reeferericb
Active Member
I bought a used 125 gallon setup with sump. It came with several fish I’ll list them below
Yellow Tang
Hippo Tang
Mated pair of clowns
Yellow Tail Damsel
Domino Damsel
Brittle Starfish
I was able to keep everyone alive in a 20 gallon tank for several weeks while I got the tank setup again. Once I was ready to add fish I added the clowns one at a time, starting in early November. This was likely my first mistake. The first clown survived without any issues and after two weeks I added the second clown to the tank. I also added the domino damsel at this time as well. This was around Thanksgiving. I think in the two weeks the second clown was in the 20 gallon tank it matured from female to female and the other female bullied it to death when I added it to the tank. This was the only loss so far from the original fish.
my first purchase was a Royal Gramma, a second juvenile clown fish and several snails and hermit crabs. Those fish have been doing great, so far so good.
The next addition was for a cleaner shrimp, Pistol shrimp and a small yellow watchman Goby. Unfortunately the watchman goby found a power head before finding the shrimp. Now my Gyre pumps have netting installed on them.
The next purchase I made in January was for a Blue Spot Watchman Goby, Flame Hawkfish and Kole Tang (though it was blue eyed so I believe it was actually a different tang). All of those fish lived for about a week and seemed to be doing fine. I first noticed the Hawkfish was missing then I noticed that the Tang was missing the next day (total of 7 days after purchase). I only found a small sliver of fish that had some bright red coloring on it leading me to believe it was the last of the Hawkfish. The watchman Goby hadn’t found the shrimp yet and was hiding in the same spot of the tank for several weeks.
I only have a hobby test kit and everything looked good there. I did take water to my LFS and had them check it for me. They were impressed with the water quality (thanks to Apex daily water changes) and their only concern was slightly elevated salt (35.6 ppt). All the other fish have been fine to date.
Two weeks after losing the last fish my Domino Damsel started getting lethargic. It would eat when I fed them, then go back to a corner of the tank. He did that for 3 days before dying.
I waited a week then added a One Spot Foxface and a Convict Tang last week. The Convict Tang died 4 days later, the Foxface seems to be doing great still. The Tang wouldn’t eat frozen food, but would nibble on the sheets I put in the tank. I would also see it pick at the rocks. I didn’t see any bullying or aggressive behavior that would give me any concern. I’m pretty sure the Goby has died as well, I haven’t seen it in over a week. I used to see it outside the hole the shrimp dug, but now I only see the shrimp occasionally.
My water parameters have remained stable. No ammonia or nitrite spikes, salt has stabilized, temperature is good.
I don’t know if I’m adding incompatible fish, if I’m being too aggressive in additions, or what I could be doing wrong. The rest of the fish seem very content, there’s no apparent stress or discoloration on them. They eat great when fed, I just can’t keep buying fish. It’s not fair to the fish to doom them to an early grave.
Yellow Tang
Hippo Tang
Mated pair of clowns
Yellow Tail Damsel
Domino Damsel
Brittle Starfish
I was able to keep everyone alive in a 20 gallon tank for several weeks while I got the tank setup again. Once I was ready to add fish I added the clowns one at a time, starting in early November. This was likely my first mistake. The first clown survived without any issues and after two weeks I added the second clown to the tank. I also added the domino damsel at this time as well. This was around Thanksgiving. I think in the two weeks the second clown was in the 20 gallon tank it matured from female to female and the other female bullied it to death when I added it to the tank. This was the only loss so far from the original fish.
my first purchase was a Royal Gramma, a second juvenile clown fish and several snails and hermit crabs. Those fish have been doing great, so far so good.
The next addition was for a cleaner shrimp, Pistol shrimp and a small yellow watchman Goby. Unfortunately the watchman goby found a power head before finding the shrimp. Now my Gyre pumps have netting installed on them.
The next purchase I made in January was for a Blue Spot Watchman Goby, Flame Hawkfish and Kole Tang (though it was blue eyed so I believe it was actually a different tang). All of those fish lived for about a week and seemed to be doing fine. I first noticed the Hawkfish was missing then I noticed that the Tang was missing the next day (total of 7 days after purchase). I only found a small sliver of fish that had some bright red coloring on it leading me to believe it was the last of the Hawkfish. The watchman Goby hadn’t found the shrimp yet and was hiding in the same spot of the tank for several weeks.
I only have a hobby test kit and everything looked good there. I did take water to my LFS and had them check it for me. They were impressed with the water quality (thanks to Apex daily water changes) and their only concern was slightly elevated salt (35.6 ppt). All the other fish have been fine to date.
Two weeks after losing the last fish my Domino Damsel started getting lethargic. It would eat when I fed them, then go back to a corner of the tank. He did that for 3 days before dying.
I waited a week then added a One Spot Foxface and a Convict Tang last week. The Convict Tang died 4 days later, the Foxface seems to be doing great still. The Tang wouldn’t eat frozen food, but would nibble on the sheets I put in the tank. I would also see it pick at the rocks. I didn’t see any bullying or aggressive behavior that would give me any concern. I’m pretty sure the Goby has died as well, I haven’t seen it in over a week. I used to see it outside the hole the shrimp dug, but now I only see the shrimp occasionally.
My water parameters have remained stable. No ammonia or nitrite spikes, salt has stabilized, temperature is good.
I don’t know if I’m adding incompatible fish, if I’m being too aggressive in additions, or what I could be doing wrong. The rest of the fish seem very content, there’s no apparent stress or discoloration on them. They eat great when fed, I just can’t keep buying fish. It’s not fair to the fish to doom them to an early grave.
