damsels in a reef!

[salefen]

I've been looking at alot of reef pictures on the net and many times see damsels in the pictures. Especially the blue damsel with the yellow tail I see alot of those. I would like to get one "yellow tailed damsel" as they are hardy and beautiful fish. Any comments on these damsels that might help me decide if I should get one or not. Are they that bad?

 

[gargoyle]

Damsels are very territorial fish and can be agressive to other fish. What other fish do you have?

 

[salefen]

tomato clown, purple psuedo chromis, cardinal, sailfin tang, lawnmower blennie, canary wrasse in a 135 with 250 lbs rock

 

[Anonymous]

Damsels are very territorial, I often describe them as 500 pounds of aggression in a 1" fish. However, if this is to be one of the last fish to be added to the tank then he will be low man on the totem pole and won't likely become a problem since other fish will be more dominant.

I would wait until all other fish in the aquarium have established their territories and comfotable with each other in the aquarium i.e. don't add the damsel unless the other fish have been the aquarium for a few months.

 

[DonK]

Salefen:

There are some very pretty damsels that are not nearly as aggressive as standard yellow-tails (though these are typically more expensive and not as common).

For example, Allen's, Goldbelly, and my favorite the Starki. There is information on the first 2 in Scott Michael's PocketGuide.

With these guys, you get the positives (prettty and very hardy) without the aggression.

DonK

 

[davelin315]

I have 4 yellow tails, a domino, and a 3 stripe. They get along fine in my tank, and they pick on each other. I have them in a 125, and one of the yellow tails is laying eggs about every other week. I'm going to add another couple of dominos and 3 stripes so that they fight each other, because right now they pick on some new firefish I have and each other. If you give them enough of their own kind to fight with, they won't really bother anybody else.

By the way, the domino also lives in anemones and corals, just like a clown, so it's a cool fish to add. When I was snorkeling in Bora Bora, I saw a huge long tentacle anemone about 2-3' across (I think it was a long tentacle, not really sure) with 30+ dominos in it all hanging out together, and also small coral heads with multiple 3 stripes living in it. Again, as long as you provide them their own species to battle with, they shouldn't bother other inhabitants.

[ August 16, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]

 

[RevAZC]

I had a yellow tail, 3 stripe and domino, the YT was very very passive. He would move around to the corners of the tank and pick up the CC and make himself a little "apartment" in the corners.

 

[canadawest]

I have a Yellow-tail Blue Damsel that I added as one of the first fish in my tank (along with a pair of Oscellaris clowns and pair of Royal Grammas)

I have since added another 6-7 fish and the Damsel is very well behaved. He only bothers other fish if they come to near his territory. And the only fish he even flexes his muscles with are the Green Chromis' and Royal Grammas (basically any fish about his size or smaller)

I think they are a good community fish, and quite docile as far as Damsels go.