New to saltwater - 29g BioCube

[shelby2185]

Hi there! I just wanted to introduce myself - I'm Melody, and I am new to saltwater aquariums. I have several years of experience with fw, but after much consideration I decided to take the plunge into the sw world! I have been following your posts for the past 2 weeks, and I already feel like I have learned so much. I recently setup a 29g BioCube and anxiously waiting to complete my first cycle. I know that there is a big debate on whether or not to add fish during your first cycle or not, but after discussing with 3 LFS and a few friends with sw setups I decided to purchase 3 damsels today. I bought a yellow tail, domino and a 3 stripe. They all seem to be doing well and eating great. My only concern so far is how aggressive the yellow tail damsel is...I was under the impression that the yellow tail was the least aggressive out of the 3. He seems to think he is the king of the cave, and has been picking on the other 2 fish. If he keeps it up I will be returning him.
Anyways, here is my setup:
Standard BioCube components
5 pounds of dry rock
25 pounds of live rock
20 pounds of live sand
3 damsels

I bought a UV sterilizer today, and I should be receiving it shortly. I plan on buying a little bit more live rock in the next couple weeks. I'm not sure if I want to buy a protein skimmer or not...probably will see how things go.

Eventually I would like to add some corals, but that will be a few months from now.

 

[shelby2185]

I will try and post a video of the fish and tank later!

 

[shelby2185]

Not the best photos, but they will do for now.

 

[Nosaj81]

first i wouldent use fish to cycle your tank, uncured live rock would be enough.
damsels are a fairly aggressive fish and really shouldn't be kept in groups

 

[shelby2185]

There is no uncured rock available where I live. Plus, I did not want to deal with unwanted hitchhikers. The fish seem to be getting along fine now. I guess they just needed to settle down and claim their own territories.

 

[joy13]

I like your rocks. How often do you test your water for ammonia? Do you also have enough water mixed so you can do a large water change if the ammonia gets at toxic levels? Cycling with fish can cut their life span way way down. A friend and I started tanks about the same time I did the slow way and he cycled with fish. I still have my fish and his died the only died before they were a year old. We test our water regular and after his was cycled it stayed about the same as mine. He won't cycle with fish again he says. His took a lot longer to cycle btw too mine was done in 4 weeks it took his abut 10 weeks if I remember right.

 

[shelby2185]

Thanks! I have about 20g of water ready incase I need to do a quick water change. I just added the fish yesterday so I'm testing the water every other day. I've heard that from some people about the life span of the fish. But I also have one friend who still has the same damsel that he cycled his tank with for 7 years and another friend who has their same damsels for 2 years. Maybe they just got lucky?

 

[joy13]

Don't expect the damsels to find just one territory in a tank that size they will probably battle over places their whole life. Once the domino gets a little older be prepared for mega aggression to show.

 

[shelby2185]

Oh yah, I plan on trading in the domino once he gets a little bigger. The ironic thing is that he is currently the most docile out of the 3 right now. Haha.

 

[Keeler]

I cycled my 29g biocube with Damsels. I ended up moving one to another tank after about 2 months so he'd have more room. The one is about 8 months old with no problems. Good luck!