Damsel troubles?

[jphendren]

Hello,

I have had bad luck with fish LOL. I put a pair of blue devil damsels into my new 55 gallon aquarium, as they are recommended for beginners. Everything was going fine for about 2-3 days, and now one is totally dominating the other. He/she won't even let the smaller one eat or near the live rock without nipping at it. The smaller fish now has no tail any longer, just a stump, and several scales are now missing. Will this fish survive? The only occupants of the 55 gallon are one peppermint shrimp, and the two damsels. I though this was plenty of space for two damsels? My goal is to have a couple of true percula clowns, but I don't think this mean damsel would allow that. He is slowly murdering the smaller damsel. What should I do? If I remove the mean damsel, will the damaged damsel heal up? Will it become aggressive once the mean one is removed?

Thanks,

Jared

 

[rush]

i hate when LFS recommend damsels for begginers

to begin with they should not even be in a 55 gallon tank

with this said, i would always recommend clown fish for begginers, they are a third of the price of damsels and are non aggressive. As for your damsels they "should" work out the problems.

If the one damsel wont let the other eat then you will have to put food in two places at once to keep it occupied. Is one damsel much bigger than the other?

The reason they are fighting is because the space is not big enough for two damsels. one damsel would be pushing it in a 55gallon. you want at least an 80gal for one damsel.

I hope he makes it through!

 

[jphendren]

"Is one damsel much bigger than the other?"

Just slightly, not much. They are both approximately 1.5" or so. The slightly smaller one will not defend itself, I'm not sure why. Now it just sits up near the surface, by one of my Koralia's trying to stay away from the mean one.

Should I just remove both fish, and trade them in for Clowns? Catching them will not be easy, I tried last night, and the mean one is super fast.

Jared

 

[iDream]

they are a third of the price of damsels

where do you buy your clowns? i want to buy some, damsels are like $4 and clowns are at very cheap $18.

to the real subject, damsels are just flat out mean, and always will be and will just get worse as they get bigger.

i would try to remove and return them, try taking out your LR (it can be out for a while before anything bad could start happening) and dont give up, theyll get tired before you will, they should atleast lol.

clowns are much better, and the damsel will bully them as well, if they small one survives and recovers it will bully the clowns as well. if you want some sort of damsel i suggest a blue/green chromis, a small school, IMO they're much nicer looking and WAY nicer.

 

[jphendren]

Well, the larger meaner damsel has met his demise. I'm not proud, but in a moment of rage I flushed the little bugger. He was all tore up and bleeding by the time I was able to catch him. I had to completely empty the the tank to get him out. The smaller (bullied) damsel is still alive, but completely destroyed. The larger damsel completely removed his fins, now he just has a nub with bloody meat hanging out where his tail fins was this morning. He lays on his side on the bottom of the tank and gasps, but cannot swim very well at all. He is alive, but I fear will not make it through the night. Is he salvageable, or a goner? Will those fins regrow?

On the upside, I could not remember how I had the rocks arranged, so had to completely redo the tank, I like it much better now LOL.

Jared

 

[Bnortz]

Just remove the damsels and put in percula clowns it's that EASY

 

[jphendren]

The bullied damsel has now expired as well :-(

I guess I'll do my scheduled 15 gallon water change in the morning and start looking for a true percula clown.

Jared

 

[iDream]

true percs are harder to find around where i am, but i am on the opposite coast LOL.

sad to hear about the bullied, its just what happens with those darned damsels.

be sure to watch your levels since you have no fish, you do have a CUC right?

 

[jphendren]

"you do have a CUC right?"

Right now all I have is one peppermint shrimp. He's all I seem to be able to keep alive LOL. I have called all the local shops, nobody stocks true percs here either. They said most people don't want them. I had a set of true percs a few weeks back that I bought from liveaquaria.com, but they showed up frozen and died a few days later :-( They were beautiful. The several days or so that I had them, they never fought, and even slept next to each other under the heater. This hobby is tough. All my corals are doing great under my new LED's, but I can't seem to keep fish alive, they either get fungus, or kill each other.

