Damsels

[topthrill]

im new to salt tanks and i have herd that damsles are very teritorial. wich is bad because i have a 8 gallon tank and planed to have 2 other fish. i thought maby if i added more live rock he couldent claim all of that rock his teritory. he dosent look that agressive and he hides when i come in the room. i was thinking he probably woulnt mess with a fish that is just as big, or bigger than him.

 

[hutsler]

im new to salt tanks and i have herd that damsles are very teritorial. wich is bad because i have a 8 gallon tank and planed to have 2 other fish. i thought maby if i added more live rock he couldent claim all of that rock his teritory. he dosent look that agressive and he hides when i come in the room. i was thinking he probably woulnt mess with a fish that is just as big, or bigger than him.

You cant put three fish in an 8 gallon tank, maybe one small one but nothing else!

 

[topthrill]

i didnt plan to have more than 4 or 3.

i guess thats too much already

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, I'd stick to two fish if I were you. In the saltwater world, fish waste becomes a problem faster because the fish have to filter so much water through their tissues to keep their internal salt levels OK. In freshwater, fish can just drink small amounts of water and pee out the excess. In saltwater, they have to drink much more water to maintain enough freshwater inside their own bodies. Consequently, any waste products or chemicals in the water get concentrated in the fish's tissues much easier with saltwater. And with more waste and chemicals comes worse health faster...

Also, saltwater has a MUCH lower content of oxygen than freshwater. Basically there is only so much room for molecules to be dissolved in water, and when lots of that room is taken up by salt, calcium, carbonate and other ions, there is little room left for oxygen. Therefore if you have too many fish in a small saltwater tank, they can easily suffocate each other.

Never fear though, cause there are way more life forms in the saltwater arena that CAN fit into smaller tanks, they just dont happen to be fish. There are hundreds of species of crabs, snails, decorative shrimp, worms, and lets not forget the beauty of some corals inhabiting local reefs. Perhaps my favorite combo with invertebrates is a Pistol Shrimp and Goby pair. There are certain species of Goby that will share a burrow with pistol shrimp. I'm a sucker for symbiosis

 

[topthrill]

i relly want a clown though. im sure that will fit and be enough.

 

[SkiFletch]

If it were my tank, I'd take the damsel back and get a clown or a pair of clowns

 

[topthrill]

well, i know eveybody said i shouldent do this but i got a clown. i asked the guy at the pet shop what was the best thing to do now, and he said a clown was a good idea. and you know what its turend out pretty good! my clown looks happy and sims about and my damsle has not botherd it the least bit, not even when i fed them! and my damsel is starting to come out more! you know, even though some things don't seem like the best choise the might just end up fine

hey, my clown and damsle even posed for a pic!

 

[crazyelece]

I'm afraid this is why most new saltwater aquarists fail and in the end get frustrated and give up. First an eight gallon tank is barely big enough to house one fish for its life. Then you add a clownfish which should have a minimum volume of 30 gallons to keep it for its life. You are thinking way to short term here. Are they fine now, perhaps? But I can gaurantee you that one or the other will prematurely perish in that setup. The fish may not be expensive but they do deserve to be cared for and not just kept. I guess we should be grateful that you chose a species which has been bred in captivity. If you truly care to successfully keep marine species I sugest a little more research, a lot more listening to good advise, and a ton more patience.

 

[Chac]

Guess there is no point offering advice as you seem to ignore the advcie given here anyway

Your LFS sold you the clown because he wanetd a sile not because it would be fine in the tank


Also if Live rock is your only Bio-Filtration then you would have been better spending money on some more as you look awful light on that & heavy on Bio-load

 

[topthrill]

you know if i could get a new tank i would, but i cant because i dont have anny money. i would gladly remove my damsel into a larger tank, but for now i have no chiose. i could barley afford to get the coral, rock , fish, and salt, i needed to re use my old tank, fliter, heater and light. and now my light is busted. i feel glad i can have my little tank and i trust the guy at the pet store because i know him.

and i do have more rock than is in the pic.

 

[crazyelece]

But you do have a choice, you can choose to not purchase fish until you are capable of caring for them. You can choose to heed the advise given by others.

Let's see who do I listen to? Almost everyone who responded to my question online, or the only single person who could profit in the loss of my livestock?

We are only trying to help you learn, whether you do or not is on you.

 

[Chac]

You had a choice - your want's over the fishs wellbeing & your wants won

Simple as that

 

[topthrill]

sorry

 

[Chac]

Topthrill there is no need to apologise to us, we are happy to give you advice & help you out whenever you need it, but please remember that (as crazyelece says) we give advice because we dont want to see you fail & your livestock suffer, your LFS on the other hand has a reason for telling you that a clown would be fine in your tank & that is $$$$$

IMO your tank is overstocked & I have given advice & my opinion

We all make mistakes & were all newbies once, but remember you control whether or not your fish survive or not, noone on this forum would intentioanlly give you bad advice, but your LFS has

I gave up listening to my LFS years ago after over hearing such comment like

"Yeah a Raccon Butterfly will take flake & no they wont touch Polyps"
"Clowns cant survive without Anemones"
"Are you buying stock today as well as the tank OK no problem - yeah your fish will be fine"

you get the picture

 

[boshank23]

"Yeah a Raccon Butterfly will take flake & no they wont touch Polyps"
"Clowns cant survive without Anemones"
"Are you buying stock today as well as the tank OK no problem - yeah your fish will be fine"

its very sad how some LFS will tell you anything to make a sale, i think myself pretty lucky. when i started marine only last year, my local marine store had me visit every weekend for advice for 2 months solid before i even bought anything.
i also have a friend who owns a LFS and he would never sell me or anyone anything that he wasn't 100% certain was going to be looked after properly.