Nuances of reef keeping

[SeamusHarper]

Hey everyone,

I'm about six months into this journey and I find I am faced with many questions, as to be expected.

My tank is 60 gallons: 60" long and 11" wide so the dimensions are odd. I found a fish guy early on and he helped setup everything for me and he has done a tremendous job of aquascaping but beyond that, I'm starting to question what's the point of having him.

Over the last 6 months, the following fish have been added (please note they were NOT added all at once):

-3 blue damsels (still alive)
-2 royal grammas (both dead within a week)
-2 percula clowns (still alive)
-1 purple fire fish (dead within 24 hours)
-1 candy basslet (still alive)
-1 orange spot goby (dead after 2 months)
-1 fridmani (dead within 24 hours)
-2 tailspot blennys (dead after 2 months)
-1 tomini tang (dead within a week)
-1 emerald wrasse (still alive)
-1 sixline wrasse (dead after 2 weeks, never ate food)
-1 sailfin tang (pretty sure has ich)
-1 bluefin tang (pretty sure has ich)
-1 coral banded reef shrimp (still alive)
-1 large blue starfish
-Well over a dozen hermits and snails (many have died)

In my humble opinion, this is a lot of death, no?

I might lose more as I'm pretty sure the two tangs introduced into the tank three weeks ago have ich and I noticed them covered in white spots a week ago. The white spots have since disappeared and the fish have been looking fine except this morning, the sailfin would not eat and it's limited itself to one corner of the tank. I'm anticipating more deaths and I'm hoping it doesn't spread to the rest of the fish.

Conversely, I've had a near 100% coral survival rate which is great.

Along with all of this, what is the point of having a fish guy? I can do everything he does on a biweekly basis, and he's provided me zero help with respect to learning about the fish, their behavior, etc. He also doesn't measure anything in my tank (pH, alkalinity, salinity, temp, Ca, Mg, etc.) whereas I've ran these tests many times and taken appropriate measures to stabilize things. He was great setting everything up and adding the coral but now that my tank is all setup, I don't feel like I get any benefit from him whatsoever and it's costing me quite a bit of money.

Is it too soon to strike out on my own and manage my tank myself?

 

[Baldyreef]

Hey everyone,

I'm about six months into this journey and I find I am faced with many questions, as to be expected.

My tank is 60 gallons: 60" long and 11" wide so the dimensions are odd. I found a fish guy early on and he helped setup everything for me and he has done a tremendous job of aquascaping but beyond that, I'm starting to question what's the point of having him.

Over the last 6 months, the following fish have been added (please note they were NOT added all at once):

-3 blue damsels (still alive)
-2 royal grammas (both dead within a week)
-2 percula clowns (still alive)
-1 purple fire fish (dead within 24 hours)
-1 candy basslet (still alive)
-1 orange spot goby (dead after 2 months)
-1 fridmani (dead within 24 hours)
-2 tailspot blennys (dead after 2 months)
-1 tomini tang (dead within a week)
-1 emerald wrasse (still alive)
-1 sixline wrasse (dead after 2 weeks, never ate food)
-1 sailfin tang (pretty sure has ich)
-1 bluefin tang (pretty sure has ich)
-1 coral banded reef shrimp (still alive)
-1 large blue starfish
-Well over a dozen hermits and snails (many have died)

In my humble opinion, this is a lot of death, no?

I might lose more as I'm pretty sure the two tangs introduced into the tank three weeks ago have ich and I noticed them covered in white spots a week ago. The white spots have since disappeared and the fish have been looking fine except this morning, the sailfin would not eat and it's limited itself to one corner of the tank. I'm anticipating more deaths and I'm hoping it doesn't spread to the rest of the fish.

Conversely, I've had a near 100% coral survival rate which is great.

Along with all of this, what is the point of having a fish guy? I can do everything he does on a biweekly basis, and he's provided me zero help with respect to learning about the fish, their behavior, etc. He also doesn't measure anything in my tank (pH, alkalinity, salinity, temp, Ca, Mg, etc.) whereas I've ran these tests many times and taken appropriate measures to stabilize things. He was great setting everything up and adding the coral but now that my tank is all setup, I don't feel like I get any benefit from him whatsoever and it's costing me quite a bit of money.

Is it too soon to strike out on my own and manage my tank myself?

I agree with you, there's really no reason to keep him around especially if he isn't even measuring your parameters.
what was the timeline of fish that were added in order?

