Damsels ?

[Chileanguy]

Hi there,I just add two grey damsels to my tank and I have a blue one for a long time and this old one looks like he doesnt get along with the new arrivals, my question is ,Can you put two different kind of damsels together or not.
thanks for all the imputs that I have being getting from this forum.
Paul

[drjrose]

Damsels are very territorial and will fight with most other fish. Chromis are the exception and they will even school peacefully.

[bermudadiver]

evil, evil, eeeviiilll fish. i refuse to put any in my tank after having to tear all the rockwork out to catch the damsels I put in there when I was a noob.

never again.

[fservillon]

same here. i had one yellow, one yellow tail blue and one three striped damsels in my 55 gal. after witnessing all three of them continually harrass and i think eventually kill my royal gramma, i broke my tank down so i can take the damsels out. damsels are not good in community tanks. hth.

[JENnKerry]

The old one has his territory established and by nature he's defending it. You can have different damsels together. Try turning out the lights and re-arranging the rocks. When the lights come back on there will be new territory to be established. But at least the new ones will have a chance ya know?

[DaddyJax]

Agreed with JENnKerry!! Lights out and move rocks is about it butdo you REALLY like damsels? Cause they will beat the cr@p out of almost any other fish you put in!

[reelfreak]

Sounds like "being a damsel" is a good thing then!!!

Actually I was staring at my tank recently ,still contemplating whether I like my damsels or hate them........came to the conclusion that I like a little conflict in the tank!! The damsels (2 yt blues, 1 fourstripe) will try to punk up on the Tomato clowns, who won't stand for that $h!t ...... And then they try to get tough with the mandarin, who doesn't seem to care less (looks almost like she cant see them!)......

I can see that if you house your damsels with some peaceful fish, there could be problems.......but no one has been killed in my tank by their actions, but they can all stand their own ground!

so guess you need to decide are those the fish you want for a long time........or will you be tempted by all of the beautiful and docile fish in the sea??

[JENnKerry]

I personally think damsels are cool. It all depends on what you keep with them though. Maroon clowns and pseudos would make great tankmates in my opinion.

[madeeb]

i have two blue devil damsels in my 125 two years now and they get a long fine with all the fish they just get a bad rap.they were the frist in the tank added 9 more fish no problems at all.

[sean48183]

Be careful with madeeb's advice. War in the tank is very stressful especially when you get some of your most beautiful fish hiding all the time because their afraid of their psycho tankmates. Madeeb has a 125 giving his new arrivals plenty of space to clear out and he also didn't say which fish he added. A tomato or a maroon no problem. Add a firefish in with those damsels and see what happens. He'll be starved to death cuz the damsels will never let him eat. Those damsels you have in your 55 will never hardly let anything in ever again. Including some of the toughest fish.

p.s. I know cuz my tomato will never let my firefish out of his little hole so I have to specially get food into his little hole every night. Very angry with bad tomato.

[madeeb]

i do have two firefish they eat just fine also had them about two years along with two gobies a yellow tang a sailfin a niger triger mandarin.. tomato clown.. rustic angle.. sailfin blenny.. all been together one to two years.along with many snails ,,crabs feather dusters.and soon to add blue gridle angle fish.if they say it cant be done i well find a way to prove them WRONG.

[BMink]

Speaking of Damsels. I have a quick question about them.

I have a 10g tank that has nothing more than a few hermit crabs, a couple snails and 1 cleaner shrimp in it but I just added a yellow tail damsel today. Will the damsel bother the shrimp? If he does I will take the shrimp out to my other tank but just wondering. Thanks for any input.

[madeeb]

cant say about shrimp never had them in my tank

[jcgso]

The damsels should not bother shrimp. The YT in my tank has never shown any interest in the inverts. That being said there's always the exception.

[reelfreak]

my damsels will poke at my camel shrimp on occasion, but not to any point that it is of concern to me.....I doubt they will ever kill them.....
...I wonder if those people who keep fishonly aggressive tanks find it humorous that we are concerned with "a little damsel" with a big attitude??? Personally I kind of like a little conflict in the tank because you know it goes on in nature!!

[sean48183]

Hey Madeeb, you seriously keep firefish with a niger trigger. I don't know how big your niger is but he will make dinner of your firefish shortly as well as all those little critters in the tank. With that dude in the tank I wouldn't be worried about a stupid little damsel either.

[madeeb]

thats life on the reef and he is about 12inches now and very friendly eats out of my hand.hes well fed and does not harass the other fish i just got luckey or maybe some day he well turn on the little guys .but why should he is well nourished no need to chase hes food,riskey maybe but i well keep you guys informed and then you can say i told you sold,untill then dont,offer me any advice.i didnt ask for it i just gave my opion on this post.

[fservillon]

my 3 striped damsel used to smack my snowflake eel on the face with his tail. eel was never bothered with it though, but i was impressed with the damsel. the eel was about 12" and the damsel was about 3". the eel could've easily made a meal out of him.

[D-Trick]

I have 1 damsel in each of my mantis tanks. Both of the damsels like to charge after the mantis shrimps. One day they will get what is coming to them and it will not be pretty.

[kenny77]

i have 4 damsel in my tank. 3 regal damsel wich are the coolest of all, and i havae one damsel wich i havent find the name of it. nowere

the 3 regal school each other from time to time and are very cool. not aggresive at ALL. and the other damsel is a solitarry one wich is an angel. but i thing it isw because the other tankmate(pair of tricolor anthias, and a mated pair of tomato clownfish)