1st fatality....

[roka64]

I bought a royal gramma on Sat, I found him dead today. All water params were good when I added him. All 0s, Ph8.1 salinity 1.022. Drip acclimated him for 1.5 hrs. As soon as I put him in the tank, the Blue Devil and only one of my 3 striped went after him. He got into a crevice, where the other two couldn't get at him. The only thing I can figure, was I changed about 1/3 of my CC to sand, maybe that stirred up some nasty stuff that he couldn't handle. Anyway, I aquascaped a little while ago, so I can't really get any good tests until the tank clears. Do you think it was me switching the CC? He looked healthy in the LFS....

Thanks.

 

[Hara]

I think it was the damsels. They stressed it to death.

 

[Brenden]

Agree. Damsels are mean fish. Make sure to test your water though.

 

[roka64]

I agree about the damsels, they went straight for him and picked the heck out of him....he did find a place where they couldn't get to him, but I think it was laready too late, the stress was too much. I'll check the H2O tomorrow, everyone else is fine. It's strange that only one 3 stripe went after him...maybe that is the "dominant" one...

 

[tecwzrd]

Really the only damsel fish I ever recommend is the Blue/Green Chromis and personally I’ve had great success with my Yellow Tail Damsel but others have mentioned problems with this damsel as well. Both of these fish in my tank are friendly and have not gone after any other additions.

IME the Blue Devil & 3-Stripe Damselfish are the two worst as far as aggressiveness and I would return to the lfs if you plan on adding any more fish.

 

[roka64]

I agree, those are the ones she recommended as starters. I just wanted to make sure I was able to keep the fish alive, so she said they were relatively inexpensive...sigh...I have kind of grown attached to them, but would rather have other fish in my tank. The only problem is, they won't do trades or store credit, but that's OK. I am going to Philly this this week, for work, and will stop by thatpetplace on my way back. I probably will take the 3 three strips and Blue Devil back this weekend (I have had them for about three months). I have been able to keep my H2O stable (except for a low Ph 8.0, but I am working on water movement and trying to get it up that way.

PS. Why didn't they bother the clown?

 

[tecwzrd]

Was the clown introduced at the same time? How large is the clown? Hard to say why damsels will go after one fish/invert but not others. My yellow tail will occasionally scare off one of my peppermint shrimp but not any of my other shrimp or fish. It just really doesn’t like that one shrimp in its area and is about half the size

Fish like people have their own personalities and they probably don’t see the clown as a threat but the royal gramma is usually smaller, more active, and closer to resembling them in shape so they did feel threatened and bullied it.

That’s the risk we run having semi or aggressive fish. For some they have no trouble but for others they have that one really mean fish that terrorizes everything.

Even if you don’t get a credit for the fish I’d still return them for free if the lfs will take them. There are so many other beautiful fish to choose from that are much less aggressive.

 

[roka64]

The clown was introduced after the damsels (they were the 1st fish I added). I was strange, that only two went after the RG. He was about the same size as them, but he only (loosely) had the same shape as the Blue Devil. I plan on taking a few of them back so I can get other fish.
As for the clown, I think the way he swims throws the others off, so they really don't know what to do with him. He also swims near the top of the tank, so really hasn't imposes on any one else's territory.
I aquascaped last night and now i looks great. I moved the Blue Devil's spot on the other side of the tank from the 3 stripe. They had a common spot separated by a shell, that they liked to get on each side and try to intimidated each other....