High Tide Aquatics

A valuable (and costly) lesson learned -- not all "reef fish" are in fact reef safe

ecophotog

ecophotog

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Well, I guess it serves me right for not asking the opinion of the experienced reefers here first.... but yesterday I added a Bluefin Damsel (Neoglyphidodon melas) to my 12g nano, under the long-held but apparently false impression that all damselfish are reef safe. I'dB always thought they were all utilitarian omnivores of small crustaceans and algae. I've watched numerous different species farming their algae patches on the reefs when diving. So yesterday, after acclimating the little 3/4 inch fellow to the nano and setting him free, he seemed stable and content... then I made the mistake of leaving the new fish unattended for a few hours while I ran errands. Turns out it felt so comfortable that it immediately set to work decimating a sizable colony of Blue Snowflake polyp (Sarcothelia edmondsoni, I think?). It also took several nips out of some larger Clavularia and nipped on a few other buttons. The little gorgonian figured out pretty quickly that it needed to retract, but now today seems mostly unharmed. Needless to say, the rockwork had to be dismantled last night to catch the little bugger... and it is now swimming in the large tank where the lionfish and the striated angler dwell. My guess is that it'll end up inside one of them eventually. Bogus. After the fact (of course) I did find one online fish store that said this damsel might be nippy with soft corals. But the majority of them still say it is reef safe -- which in my disappointing experience (N=1) is clearly not true. Darn. They are cute, though, when little.

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Wow took out your snowflake polyps? I need to get me one of those fish for my soft tank!! I swear those things are a weed amongst weeds! (In a pretty way mind you :D)

Here's a picture in the wild... guess what all that blue is
sarcothelia-edmondsoni-4.jpg
 
Well then, with any luck maybe they'll come back. I really liked them. Of the maybe 30-40 polyps that were on that little rock, there appears to be 4 or 5 left. I'd love to have the problem of seeing them as a pest! Better than the stupid Aiptasia.
 
tuberider said:
You dodged a bullet, those suckers turn a dusky gray and get large and mean. Not the best pet fish on the planet.
Click to expand...

+1
Additionally, I had one that kept 'finning' the sandbed, making clouds of sand in the tank. With so many other small fish that are pretty, why bother with a damsel?
 
Yeah, all good points...

I'll post pics of the Striatus in another thread. I've still got to do an intro message, so I guess I'll do that next.

thanks
Joe
 
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