Welcome! I am new to this particular forum, but not to the hobby. Good luck!
(
WARNING:
Too much information to follow... but all in good spirits :-D )
Regarding your
Blue Green Chromi, the same thing happened to us at first. We have had the same two Blue Green Chromis for several months now, but initially we had two others as well (four total). Most Damsels are pretty aggressive. Fortunately, Blue Green Chromis aren't aggressive towards other species of fish.. However, they ARE very aggressive towards each other at first until they have their hierarchy and dominance structured amongst themselves. They are best kept in larger groups where the aggression can be more spread out.
Unfortunately, your two other chromis probably beat up on your late chromi :'( It's so sad, I know! I was devastated when the same thing happened to our other two, one by one. They are so beautiful and colorful and tiny! But, like I said, we have had the two comfortably for several months now with no problems and they have been the best of buddies, fluttering around the tank with our two Ocellaris Clownfish, and trying to play peek-a-boo with our Lawnmower Blenny! So, I guess that is the silver lining to look forward to
Since we only have a 55 gallon reef tank right now, we are maxed out at 5 total fish. However, later on, we might turn our 125 gallon freshwater tank into another reef tank or a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) and when that happens, we will probably get another 7-8 Blue Green Chromis, so they can get together in a big group and happily school all around the tank. It is just dazzling to observe! Until then, we won't be adding any more Chromis because any that we add in our current system would be too few and they may beat up on each other again :-( If I were you, I'd just stick to those two if they seem to be getting along fine. I hope all that information made sense? Just wanted to be helpful with information and also relate
Regarding the
Live Rock... You should really get most of it right now and then, later on, if you see a really awesome piece or a friend wants to swap rock or just give you some or something, you can then add it. The Live Rock hosts many micro organisms and ESPECIALLY with those little Blue Green Chromis, it is much nicer, further down the road, to not have to feed them as often (because they generally need many SMALL feedings and anything they don't eat, could add to your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and harm your fish!) because little pods grow in and occupy and multiply in your live rock. Also, as stated above, you want to get it in your tank as soon as possible so your system can stabilize. Otherwise, later on, you can have really harmful spikes in all kinds of readings that could really hurt your fish or plague your tank with a pest of an algae bloom that will frustrate you to no end and may make you feel like you want to give up on your tank! I am not being dramatic: this happens to many people on many forums! This may happen anyway with your initial large addition of live rock, but at least you just get it out of the way and you currently have hardy species of fish that should be able to handle it. If you get any other fish later on or any corals or anemones, they might be too sensitive and perish :-(
I know everyone has their own opinions on everything, especially in this hobby. There are almost as many different ways to do something as there are people. I think it is sometimes hard for a LFS employee to gauge how to give their advice to a customer because they don't know the customer well enough. My boyfriend has been in the hobby over 20 years and anytime we lose a fish (fresh or saltwater) he is completely unfazed. He studied Bio, Forestry and Engineering in college, so he is the type where he makes due with what is given and if "nature takes its course" then he feels like he possibly learned something and then moves on. One of his longest and closest friends, also professionally sets up and maintains aquariums at doctors' offices, corporations, schools, etc. and also works at the National Zoo. If he is really concerned about something (rarely), he just asks him. I, on the other hand, bust out the entire Master Testing Kit and scour over forums the minute a 2 year old guppy starts "acting weird". I also want the best of everything and want to do it once and do it right and not have to worry about things later on. Then again, I have my own business in advertising/branding and design, so I am a perfectionist and feel that research, research, research from many different sources is the key!
All of that being said (hehe, sorry!), the employee may have just given you the advice he thought you wanted to hear. That's the only thing I can figure as to why he gave you the advice he did. Whether you start with a lot of rock now, or you slowly add pieces, you will
eventually get to the tank you want. Some people get their feet wet and then pull out. Some people get their feet wet and dive right in. Since you are new to the hobby, if he sensed any uncertainty in your voice, he probably recommended you start out slowly. Maybe he didn't want you to break the bank and then feel like you "just didn't want to deal with it" anymore, moping around with Buyer's Remorse... specifically Buyer's Remorse towards
his (or her)
LFS. However, it is kind of like learning to ride a bike; you start out by being pushed because it is harder to balance/ride a bike when it is moving slowly as opposed to when it is already in motion... then you kinda learn backwards. This hobby is a lot like that. Make sense? I hope so. :-/ What I am saying is that you will most likely be much, much more successful and enjoy the hobby more if you start off with a
BIG PUSH.
The advise the salesman gave you I don't think was tailored to you. I say this for a number of reasons. For one, you are a dog person. Dogs are a very involved pet, both physically and emotionally.. but are also incredibly rewarding! You joined this forum, possibly others. You also have expressed great concern over your Blue Green Chromi, usually a $4-7 fish, depending on your location and size.. probably one of the cheaper fish in the hobby. You even went through the trouble of taking and posting pictures, discussing it, and inspecting the little fishy. It appears that you were excited and cared enough to individually pick out each of your pieces of rock (good pieces BTW! They will really pay off later on!) and found yourself a very handsome tank! Nothing looks "run of the mill". I would estimate that you genuinely want this to work out well and are in it to win it... You are ready for that big push to get pedaling! haha! I'm clearly not a copy-writer ;-)
SO, if I were you, I would stock up on Live Rock. We were really lucky that my boyfriend's best friend set these bad-boys up for a living, so we got a lot of our live rock for FREE! haha.. saved us quite a bundle! That was what we started with... it was dried live rock with live wet sand. Watching the rock come back to life and seeing what fun algae, sponges, feather dusters and other organisms popped up was so much fun! Now, that maybe makes up about
half of the Live Rock in our tank. Every now and then, I would pick up a cool piece of Live Rock or two at various LFS's if they were loaded with
Coraline (that gorgeous purple) algae and all kinds of other nooks and crannies! Now, we probably have 2-3 lbs per gallon.. I was fortunate to be able to spread it out over 5 months or so.. as far as expenses go. Definitely go shopping and check out lots of different LFSs to get the best price for you and maybe get some from several in the same day. BUT BEWARE... If you see anything called "bubble algae" or "hair algae", stay away! And don't get Live Rock from places like Petsmart or Petco. If you see purple algae (NOT purple painted on, like some places do with their "man-made Live Rock".. try to remember to ask about this... I know it's a lot to remember lol I kept question lists on my phone to ask) and other different growths on it paired with porus, interesting shapes, it is usually a really good piece! You can also keep an eye on craigslist and buy the Live Rock from people who have to get rid of all theirs because they are moving or something. Since Jacksonville, FL is a military town (I used to live in Pensacola.. so I know how it is haha) this shouldn't be too hard, and it will probably be your best deal. You probably want to see a picture of the tank before it was broken down to make sure that it was one thriving. If it is economically unrealistic to buy a bunch now, save up and wait until you can get a bunch while your Biological Filter gets set up.
WHELP. I have probably said enough! haha.. sorry! You just get so excited when you are FINALLY at that point when you feel comfortable enough giving advice yourself (as opposed to being on the other side and always asking all the questions) that you just want to spill it all out at once and joyfully share everything you have learned the hard way, I guess?
WHOA! Look at the time! Bless your heart! haha If you are still reading.... Thanks for reading all of this and I really, really, really hope it helps! I wish you the absolute
best of luck in the hobby! And if you need ANYTHING, don't hesitate to ask! Everyone loves to help each other out and if you stick with it, it is just an amazing hobby!
Sincerely,
A Fellow Melissa also new to the forum! :-D
we looked at him and it was definitely a bite. The poor thing had a chunk bitten off right there
