I bought a firefish (goby) he was a cute little fish. I have 2 damsels, 1 lawnmower blemmy, and 1 clown and 1 strawberry chromis. Those damsles and the chromis would not leave the little firefish alone. I thought I had the problem solved when I put a mirrow on the outside of the tank. Things seemed to calm down. I took the mirrow out in about 3 days. Not good the devils started all over again! My little firefish jumped throught the plastic grade on top of my tank. I have a stinking feeling I will not be able to buy anymore fish until I get rid of the damsels. I am also worried about the chromis. What do you guys think? 55 gal. tank. Thank you in advance for your help. Jeanie:sad1:
I am mad at my fish
- Thread starter jeanietn
- Start date
Yeah, damsels can be mean little SOBs. A lot of people who are just starting out buy them because they're cheap, colorful and hardy. Most experienced people will tell you not to bother with them because they can be bullies, and they can be hard to catch when you want to get rid of them. If you're going to keep them, you'll have to be careful about putting any timid fish in the tank. Personally, I'd get rid of them.
velvetelvis
Active member
This is bad advice, and inhumane to boot.
It's not the damsels' fault that they cause problems in community tanks. It's the fault of aquarists who treat them as disposable. People buy damsels to cycle their tanks because the damsels are cheap and hardy, and then get angry at the damsels for behaving according to their instincts.
Damsels that act like "jerks" are defending what they see as their territory against intruders, just as they would on the reef. Getting angry at them for behaving naturally makes about as much sense as letting a cat run loose and then getting angry when he kills birds. Being living creatures and not decorations, animals will behave in ways that are sometimes inconvenient for our purposes. It still isn't their fault.
Catch the damsels humanely and return them to the store for credit. And do some research before your next purchase. It will save you a lot of money and trouble.
ETA: I apologize in advance if I came on a little strong here and hurt anybody's feelings. If you spend long enough on reefing forums, you just see this come up over and over, and as someone who loves animals I find it disturbing. With a little research beforehand, this is a totally preventable situation. (I do admit that people sometimes get bad advice from stores helping them set up their systems, though.) It's our responsibility to learn about our livestock *before* we bring them home. We have to accommodate them--not the other way around. We're the ones with all the power, after all. And I'll step off my soapbox now.
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I have no interest of harming my fish. My intent is to catch them and give them back to my fish store. Learning this hobby is a life time adventure. If I had known then what I know now I would NOT have damsels in my tank. I have gone really slow with my adventure---I have not been mean to my animals and watch them closely. I read and try to make the right decisions. With all that said damsels are still stinkers and bullies. They tried their best to bully my lawnmower blemmie---his mouth was too big he could take care of himself. I thought they were going to kill my strawberry chromis but he can take care himself.
This is a difficult hobby---I know what my responsibility is---I take it very seriously---I still want those little stinkers out!!
I thank everyone four your input. Jeanie
This is a difficult hobby---I know what my responsibility is---I take it very seriously---I still want those little stinkers out!!
I thank everyone four your input. Jeanie
Yea, don't flush them. You should find some store that wants them. I am definetly not a tree hugger but aquariums are about enjoyment. I am sure there is somebody that will get some enjoyment out of those spunky little guys. There great to add in frag tanks to give it some action.
reeferstace
I'm a little people
VelvetElvis speaks the truth.
Nelz
New member
Well, I sure am glad I stumbled in on this thread! I have a buddy, I consider an "expert" in the field and he suggested those as good starters. I even researched them and agreed.
I did read that they were territorial, but "should" be ok, if all fish were introduced together.
Is there that much disinformation out there in the sport? Or is it just that like everything else, opinions are like...................
I did read that they were territorial, but "should" be ok, if all fish were introduced together.
Is there that much disinformation out there in the sport? Or is it just that like everything else, opinions are like...................
RubberFrog
New member
^ The key part is this- "should be ok, if all fish were introduced together".
Who buys all of their fish at one time?
Who buys all of their fish at one time?
StephLionfish
New member
I agree completely. I was going to say it if you hadn't. It's the aquarists' fault for buying them without researching them in the first place.
Defuse
New member
velvetelvis
Active member
Both. There's definitely some bad information circulating (no pun intended) around the reefing hobby. Some of it is based on outdated practices (such as cycling tanks with cheap, hardy fish and then getting rid of them). Sad to say, a lot of it is perpetuated by stores. There are some wonderful, knowledgeable stores that do much to advance the hobby--I'm friends with someone who runs one. But there are also a lot of stores that perpetuate bad advice and outdated information, because they either don't know better themselves, or don't care. Some of them don't really care how many animals die as a result of going to the wrong home; it just means another sale for them when the aquarist comes back to replace the fish that died.
Sadly, this happens a lot. A good store will take some time to ask you about your system, water parameters, tankmates, etc, and will actually refuse to sell you some animals if they're inappropriate for your experience level and setup. But a bad one will just sell more corals and fish without bothering to correct the situation. After all, it's more money for them if you keep replacing livestock. There are a lot of stores that seem to see profit/loss balances instead of animals when they look at their livestock.
Some of them aren't callous so much as misinformed themselves; you'd be surprised at how little some LFS employees really know about the animals they're selling. (To be fair, the owner may know more, but it's hard for stores to find, train, and retain experienced help.) I've heard well-meaning but mistaken LFS employees telling people that fish don't grow any bigger than the tank they're kept in. (WRONG.) Unfortunately, the new aquarist doesn't know any better, and so the bad information just keeps being recycled.
And then some bad information is just due to wishful thinking and stubbornness. The never-ending debates over tangs in small tanks, multiple clownfish in tanks, adding anemones to brand-new systems, etc fall into this category. If you stay in the reefkeeping hobby and frequent forums long enough, you'll become very familiar with these topics (and groan internally whenever you see them). They're fought over endlessly because some people, who are being advised by more experienced reefers not to try something that's guaranteed not to work, are hell-bent on going ahead and doing it anyway. Which pretty much sums up how you run into trouble in this hobby.
