our stores are often juveniles or sub adults. Sure, plenty are normal sized, but a lot end up getting 2-3x longer (meaning way bigger body size) as adults. With adulthood comes sexual maturity which usually brings along 2 desires. 1 is to kill anything similar looking to the same sex (or sometimes just about anything), the other is to toss gametes at anything of the opposite sex...usually done after the former.
Juveniles from just about any species will play well together until the testosterone begins to flow, then all hell breaks loose.

Reef fishes seem to be a lot like african cichlids as far as behavior goes. You'll see what looks like tight groups in the wild and assume they'll do that in the tank. The problem is that on the reef (or in the rift lake in the case of cichlids) there is exponentially more room to get away and exponentially more fish to absorb the aggression of its neighbors. If you chop it down to 5-10 individuals in a small (all tanks are small in reality) box then you'll have problems if you're not VERY careful.

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but hopefully that will help guide your research and choice.

twintrades · 12/07/2010, 10:41 PM

Yea i think were skipping the whole "shole" of damsels. My wife really likes the Antennata Lionfish. So ill probly have one of those and only 1-2 damsels.(future food)

Im looking more at the dwarf loins but she really wants a Antennata Lionfish. So well end up with that. If its to big for our tank we will have a 125 soon for it to go in.

12/07/2010, 07:56 PM	#26
cody6766 Super Best Friends! Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: OKC, OK Posts: 3,772	I don't have a whole lot of mixed damsel experience, but I do have a bit of general advice. The fish that seem to turn up in our stores are often juveniles or sub adults. Sure, plenty are normal sized, but a lot end up getting 2-3x longer (meaning way bigger body size) as adults. With adulthood comes sexual maturity which usually brings along 2 desires. 1 is to kill anything similar looking to the same sex (or sometimes just about anything), the other is to toss gametes at anything of the opposite sex...usually done after the former. Juveniles from just about any species will play well together until the testosterone begins to flow, then all hell breaks loose. Reef fishes seem to be a lot like african cichlids as far as behavior goes. You'll see what looks like tight groups in the wild and assume they'll do that in the tank. The problem is that on the reef (or in the rift lake in the case of cichlids) there is exponentially more room to get away and exponentially more fish to absorb the aggression of its neighbors. If you chop it down to 5-10 individuals in a small (all tanks are small in reality) box then you'll have problems if you're not VERY careful. Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but hopefully that will help guide your research and choice. __________________ "The moral is the chosen, not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments." - John Galt Current Tank Info: Cadlights 60G Arisan II mixed reef with 2x MP40s and 24" ATI

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12/07/2010, 10:41 PM	#27
twintrades Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 671	Yea i think were skipping the whole "shole" of damsels. My wife really likes the Antennata Lionfish. So ill probly have one of those and only 1-2 damsels.(future food) Im looking more at the dwarf loins but she really wants a Antennata Lionfish. So well end up with that. If its to big for our tank we will have a 125 soon for it to go in.