Got rid of Yellow tail Damsel

[williebop]

I know this members of this board frown upon flushing fish, but I must confess I flushed my yellow tail damsel.

For months I've suspected him in the deaths of a percula clown, yellow tang, and two other yellow tail damsels. Over the last week I caught him at night ( with my infared) chewing the fins off of my coral beauty. The CB has cloudy eyes and crusty white patches on this gils and skin, I guess from all the stress. He is in isolation and I don't think he is going to make it. Any way I hope it hurt the yellow tail on the way to the grinder. A 4 dollars fish has cost me 100 in live stock.


I know I should have never bought him, but my LFS nimrod assured me if I bought 3 or more they would not be agressive(ha! Ha!). I guess its true that in this hobby u learn more from experience than from any book.

Ok flame at will. I probably diserve it for being ignorant.

Bill

[Laura D]

Well, what's done is done, most of us have made mistakes in choosing fish, but you could have taken him back to the fish store so they could sell him to someone with a more appropiate set up for an aggressive damsel.

It's not his fault he was cheap and the incompatable fish he was put with were more costly.

[Wolverine]

I agree with Laura, it would have been better to take the fish back to the store, or find someone else who might want it; you could probably even convince some parent and kid that it's the tang from the Nemo movie.

Even if it's only a few dollars, it's still a living animal that you took into your care.

Dave

[JennyL]

I agree with the others. Another thing that disturbed me is the fact that you hoped that it suffered. How sad.:(

[williebop]

Aren't we a little too sensitive? Lets not forget it was a fish. I guess y'all would have a thing to say about my interest in hunting and fishing. I think it was while fishing that I first became interested in keeping a reef tank.

If you think about it, the way the people who posted to this thread, then we all should tear down our reefs and watch Jacque Cousteau instead. I sure all of the fish in your tanks couldn't wait to be scooped from the ocean and dumped into a 2'x6' prision of pollution.

To answer one of the posts, no the LFS nimrod would not take any fish. He's basically a guy who would sell a Tang to a guy with a 5 gallon tank.

Aslo, I'm not sick because I wanted the little blue and yellow a----hole dead! I watched him kill a couple of mild mannered fish didn't seem to bother him any.

I sure I'll get more neg. posts, because of this.

[skippy2]

I really, really couldn't stand my damnsel!!! Took 4 months to get him out of my tank. In the meantime I couldn't keep any other fish in there because of him. I tried with a pair of clowns and he killed him. Finally took all the rock work out and caught him by hand. Do you think I killed him? No and no!!! I took him back to the lfs. Some people have luck with damnsels but they are few and far between but that does not mean we kill the little bastards. They are, after all, only protecting their territory.

[williebop]

The LFS I go to would not take any fish or coral frags for credit or fo any reason. I try to avoid spending money there because the guy who takes care of the fish is a real dick.

As for the Damsel, I blame the LFS and the books I read for his fate. Not one mentioned that 1 out of 4 is a murdering psychotic!!

I realize that it is only its nature to defend its territory, but I think the word needs to be spread that they should only be kept with other highly aggressive fish. If I knew this I never would have purchased him! I'm sorry but I actually feel relieved that he is gone!

In fact when I fisrt setup my tank I caught a mantis and put him in his own 5 gllon tank until he passed on, and he did less damage to my livestock than the damsel!!

[williebop]

Oh, I forgot to mention I caught him in 5 minutes with the fish trap sold @ drs foster and smith.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=9048

highly recomended! I put it in the tank by "his rock" and he went inside and started attacking the sides(lol!!!). BAM!!!!! GOT HIM!!! down the toilet he went! Sorry it doesn't bother me in the least.

[JennyL]

Williebop,
How much experience do you have in this hobby?

[ChasingPuck]

If you didn't expect negative response, why on earth would you make this your first post here? There's a name for people who start topics with the intention of causing problems...Trippity-trip trip!

[njreefer]

Why do you people condem the original poster? I think he made some valid points. Lets not start the "i've been in this hobby 10 years yada yada yada" argument. Who among us hasn't killed any fish or contributed to the decimation of coral reefs by not purchasing aquacultured rocks. So he flushed a fish, big deal! Instead of all the holier than thou posts why don't we help him and others by sharing our knowledge and experience.

I've lurked here for a while and I can say that the vast majority of responses are arrogant and devoid of any useful information.

[BrianD]

Trolls, move on to another board.

Thread closed.