Sk8r
08/13/2008, 02:06 PM
...several posts lately have reminded me how much i enjoyed mine.
I had a 100g, lotta rock.
I started with 7 chromis, 1 blue velvet (black fish with white band and a startling electric blue v on face), one blue devil (much milder than the blue velvet), a 3 stripe, a domino, two clarkii (I later got rid of them because THEY kept attacking my hand: they went to a breeder)...and had absolutely no trouble keeping mandys, scooters, etc, a dottyback, and a wrasse and a coral beauty. My chromis DID school---lol! In that neighborhood you wanted mace!
But I had corals (mostly softies, in the lighting of those days)---and the tank was pretty near spectacular because of all the fish movement. Nobody got seriously bit. Nobody got killed. Nobody got stressed into disease breakouts. It was a healthy, active tank, and it was, yes, almost all damsels...with their toughness, speed, and tendency to be hearty eaters and fast movers.
I think a reefer's first setup for a large tank could do worse. The key is space: these are BIG fish: I've seen a domino that had gotten dinnerplate size, and my blue velvet, when I finally sold him and the tank, was a good 5" long. And built like a prize beef bull. You want movement? You want fish that are selfprotective and eager to eat? Get one each of every damsel going. I've never had one rip up coral or even leap from the tank. They keep the other fish looking over their shoulders, never knowing when one is going to blaze past, and that seems to limit fights among the other fishes.
So here's to the much-maligned damsel, who has major survivability and who had really rather be in a mega-tank. Not for a nano, for darned sure; but 100g up, an interesting tankful and very colorful.
I had a 100g, lotta rock.
I started with 7 chromis, 1 blue velvet (black fish with white band and a startling electric blue v on face), one blue devil (much milder than the blue velvet), a 3 stripe, a domino, two clarkii (I later got rid of them because THEY kept attacking my hand: they went to a breeder)...and had absolutely no trouble keeping mandys, scooters, etc, a dottyback, and a wrasse and a coral beauty. My chromis DID school---lol! In that neighborhood you wanted mace!
But I had corals (mostly softies, in the lighting of those days)---and the tank was pretty near spectacular because of all the fish movement. Nobody got seriously bit. Nobody got killed. Nobody got stressed into disease breakouts. It was a healthy, active tank, and it was, yes, almost all damsels...with their toughness, speed, and tendency to be hearty eaters and fast movers.
I think a reefer's first setup for a large tank could do worse. The key is space: these are BIG fish: I've seen a domino that had gotten dinnerplate size, and my blue velvet, when I finally sold him and the tank, was a good 5" long. And built like a prize beef bull. You want movement? You want fish that are selfprotective and eager to eat? Get one each of every damsel going. I've never had one rip up coral or even leap from the tank. They keep the other fish looking over their shoulders, never knowing when one is going to blaze past, and that seems to limit fights among the other fishes.
So here's to the much-maligned damsel, who has major survivability and who had really rather be in a mega-tank. Not for a nano, for darned sure; but 100g up, an interesting tankful and very colorful.