 

[JTP424]

That is a TON of bioload for that size tank.... and some of those fish should probably be in a much larger tank anyways.
Do your own research. I don't trust this guy if he put a bluefin in a 60 gallon and says it's ok....

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I have to agree that is a ton of a fish in a 60g and a lot of fish I wouldn't normally have in a tank that size

 

[Baldyreef]

That is a TON of bioload for that size tank.... and some of those fish should probably be in a much larger tank anyways.
Do your own research. I don't trust this guy if he put a bluefin in a 60 gallon and says it's ok....

yes, I absolutely agree not to mention three tangs in a 60??

 

[James CNM]

Without getting into System specs, maturity etc. Stocked far to quickly, all the wrong fish and not thought out in a specific order for those fish to survive regarding aggression, territory, and more importantly volume.
The damsels will be survivors. A blue linkia star in a system less than 6 months??

Find a new fish guy and also do your own research because ain't no one right, but you will hear from experience and pick up on tips

 

[Baldyreef]

I would highly reccomend getting rid of the tangs as they are way to big for that tank size and will die from stress and/or aggression
I also would remove the emerald wrasse as it can turn aggressive and can prey on your CUC (clean up crew)
the blue starfish should be removed as well as it will starve later on

 

[James CNM]

yes, I absolutely agree not to mention three tangs in a 60??

The issue i believe is when a new reefer visits a lfs and sees multiple tangs in a 60g glass box he/she assumes that all is cool.

 

[SeamusHarper]

I appreciate everyone's feedback, thank you! As I suspected, I need to get rid of the guy at this point.

To clarify, not all of these fish were put in all at once. There was never more than 10 fish in the tank at once and probably an average of 7 at any given point.

As best I can remember, here was the order:

1.) The clean up crew, blue damsels, the banded shrimp, clowns, grammas, and firefish were put in a during the month of May at the tank's inception. The grammas and the firefish did not survive.

2.) The basslet, orange spot goby, and two blennys were added in June.

3.) The fridmani and tomini tang were added in July. Both died fairly quickly. Goby and blennys died about a week later (early August I think).

4.) Blue starfish was added very late August.

4.) The emerald, sixline, sailfin, and blue tang were all added the first week of October. Sixline died, and I suspect the sailfin is ill.

 

[Baldyreef]

The issue i believe is when a new reefer visits a lfs and sees multiple tangs in a 60g glass box he/she assumes that all is cool.

in this case it may have been OP's fish guy who has done the stocking but yeah that's usually how combos like that happen

 

[SeamusHarper]

The issue i believe is when a new reefer visits a lfs and sees multiple tangs in a 60g glass box he/she assumes that all is cool.

I did not pick any of these fish aside from the clowns, grammas, and blennys. I was told not to get tangs because my tank isn't wide enough to support them, there were not my choice although they are certainly beautiful.

 

[Baldyreef]

I did not pick any of these fish aside from the clowns, grammas, and blennys. I was told not to get tangs because my tank isn't wide enough to support them, there were not my choice although they are certainly beautiful.

would you want a list of fish that would be compatible with your tank and its current inhabitants? (excluding the tangs, and starfish which should 100% be removed and the emerald wrasse which is advisable to remove but is up to you)

 

[SeamusHarper]

would you want a list of fish that would be compatible with your tank and its current inhabitants? (excluding the tangs, and starfish which should 100% be removed and the emerald wrasse which is advisable to remove but is up to you)

Yes, definitely, appreciate any and all recommendations.

Before the tank was setup, I went through all this with GPT, for whatever it's worth. It recommended two clowns, one gramma, two blennys, one firefish, and one goby. That was the reason behind the original fish.

I gave this to my fish guy and then he just kept adding more after despite telling him I didn't want anymore after the gramma deaths.

 

[James CNM]

Hey everyone,

I'm about six months into this journey and I find I am faced with many questions, as to be expected.

My tank is 60 gallons: 60" long and 11" wide so the dimensions are odd. I found a fish guy early on and he helped setup everything for me and he has done a tremendous job of aquascaping but beyond that, I'm starting to question what's the point of having him.

