Hi!

[Xrynaem]

Hi, I'm Nathaniel. I'm only 17, and for my graduation gift my mother bought me a 55 gallon saltwater tank preowned. The tank came with a Coral Beauty Angel, a Yellow Tang and a yellowtailed blue damsel. It's been running for a week or so and my mother today decided to buy a pair of clownfish to put in, and I let her. She put them in and everything seemed fine, then the Yellow Tang began to pick at them. I'm worried about the percula clownfish now as they just seem to sit there. And I realize normally either the pair or the tang could be moved to the sick tank, however, I have yet to set one up as this was a graduation gift. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can keep my fish from dying? Thanks...

Nathaniel

 

[steelhealr]

Good morning Nathaniel...congratulations on getting your firsy marine tank. These tanks can be tough to keep and I recommend that you start to, well, treat a marine tank like a new high school course...you need to do some reading on it. Ask you mom to pick up a book on marine tank keeping for you if she can fit it in the budget, or, you can start reading our forum.

Now, to the fish. Fish can be very territorial, that is, very protective of the area in which they live. In the real world, the ocean is huge and fish can find their own 'spot' somewhere. When we put them in a tank, we squeeze them together and they get aggressive.

The tang and damsel can be somewhat aggressive and clowns are generally peaceful. One of the ways we stock our marine tanks is to put the less aggressive fish in first. What happened was your mom got you some peaceful fish and then they were put in the other's fish's territory.

I would recommend that you have your mom read this post. You may have to take those clowns back if the fish don't stop attacking them or they could die. Let us know how you make out. SH