Good, non-damsel, cheap cycle fish...suggestions?

triggerfool

Member
I'm cycling what will become a FOWLR 40 gallon tank...but I dont want to deal with the nightmare that damsels become. Are there any other fish you guys can recommend that are hardy, cheaper, aesthetically pleasing and peaceful. Tall order, i know...
 

triggerfool

Member
Good question....I had a total wipe out...for what reason I dont know, and Im also kind of testing the water for poisons, seeing as I have perfect water parameters.
I have a cleanup crew of snails and crabs living fine, but I want to see a fish survive before i restock completely...
Ive kept fish for a while, and it was the damndest thing, I put in a powerhead to get more circulation in the bottom of my tank, and It wiped out my fish...strange.
 

triggerfool

Member
As far as chromis, I thought of them, I love their disposition, but they only look good in shoals, and i think that would take up too much of my bioload...
good suggestion though, a hardy, pretty fish that doesnt act like other damsels...
 

triggerfool

Member
no i didnt. How would I check something like that...wouldn't I feel it if I stuck my hand in the tank...walk away lookin like Yahoo Serious?
Sorry...i had to get a Yahoo Serious reference on the boards...
 

jrb384

Member
yea you would definately feel it. what kind of skimmer / filtration are you running? how many fish died in the die off? sometimes, for no good reason, some fish just give up and die.
but most of the time you can narrow it down to a few
 

robb

Member
I cycled my tank with Mollies and guppies. My aunt has thousands of guppies so we acclimated them over and they did fine.
 

clarkiiboi

Active Member
how big is your tank? If big enough to add at least 3, or more than 4 chromis? (that is good for a school). I only have 1, before I knew anything, and its doing great. It goes to new additions and checks them out, but no aggressiveness.
 

reefersx2

Member
Some times you can't feel the current I would use a volt meter to check it. if you have some put a grounding probe on ( I know highly contriversial(sp) but i have faith in them) I had some stray elect in my tank and the probe did the trick.
Joey
 

triggerfool

Member
Okay...thanks for all the suggestions...but I went with a Tomato Clown. He's doing fine, so I guess there's no voltage problem, the wipe out remains a mystery. Thanks again for the input.
 

robb

Member
I acclimated them in about 2 days from freshwater to 1.025. Every one of them made it just fine.
 

aquarius 1

Member
If I cycle my tank with a pair of tomato clowns, how will they react when I put in my pair of ocellaris perculas which are currently in a hospital tank???
 
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