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Michael Hoaster said:
Good question. I think I would add them after the grammas and tomini, and before I added the Allen's Damsels back in.

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That seems like a good plan. Since they are damsels and you will be buying more than just one most likely, they should not have any trouble adjusting in your tank.

Also your tank is so big too which has to help with territorial issues. Surely there is enough room for everyone to get along, right?
 
vlangel said:
That seems like a good plan. Since they are damsels and you will be buying more than just one most likely, they should not have any trouble adjusting in your tank.

Also your tank is so big too which has to help with territorial issues. Surely there is enough room for everyone to get along, right?
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That is the million dollar question. Remember I had three Tuxedo Damsels too. Then two, then one, then none. My tank is pretty big, but not as big as the areas these fish coexist in Nature. Plus the issue of not knowing which species they are and their characteristics, makes me hesitant. It would be safer to resist temptation and be happy with the six new additions I have, and keep looking for a few other bigger fish.
 
Michael Hoaster said:
That is the million dollar question. Remember I had three Tuxedo Damsels too. Then two, then one, then none. My tank is pretty big, but not as big as the areas these fish coexist in Nature. Plus the issue of not knowing which species they are and their characteristics, makes me hesitant. It would be safer to resist temptation and be happy with the six new additions I have, and keep looking for a few other bigger fish.
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Yes, I see what you mean. To me a 180 gallon tank is enormous because I never had larger than a 125 gallon and it seemed really big in the early 2000s, and I had large pedators in it. Still like you said, Damsels and all fish are used to the limitless expanse of the oceans so a even the largest of tanks is nothing compared to that.

Until I began mixing some gobies and blennies, I never used to add more than one type of a species. Gobies and blennies are probably more docile about that than damsels would be.
Even in mixing blennies, I try to stay away from more than 1 type of combtooth,(and with Tommy I stay away from all combtooths), and 1 type of venomous.

There should be multiple options of bigger fish that would be attractive and fun. I know you want to stay away from anything that will decimate your bio-life too however but I am sure that you will come up with other options.
 
I think it will be challenging enough for the grammas and damsels to get along. Adding more damsels without knowing anything about them is maybe too risky. It's SO tempting though.

Blennies and Gobies are perfect for smaller tanks, since they don't roam far in the ocean. Your tank is great proof of that!

I am looking at medium size fish. And yes, finding ones that won't go after other valuable members of the ecosystem is a challenge. I may have to try some, and see if they do eat forbidden fruit, then decide whether to trade in the plants or the fish.

Right now, I just want to get the QTed fish fat and ready to go in the display. They all look healthy. In another week or so, I'll begin 'Operation Damsel Catch'. Assuming I can get them out, I'll then be able to move in the new guys. If I am unable to catch them, I'll probably add the grammas and tang together. Sort of a 'more the merrier' approach.
 
Thanks ThePurple12! I am very excited to get the new fish in the display. The difference will be dramatic. Suddenly, the fish watching will be much more interesting. I'm already enjoying the grammas in their QT, in my home office. There's something about having multiples of them. One is nice, but five is even better!

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I agree with ThePurple and you on more fish. But then fish are my 1st love when it comes to a reef so of course I would be excited about that.
 
The tank is doing well. My seagrass is getting tall. I moved the blue hypnea down amongst the grasses, in good light. The Sargassum with air sacs is starting to resemble a Christmas tree, with gold ornaments. Another stem from the same plant is also starting to grow air sacs. The red macros on the patch reef all look good. I did move one of the Dragon's Breath frags to weaker light, on the front of the reef, so it's easier to observe. I wanted to see the difference in their growth, with slightly different light. It's funny, how the patch reef can go from needing to fill in, to overgrown. It takes months of course, but it seems to happen all of a sudden.

I think I'll get out the fish trap this weekend and see if I can catch some damsels. I'm betting it will take about a week to get them all. Maybe I'll get lucky…

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I haven't tried yet. I'm feeling a little under the weather today, so I'm taking it easy. I did do a 50% water change on Scarlett's QT, on Saturday, so at least that got done. Now that the grammas have hit 3 weeks, I should get going on it. Maybe tomorrow.

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Michael Hoaster said:
I haven't tried yet. I'm feeling a little under the weather today, so I'm taking it easy. I did do a 50% water change on Scarlett's QT, on Saturday, so at least that got done. Now that the grammas have hit 3 weeks, I should get going on it. Maybe tomorrow.

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Ahhhhhh, I am sorry to hear that you are not feeling the best! :-( Get better soon Michael!

Good luck trapping the damsels.
 
I’m feeling a little better today. I set up the trap for the damsels, lets see what happens. I don’t expect quick success. I’m giving it a week or so. So far they don’t look to be afraid of it, so that’s good. I’ll go have look and see...no takers yet. I fed them yesterday so they’re probably not that hungry yet.

I hope this works. I’m terrified something will go wrong before I get them all in.
 
I am glad that you are feeling a little better. Hopefully those damsels are hungry! I know what you mean about something going wrong with QTs. I always worried about that too. It can be nerve wracking.
 
Thanks Dawn. I'm even better, later in the day, yay! Still no takers for the trap. They look curious though.

Scarlett is the one that worries me the most. She always hides, and I've grown tired of waiting to see her come out. I am able to see her at least, and she looks fine, but like you say, it's nerve wracking!
 
Well today I looked in the trap and found something I didn't even know I still had. A Peppermint Shrimp! I haven't seen it for months. And I haven't seen any molted exoskeletons either, so I just figured it had passed. On the contrary, it looks quite healthy!

It's strange how some peppermint shrimps are so secretive, while others are more sociable. I was just thinking how nice it was that no aiptasia anemones had come back since the shrimp had eaten the one that I had, close to a year ago!

I'll get him out and re-bait the trap.
 
Ha ha, that is something about the peppermint shrimp! I also have found some to be not only sociable but downright bold! They got to be a challenge in the seahorse tank eating the mysis before the seahorses had a fair chance at it. Yet in my fuge I have 1 or 2 peppermints that I almost never see and there may still be one in the DT as well.

I am glad that you are continuing to feel better and wish you luck with the re- baited trap.
 
I went camping in Moab over the weekend. So nothing got done on the tank. I've re-baited the trap, and hope to catch the damsels this week. If it doesn't happen, I'll have to adapt another strategy.

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I thought maybe something was up since your thread was so quiet. I am glad that it was a camping trip and not something gone wrong with aquaria!

Good luck capturing the damsels!
 
It is pretty rare for my thread to go quiet! I do like to go on. I love to get out and mingle with Nature too. And Moab is spectacular.

Well I caught my shrimp again. I'll keep trying but this isn't encouraging. If I have to add the new fish without removing the damsels, maybe I'll add them after lights out.
 
Another week has passed without a post!

Tonight I have a good reason to post. For the past four days, I've been raising salinity in the QTs to match the display tank's salinity. The new fish are going in!

Since I had no luck catching the damsels, I'm going with the night introduction/more-the-merrier/everybody-at-once approach. I'm doing an acclimation in buckets, while I wait for the last light to go out, excepting the moonlight LED. I put some rocks in the buckets to give them some cover, to lower stress. Ironically Scarlett, whom I've had for over two months, and have seen for less than two minutes, is swimming out in the open…

I should be getting them in, in a half hour or so. I'll report back tomorrow. Stay tuned!
 
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