help!

[justrelax]

here's the deal. this is the tank my wife's agency had "donated with all upkeep included". she called me today concerned that the idiots that set this up don't know what they're doing. hoping i could get an i.d. on what y'all see in there, and suggestions on anything i can do straight away to help this situation. i'm a semi-newb to fw, but know nothing as far as sw aquaria goes, so please type slowly...
appearantly there's a lot of aggression between fish. i'm sure it wasn't cycled (i'm assuming you do that in sw too) because they intoduced fish right away. that's as much as i know. i'll be going over there next week to get specs on equipment if i can.
tia!

 

[reefrunner69]

The fish are damsels, thaty's what they are using to cycle the tank. They are very teretorial and aggressive fish, hence all the fighting. If it were me I'd remove the damsels and cycle with a piece of raw shrimp.

What kind of filtration does it have on it?

 

[roka64]

You can test the water with a SW test kit (all tests should read 0). Yes it should be a cycled tank, usually takes 4-6 to complete. It looks like there is some algae on the substrate, so they may have brought established water/substrate/filter media with them. Seeing those damsels, I am starting to think they are trying to cycle with fish. If this is the case, I would pick another company, since they seem to be inhumane.
It looks like you have five fish in there? A yellow tailed damsel (Semi-aggressive), Blue Damselfish (Semi-aggressive), Three Spot Domino Damselfish (Aggressive), Three Stripe Damselfish (Aggressive) and a Royal Gramma Basslet (peaceful). WOW! That is a relatively mean tank, that Royal Gramma might not stand a chance. From my experience, my damsels killed my RG. My blue devil is pretty mean, and was the main culprit. He went right after my RG.
In SW, I think it is similar to FW and correct me if I am wrong. You should see a spike in ammonia, that will decrease and you will get a spike of nitrItes, this will decline and you should get a spike in nitrAtes, once that 0s out, the cycle will be complete. If you run to the LFS you could get this test kit and it will suffice:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4452&N=2004+113074
I'm not sure if the FW ones have the same cards for measuring.
I would check the temp also, should be in or near this range 72-78°F. Salinity and pH sg 1.020-1.025; pH 8.1-8.4.
It doesn't seem like the people that set up the tank are very caring. This might be your chance to come over to the SW side!

I'd remove the damsels and cycle with a piece of raw shrimp.

I agree 100%, if they are trying to cycle that tank. The RG probably won't make it, through the cycle ot the aggression in that tank.

 

[justrelax]

thanx guys. i was actually right on most of the id's. i was just comparing to photos on drs' fosters and smith. i'm going to see what i can't do to rectify this situation. i know of a couple of places in the city her agency is located who i'm sure are not responsible for this, and would be more than willing to have a go at fixing it. if not, i'll be back for lots more info i'm sure... thanx again

 

[roka64]

Ask away, I might do FW one day and need your help!