Splendid dottyback

[velvetelvis]

I have a 50G cube that's cycling right now. It's going to be all aquacultured livestock. I've been obsessing just a little bit over my options. I wanted a coral beauty angel at first, but with as little swimming room as there is, I think it wouldn't be fair to the fish.

So I was thinking that this could be an ideal species tank for a dottyback, though--lots of rock with hiding places, and no other fish to beat up. I know orchids are a favorite, but I also like the looks of splendid dottybacks.

People who have kept splendid dottybacks, do you think these fish are interesting enough for their own species tank? Do they have what you could call "personality"? Don't worry--the splendid would be the only fish, and I'm not going to keep any shrimp!

 

[velvetelvis]

Other option I'm thinking of is a small harem of orchids.

 

[Mikedawg]

I think both would be good choices. If you go with an orchid harem, I would introduce them at the same time. As you know, the splendids are territorial and mine would not back down from significantly bigger fish; still beautiful and as the only fish I imagine it would regularly swim in open water.

 

[nereefpat]

You could do a pair of dottys. I'm not sure about a harem. I would guess that a pair would terrorize the others.

I think a single dotty would be a boring tank. They hover more than they swim, and they don't really cruise around looking for food.

There are lots of captive bred fishes to add to the mix though. Look at live aquaria under the captive-bred. Cardinals, damsels, gobies, blennies, assessors, and of course clowns.

 

[mattzang]

idk about the temperament of a splendid, but i have an orchid in a 50 cube and it's fine with other fish. he was kind of rude to a red line wrasse i added after him (only for a day), but other than that he mostly just hangs out in his cave.

I'd have to agree with the above, i like my orchid, but it being the only fish in the tank would be really boring IMO. he/she does come out and wander a bit, but it's nothing compared to most of my other fish.

 

[velvetelvis]

You could do a pair of dottys. I'm not sure about a harem. I would guess that a pair would terrorize the others.

I think a single dotty would be a boring tank. They hover more than they swim, and they don't really cruise around looking for food.

There are lots of captive bred fishes to add to the mix though. Look at live aquaria under the captive-bred. Cardinals, damsels, gobies, blennies, assessors, and of course clowns.

Thanks for the suggestion! I like the looks of the lemon damsels that ORA is raising. I messaged their sales manager on Facebook about them. I think I'm going to try a group of 3-5 and see how they do.

 

[mort]

Splendid dotty's have a range of aggression. I've seen ones that seem fine with anything but also some real monsters. I love dotties but agree that just a splendid wouldn't be the most stimulating tank as you won't see more than a fleeting glance half the time.

A harem of orchids would work well. They naturally form harems with a male defending a small group of females. Dotties also change sex (males can even revert back to a female once it has changed but it takes a little longer than female to male). I'd suggest 4 so you could have a male and three females. The females should be out quite a lot but the male won't be seen that often as they defend the eggs.

I would however suggest you went for a mix of fish. There are so many great captive bred species being created now with lots of small species like cleaner gobies which add a lot of interest to the larger damsels like you mention above.