I'm new to the hobby and feel like have been pretty successful so far in achieving a stable 8 month old 65G hex aquarium. I'm trying to establish a peaceful environment that has some color! Right now I have one sebae clown, a pink spotted watchman goby, a halloween hermit, a couple of turbo snails and one of the original blue damsals. I know I'm limited on size because of the tank size and shape so I would love some suggestions as to possible additions that might add some color and peaceful personality to the tank. $$$ would be a factor. Any suggestions?
8 month old tank...
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TUSI
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Welcome the friendliest forum on earth. The blue damsel might give you problems cause they get very aggressive especially with new fish. I would replace it with a small hippo tang. Love the yellow tangs if you can find small ones they will add contrast
Todd A.
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Although I've had a Blue Damsel in my office aquarium (150g) for about 18 months, and he's extremely docile, I've heard and read plenty of Damsel aggression stories and have to agree with TUSI about maybe swapping it out for something else. As far as size, cost and bright color goes, I'm quite fond of Firefish (& Purple Firefish). Cheap ($8 - $20 here in NorCal, except for the Helfrichi), peaceful and easy. And although they aren't as "colorful" as some, Toby's (I have a Valentini at work & a Blue Spot at home) are great for the mid-to-smaller tanks and make up for their lack of bright color with personality.
Mark Shelly
Active Member
My tank is also 8 months old and 65 gallons. I was looking for peaceful. The Royal Gramma and the Orchid Dottyback are the 2 most peaceful of their kind (per liveaquaria), but basslets and dottybacks are not known for their peaceful temperaments. I have both, but would suggest adding similar shaped and colored fish together at the same time. I hear fire fish and Assessors are also pretty calm, but need to be added early. I have 2 captive bread clownfish. They are peaceful now, but I don't know if they pair up and lay eggs. Plus you might not want to mix up clownfish species. I have a yellow tang which, along with the Royal Gramma, was a "must have" fish, and while it is peaceful now, it really is too big and skittish for this tank as I think all tangs would be. Plus they seem to want swim mates. I have an excessive amount of rock in my tank, but I did this to provide hiding space as many of the smaller species like hiding places. Plus it helps with filtration and provides places to put soft or LPS corals. You can get more small fish in a tank. For example, my yellow tang eats more than the rest of my tank combined. If he wasn't there, I could probably keep 3 more small fish.
The best advice I can give is research fish first before you get them. Pay attention to final size and recommended tank size. I made a list of the fish I would like to have starting with the must have fish, narrowed it down by aggression, final length, and then reef compatibility. Ideally, this should dictate your minimum tank size.
For personality, my clownfish (ocelaris) are always in the open, even at night, but I don't have an anemone. My yellow wrasse always searches the tank, but at night dives into the sand to sleep. A smaller wrasse would have been a better choice if it wasn't for the tang. The Royal Gramma likes to hover a few inches from its best hiding spot with its body parallel to the rock. At night it curls into openings in the coral rock to sleep. It opens its mouth wide and faces other fish if they swim by too close. They yellow tang wants a swim mate so it follows the yellow wrasse around the tank. The wrasse ignores it. But the tang's sudden movements often scare tank mates. And when they scatter, it hides in the rock as well not realizing it caused the hiding. The orchid dottyback keeps to itself and likes to swim through the rocks. It is the only one that eats from the surface.
The best advice I can give is research fish first before you get them. Pay attention to final size and recommended tank size. I made a list of the fish I would like to have starting with the must have fish, narrowed it down by aggression, final length, and then reef compatibility. Ideally, this should dictate your minimum tank size.
For personality, my clownfish (ocelaris) are always in the open, even at night, but I don't have an anemone. My yellow wrasse always searches the tank, but at night dives into the sand to sleep. A smaller wrasse would have been a better choice if it wasn't for the tang. The Royal Gramma likes to hover a few inches from its best hiding spot with its body parallel to the rock. At night it curls into openings in the coral rock to sleep. It opens its mouth wide and faces other fish if they swim by too close. They yellow tang wants a swim mate so it follows the yellow wrasse around the tank. The wrasse ignores it. But the tang's sudden movements often scare tank mates. And when they scatter, it hides in the rock as well not realizing it caused the hiding. The orchid dottyback keeps to itself and likes to swim through the rocks. It is the only one that eats from the surface.
Sounds like I'm going to have to find another home for the damsel before I get other additions. He's already shown aggression to the clown. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll have to do some homework before shopping, but it sounds like I'm going to need to build some more places for them retreat to. Any thoughts as to whether to choose live rock or artificial structures with the awkward shape of my tank?