Over the last 6 months, the following fish have been added (please note they were NOT added all at once):

-3 blue damsels (still alive)
-2 royal grammas (both dead within a week)
-2 percula clowns (still alive)
-1 purple fire fish (dead within 24 hours)
-1 candy basslet (still alive)
-1 orange spot goby (dead after 2 months)
-1 fridmani (dead within 24 hours)
-2 tailspot blennys (dead after 2 months)
-1 tomini tang (dead within a week)
-1 emerald wrasse (still alive)
-1 sixline wrasse (dead after 2 weeks, never ate food)
-1 sailfin tang (pretty sure has ich)
-1 bluefin tang (pretty sure has ich)
-1 coral banded reef shrimp (still alive)
-1 large blue starfish
-Well over a dozen hermits and snails (many have died)

In my humble opinion, this is a lot of death, no?

I might lose more as I'm pretty sure the two tangs introduced into the tank three weeks ago have ich and I noticed them covered in white spots a week ago. The white spots have since disappeared and the fish have been looking fine except this morning, the sailfin would not eat and it's limited itself to one corner of the tank. I'm anticipating more deaths and I'm hoping it doesn't spread to the rest of the fish.

Conversely, I've had a near 100% coral survival rate which is great.

Along with all of this, what is the point of having a fish guy? I can do everything he does on a biweekly basis, and he's provided me zero help with respect to learning about the fish, their behavior, etc. He also doesn't measure anything in my tank (pH, alkalinity, salinity, temp, Ca, Mg, etc.) whereas I've ran these tests many times and taken appropriate measures to stabilize things. He was great setting everything up and adding the coral but now that my tank is all setup, I don't feel like I get any benefit from him whatsoever and it's costing me quite a bit of money.

Is it too soon to strike out on my own and manage my tank myself?

I did not pick any of these fish aside from the clowns, grammas, and blennys. I was told not to get tangs because my tank isn't wide enough to support them, there were not my choice although they are certainly beautiful.

No disrespect my friend, You have Thrown money to the wind and been Stung Big Time!, two royal gramma in 60g , the more i read into your post the more ludicrous it is.

 

[SeamusHarper]

No disrespect my friend, You have Thrown money to the wind and been Stung Big Time!, two royal gramma in 60g , the more i read into your post the more ludicrous it is.

I did not request two grammas at once. My original request for fish was fairly normal, to my understanding. It was the fish guy that kept adding after.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have nothing to add but its pretty obvious this guy this guy is taking you for a ride, its unfortunate that so many fish had to die. Make the decision now and cut him, don't keep going along with it and hope that it will get better.

 

[SeamusHarper]

I have nothing to add but its pretty obvious this guy this guy is taking you for a ride, its unfortunate that so many fish had to die. Make the decision now and cut him, don't keep going along with it and hope that it will get better.

I agree, I just sent him a text terminating his services. I'm just hoping the tangs haven't passed anything to the rest of the fish.

 

[Baldyreef]

so not counting the fish that should be removed you have:
3 blue damsels
2 percula clowns
1 candy basslet
correct?
what kind of damsels are they?
you can add one royal gramma if you have enough rockwork so it can establish territory that isn't held by your basslet
you can add a dwarf angelfish, coral beauties flames and flambacks IME are the least likely to eat coral especially when fed well I feed mine twice a day and its never gone for a single coral
a last fish I would add would be a tail spot blenny, super peaceful active and full of personality and importantly low individual bioload

 

[SeamusHarper]

so not counting the fish that should be removed you have:
3 blue damsels
2 percula clowns
1 candy basslet
correct?
what kind of damsels are they?
you can add one royal gramma if you have enough rockwork so it can establish territory that isn't held by your basslet
you can add a dwarf angelfish, coral beauties flames and flambacks IME are the least likely to eat coral especially when fed well I feed mine twice a day and its never gone for a single coral
a last fish I would add would be a tail spot blenny, super peaceful active and full of personality and importantly low individual bioload

As of right now, I have the following fish:

3 blue damsels (I believe they're blue devils)
2 percula clowns
1 candy basslet
1 emerald wrasse
1 sailfin tang
1 bluefin tang

Thank you for the recommendations! Based on the sailfin's behavior this morning, something tells me he won't survive but based on this thread, the tangs should go regardless.

 

[Baldyreef]

As of right now, I have the following fish:

3 blue damsels (I believe they're blue devils)
2 percula clowns
1 candy basslet
1 emerald wrasse
1 sailfin tang
1 bluefin tang

Thank you for the recommendations! Based on the sailfin's behavior this morning, something tells me he won't survive but based on this thread, the tangs should go regardless.

do your damsels look like one of these two? if so they may have to go due to their tendency for severe aggression and territory claiming but should be watched first especially if its not a harem they will also kill each other