damsels and inverts

[fishyteacher]

We are in the process of cleaning up our tank (not cycling). It has taken the back seat to our recent hectic lives. We have a 125 gallon tank with 4 damels and 2 clown fish. We recently did a good water change. We just ordered 40 lbs. of live sand and some invertebrates which include hermit crabs, turbosnails, porcelain crabs, brittle star, coral banded shrimp, and emeral crabs (the Keep it Clean package). My question is - Will the Damsels hurt any of these guys that will be coming soon? We want to stat small and get the tank in good shape before we start adding more. Our idea was to get these inverts to get the sand and rock clean. Can somone please Help???? Thanks!!!
I have added some more information down a couple posts.

 

[fishy all the time]

What kind of damsels do you have...and what kind of clowns do you have? Both of those fish should be fine with the stuff you ordered. How long has your tank been up and running? Have you tested your water....what is it like? Do you have any live rock? What kind of tank are you going to set up for? Sorry for all of the questions..but it will help us answer your questions and help you out. I am not sure that you are ready too add a clean up crew yet.

 

[fishyteacher]

Our tank has been up and running for a couple of years - Its just gotten a little messy latly. Lots of algae and stuff. We cleaned it pretty well - and did a water change with about half the water. Someone asked what kind of damsels - we have one yellow tailed - blue body, 2 with black/white stripes, and 1 domino. We ordered the cleaning crew in hopes to clean up the sand and the rocks. About half of the rock in there is live rock. None of the sand is live sand - so we thought that would be good to help and hopefully have some of the critters get into the rocks to help them out too. We do have some pollops and a couple mushrooms.
My husband just informed me that we are not cycling the tank - I was using the wrong lingo. This is more my husband's hobby that I am tryng to get into.

 

[col]

edited

 

[jeo]

col, in the last post she just pointed out that she was mistaken in saying that it was cycling.

 

[col]

ooppsss yer right there. I'll edit my own post now!!!

 

[fishy all the time]

I think you are doing the right thing by ordering a clean up crew, but you really need to check the levels in your tank first. You dont want everything to die when you put it in your tank if the water quaility is bad. If in fact your tank has been running for a long period of time...then the sand you have now is probably live since some of the rocks you had were live. How much sand do you have now? I am not sure you need to buy more sand...your best bet at this point is to buy more live rock...that is my opinion. As for the damsels....be careful. Depending upon what kind of tank you want to have...the particular damsels you have are very agressive. Your domino will get get very big and will pick on new fish that you might want to add. I bought a pair of sunburst anthias and have yet to see them swimming around. My black and white damsel has made sure of this. On the other hand I cant catch the thing now since I have over 100 lbs of live rock. Post you water chemistries and then maybe we can help better. Please include what kind of tank you want to have and how much sand you have.

 

[fishyteacher]

thanks - you were helpful. I am going to have my husband check the levels tonight when he gets home. You asked about how much sand. There is not a lot. Its only about 1/2 in - 1 in. deep. We have wanted more sand for a while. A lot of the things that we want to put in the tank require more depth in sand.
You asked what kind of tank do we want. We want to have more fish and then the crawly critter things like snails and crabs and stuff. We actually dont even want the damsels anymore. We have had them for a couple years. They are definitley hearty fish. They are just mean. I think it was one of the damsels that picked on our yellow tang too much and caused him to die. We have asked the fish store if he wants them back and he said no. We dont know what to do with them.
We do have some pollops anda couple mushrooms. We are not planning on buying any more coral stuff. We'll just keep that. We have had that for about 5 years. Its stayed alive through some tough times with the tank.

 

[fishy all the time]

I would really try to get the fish out of your tank now that you dont want. Try every fish store in your area...sombody is bound to take them back. Try telling them you dont want money for them or better yet tell them your tank bropke and that you need to find them a home quick The toilet comes to mind for me. I have been trying for weeks to catch my damsel but there is too much stuff in the tank to take everything out now to catch the thing. Those aggresive damsels are for aggresive tanks...in my opinion. I wish I would have never put them in mine.
How much live rock did you say you have? In as big of a tank as you have you could get away with adding more rock to give your fish more hiding spaces. You could stand to add more live sand...the stuff that you ordered should help. You may have to do several water changes and let your tank recycle....if the water quality is really bad. Just be patient and you should be ok.

 

[fishyteacher]

thanks for your great advise - I will call some of the other fish stores. I will try the line of - the tank broke.
The Damsels are attractive - good color - but I like the nicer guys.
As much as I dont like them, I could never intentionally kill them. I do wish we never bought them though - but they were pretty cheap. I don't even want money back for them.
Im excited to get the new sand and cleaner crew. My husband just finished re-filling the tank with new water. he also just re-arranged all the rock so that he really likes it - probably not going to be easy to catch those fish.

 

[fishy all the time]

Probably wont be easy to catch them. I even tried a hook and fishing line but only the tangs would go after it. I am not willin g to take anything out either. I guess I will have to be patient and catch him at the right moment. What kind of clown fish do you have?

 

[fishyteacher]

the clownfish I think are Percula. I actually did not know this until about 5 minutes ago. I looked at the pictures of the clownfish on this web site and they most resemble the Percula. I have 2 of them. They get along very well - they do everything together.

 

[jinky3dper]

Originally posted by RockinAR
Let me get this straight........
Your tank is new and in cycle? And you are adding
4 Damsels
2 Clowns
40 lbs. of live sand
hermit crabs (multiple)
turbosnails (multiple)
porcelain cabs (multiple)
1 brittle star
1 coral banded shrimp
emeral crabs (multiple)
A massive cleaning crew when there's nothing to clean and not to mention you already have 6 fish and your tank is not finished cycling?
The answer to this one is a no-brainer...
EXPECT NOTHING SHORT OF TOTAL DISASTER AND ALL YOUR CRITTERS TO BE DEAD SHORTLY (Except the damsels). Thank you, and have a nice day.
They currently have 6 fish in the tank.

 

[jake22]

If any of your shrimp molt your damsels might kill them.