Jared

 

[iDream]

you should've contacted LA and gotten a refund or a new pair, they're supposed to guarantee live arrival, hence the crazy shipping cost.

i suggest buying several hermits and snails to help keep the tank nice and clean, hence the CUC part.

but yeah i guess with percs they're 'more sensitive' and more pricey, but i love the colors and the large random black and white coloring, much better than the very generic oscellaris.

sleeping under the heater somewhat worries me, what type of heater do you have and what is your tank temp at? also how cold is it out there in vegas?

from your other threads i dont think you have a problem with flow of the water for the heater

 

[jphendren]

I've been keeping my tank at 78º F, and the morning that the true percs were dropped off the it was 24º. Here in Vegas the temp ranges from upper 20's low 30's at night, and 40-50's in the day. There was only one heat pack in the box, and it had given up the ghost long before the fish arrived, they appeared dead, floating on their sides. I don't know if I acclimated too fast, or if it was simply too much stress for them, but within hours they had a fungus growing on their mouths, kind of like a small fu manchu, a couple of days later they were dead.

Liveaquaria gave me a store credit, and offered to ship two more once they got in two more of the same, so far they have been out of stock. The two I had were from Indonesia, and were the large size. Would I be better off with small, medium, or large. I figured larger fish would be hardier, not really sure about that though.

Bluezooaquatics has all sizes from the Solomon Islands, which I understand are the nicest specimens, but then I would have to pay shipping again.

Jared

 

[iDream]

not sure on species but if it were me id go with sm/md just to watch them grow and live longer.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...
Liveaquaria gave me a store credit, and offered to ship two more once they got in two more of the same, so far they have been out of stock....

I see LiveAquaria is still playing their games. My advice would be to convert that "store credit" to a full refund - they'll do it since they died within the 14 day window. If those were the only thing on your order, they'll refund shipping also. Problem with the whole "we'll ship when we get it in stock" is that you won't get any heads up that they're shipping. You'll just get an email notice that the package is on the way - no chance to reschedule when you want it delivered. Depending on your situation, you might have to scramble to be able to accept the shipment.

 

[iDream]

you have a better place to order fish from Kurt? being completely legit, because LA is good and all but they have somewhat high prices and shipping is way more than other online stores i've seen.

i want to get a percula baby(or atleast a really small one) sometime in the future and no where around where i am has any. plus i just like roaming online stores

 

[jphendren]

I ended up ordering two medium size true percs from liveaquaria, due to the fact that I would not have to pay shipping again. I'm not sure on that, do they refund shipping as well as the price of the fish if the fish die within 14 days? Anyways, hopefully these specimens do not get something right after opening the box LOL. I requested that they use more than one heat pack this time, as the last true percs I ordered arrived nearly frozen.

Jared

 

[iDream]

good, hope everything works out!

 

[classklown90]

if your looking for a tiny clownfish corey, try blue zoo aquatics, they have all sizesand uou can get them .75 of an inch

 

[iDream]

i know i looked through yesterday, im gonna ask my LFS before i go and pay online for one though

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

you have a better place to order fish from Kurt? ...

Not really. The few times I've ordered fish online, I haven't been very happy. Missing heat packs (like, none at all) and the lack of reliable info as to whether something is in stock or not has made me give up on LiveAquaria. I've just learned to be patient and wait for whatever I'm looking for to show up on my LFS's order sheet. I have several good ones around me that can order in pretty much whatever I want.

 

[iDream]

Not really. The few times I've ordered fish online, I haven't been very happy. Missing heat packs (like, none at all) and the lack of reliable info as to whether something is in stock or not has made me give up on LiveAquaria. I've just learned to be patient and wait for whatever I'm looking for to show up on my LFS's order sheet. I have several good ones around me that can order in pretty much whatever I want.

lucky..