I'm new! And I have a question!

[saltybeard]

Hello all,

New to the saltwater world. I have started with a 30 gallon tank, which is currently cycling and has been up and running for 3 weeks. I recently had the water tested and with the advice of the aquarium store lady, purchased a few pieces of live rock and 3 damsel fish to induce bacteria build up and cycling.

Two of the fish are blue damsels, the other is a yellow tail blue. The first day all three ate and seemed to be acclimating just fine. I was away for 2 days, when I returned the yellow tail has been hiding in one crevice the entire time, and when fed he/she did not move an inch.

The only thing I have read that may be credible is that the yellow tail is the least aggressive of the damsels, so is it possible the two blues are intimidating the yellow tail?

Any other advice would be great.

Water parameters are fine by the way ;)
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0.1
Ph 8.3
Salinity 1.025
Temp 76

Thank you for reading and responding!

Ben

 

[fastrd400]

Hi and welcome to the site.

How much live rock do you currently have in your tank? I would also try and bring up your tank temp to run between 78-80. Has the tank already cycled? Cycling a tank with live fish is really frowned upon any more. There are other more humane ways of doing it without ammonia poisoning fish.

The fact that one of the fish is hiding all the time is most likely due to the others being more aggressive and dominate in the tank.

 

[saltybeard]

Thanks fastrd400,

I only have about 3 pounds of live rock, and 6 pounds of base rock. Did not realize that cycling with fish was bad! Would removing the fish and adding more live rock be beneficial? Already considered removing the two blues and leaving the yellow.

Thanks Again

 

[fastrd400]

Yeah. You are going to want to get up to at least 30 pounds of live rock. You can use a common table shrimp to help cycle your tank.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

I personally liked the frog better. Your all in on this one!

 

[saltybeard]

Appreciate the advice. As far as the live rock goes, it seems that acquiring it from different locations could be potentially harmful... Am I right on this? Or not?

Thanks again!

Ben

 

[ErinCahir]

Nope. Acquiring from different locations will get you a bigger variety of hitchhikers (both good and bad) which, in my book, is a good thing.