Fish Anarchy

[Andyk28]

In my 20g nano reef i had the following fish
1x royal gramma
1xcoral beauty
1xdottybck (all purple)
1xfire shrimp
2x saddleback clownfish
I followed my LFS instructions on the order to put them into the tank nd he said all of them would be fine and get along but i looked at my tank today and sadly the two saddlebacks had been murdered, I don't know by what but it was definitely a fish, any idea who the culprit is or if they will strike again or maybe the saddles were aggressive and were overpowered.

 

[DCR]

The Dottyback. The Purple Pseudochromis are very aggressive. I have had better success with P. Fridmani (Orchid), but they can be aggressive as well. That is a small tank for either.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Saddlebacks are my favorite Clowns, but they can get BIG (relatively speaking) and can swim as fast as sharks. Lol. Even one would not be happy in a 20-gallon for long. Maybe try a Pink Skunk Clown next time around.

 

[WVNed]

A coral beauty angel and a dottyback? With 3 other fish in a 20 gallon tank.

You need a new LFS.

 

[Squidward]

Most likely dottyback.

 

[Andyk28]

A coral beauty angel and a dottyback? With 3 other fish in a 20 gallon tank.

You need a new LFS.

they are all captive bred and wont be in the 20 g for long

 

[Andyk28]

A coral beauty angel and a dottyback? With 3 other fish in a 20 gallon tank.

You need a new LFS.

and it has been several months and this is the first incident

 

[MaxTremors]

How do you know that they were killed by another fish? Unless you saw it happen, I wouldn’t put all my eggs in that basket, so to speak. With two basslets (the gramma and the dottyback), plus two clowns and a pygmy angel, it’s not surprising you’d have aggression issues, but if you hadn’t seen any aggression, it’s unlikely they’d go from zero to two dead fish over night. Im not saying to rule it out, but I would keep a close eye on the other fish and look for any signs of disease as well as test your water to make sure that’s not the issue.

Also, and I don’t mean this in a condescending way, because it sounds like your LFS gave you really bad advice, but five fish in a 20g is too many.

 

[Jekyl]

How is the rock work? Is there enough caves and hiding places so every fish can have its own home? If there isn't, then they are fighting for territory after the lights go out. Too many fish in a small tank ends up being an aggression/safety issue more often than bio load

 

[Andyk28]

How do you know that they were killed by another fish? Unless you saw it happen, I wouldn’t put all my eggs in that basket, so to speak. With two basslets (the gramma and the dottyback), plus two clowns and a pygmy angel, it’s not surprising you’d have aggression issues, but if you hadn’t seen any aggression, it’s unlikely they’d go from zero to two dead fish over night. Im not saying to rule it out, but I would keep a close eye on the other fish and look for any signs of disease as well as test your water to make sure that’s not the issue.

Also, and I don’t mean this in a condescending way, because it sounds like your LFS gave you really bad advice, but five fish in a 20g is too many.

thank you for the advice I agree it is overstocked i plan to do something about it shortly but i did quarantine them all for several weeks in copper at hypo salinity. I will for sure test my water

 

[Andyk28]

How is the rock work? Is there enough caves and hiding places so every fish can have its own home? If there isn't, then they are fighting for territory after the lights go out. Too many fish in a small tank ends up being an aggression/safety issue more often than bio load

there is a good amount of live rock as well as many hiding spaces and caves

 

[WVNed]

and it has been several months and this is the first incident

I suggest you empower yourself and do some reading here.
https://www.liveaquaria.com/category/15/marine-fish
Click on a fish and a page appears that gives you some information of it.

Nothing you could have done would have allowed that group of fish to live in a 20 gallon tank for an extended period.

I am sorry if that sounds harsh. It is the reality of keeping fish. They have some rules and you have to follow them to have a chance of succeeding in keeping them.

Captive bred makes no difference. Their behavior is instinctive.

I once had a 20 long and tried to keep fish in it.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

5 fish in a 20 gallon is a lot, and when I google "minimum tank size for coral beauty" the answer is 70 gallons. Dottyback has reputation of being an aggressive fish.

I agree, that is Fish Anarchy!

 

[Rickybobby]

very stocked tank, however ive aggressiveness out of my orchid dotty in my 70g, when i added my flame angel and baby yellow tang, the dotty back accepted defeat as to the king of the tank and now is a model citizen