Gsps & Damsel/clown Fish?

[babyduke]

I now have 2 GSPs in my 55G tank and wanted to add a couple more tanksmates. I remember Neale mentioning that damsels can be housed together.

1) What salinity level in recommended?

2) Would any type of damsels work as long as they are small? I like Chromis xanthurus which are readily available here.

3) Can clown fish be housed together with GSPs?

 

[nmonks]

When keeping GSPs in a marine tank, you need to be thinking along the lines of similar sized robust, feisty damsels that can "punch back". I'd be thinking of similar sized sergeant majors (Abudefduf saxatilis), neon damsels (Abudefduf oxyodon), and and domino damsels (Dascyllus trimaculatus). These fish are large (10 cm +) and territorial, and will defend their personal space until the pufferfish learns to keep away. They work fine with marine puffers and triggers, so should work fine with GSPs.

Of course, as ever, mixing species with pufferfish is a gamble, so have a back-up plan if things don't work.

Chromis will certainly be hammered, and the same is likely true for the anemonefish, too.

Cheers, Neale

 

[babyduke]

When keeping GSPs in a marine tank, you need to be thinking along the lines of similar sized robust, feisty damsels that can "punch back". I'd be thinking of similar sized sergeant majors (Abudefduf saxatilis), neon damsels (Abudefduf oxyodon), and and domino damsels (Dascyllus trimaculatus). These fish are large (10 cm +) and territorial, and will defend their personal space until the pufferfish learns to keep away. They work fine with marine puffers and triggers, so should work fine with GSPs.

Of course, as ever, mixing species with pufferfish is a gamble, so have a back-up plan if things don't work.

Chromis will certainly be hammered, and the same is likely true for the anemonefish, too.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks for the info. What would be the safe salinity level for both species?

 

[nmonks]

All hardy marine damsels are fine at SG 1.018. Abudefduf saxatilis will tolerate even lower salinities, perhaps SG 1.015; it isn't really a brackish water fish, but it is a coastal species that inhabits tidepools and the like. There are also true brackish water damsels but they're rarely traded and not especially attractive.

An alternative might be black-chin tilapia (Sarotherodon melanthotheron). These are rather attractive fish (I think, anyway) and interesting because they are paternal mouthbrooding cichlids. They are brackish water fish in the wild and are happy in anything from fresh to salt, properly adapted of course.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Fella]

Do you think a green chromide would work in that setup? Some places state they're maybe more suited to marine tanks than brackish, others say low brackish?

 

[nmonks]

Fella --

Not sure. They're certainly non-marine in distribution, and everything I've read suggests they move between fresh and brackish water rather than between salt and brackish water. I'm also not convinced they have the 'firepower' to handle a nippy pufferfish. A 30-40 cm black chin tilapia can pay back a pufferfish and then some, and many damsels punch way above their weight, but green chromides always strike me as being rather gentle. So I'd maybe try it, if the tank was big, but I'd have a Plan B just in case. On the plus side, a school of chromids is probably less of a target for one puffer than just the one chromide.

Cheers, Neale

Do you think a green chromide would work in that setup? Some places state they're maybe more suited to marine tanks than brackish, others say low brackish?

 

[babyduke]

Neale,

Aren't the damsels way too quick to be bothered by GSP's?

What is the proper way to raise the salinity to 1.018 from 1.01? Over how many days should I try to increase to that level?

 

[nmonks]

Aren't the damsels way too quick to be bothered by GSP's?

Possibly, but I wouldn't bank on that fact. Pufferfish are quite "stealthy" sometimes. It might be worth trying, but my gut feeling is Chromis spp. are just a shade too delicate to be a safe bet. Abudefduf spp. especially are very robust and aggressive, and would be a closer match in terms of temperament to a GSP. This all assumes a certain amount of space of course, so they can agree on "personal space", and that the fish are all of similar size. Also, not all GSPs are bad tempered, and some are quite gentle in fact. So perhaps even depends on your particular fish.

What is the proper way to raise the salinity to 1.018 from 1.01? Over how many days should I try to increase to that level?

Try to go up a point on the scale each week, and check the ammonia/nitrite afterwards. My experience is that at SG 1.010 the brackish water bacteria adapt to marine conditions very quickly, but with pufferfish your scope for accidents is small because they are so intolerant of ammonia/nitrite.

Cheers, Neale

Fella -- Forgot to mention. London Aquarium has at least one adult GSP in their big pool of monos, scats, and green chromides, so the combination presumably can work. Not sure the salinity in that tank, but I assume it's about 50% seawater given they also have Anableps and archerfish in there.