damsels

[jdgdtt]

Why would you not want any in a reef tank? Please explain. Most of the reading I have done says the are good for the tank. I have no idea how I would catch them now.

[crossi92]

They are terrorists, check them for weapons before letting them in!

[E&Js]

I had a domino damsel in my tank. He was really cool, friendly and swam around a lot. But once I started introducing other fish to the tank that were smaller than him, he became a bully. He also attacked a blue tang. He single handedly killed 3 fish. When I tried to get him out, he turned into ninja damsel and I couldnt catch him. I had to rip out all the LR & move most of the corals. And he still was a maniac. He even bit the net when I finally grabbed him. It was hard letting him go though cause we had been through a lot together (1st fish). Just keep an eye on them if you get one. Some work out, but most times they will tear havoc in the tank and stress the other things in there out.

[Sk8r]

Damsels are lovely fishes. I rather like them. They are colorful, active, everything to recommend them.

The problem is that they are aggressive and their 'territory' usually [in the wild] is very wide, much wider than the average tank can manage. In the earlier days of reefing, back in the 80's, I had a 100g tank with angels, yellow tang, wrasse, dottyback, lawnmower blenny, mandarin [huge refugium sump, 50g] five chromis, and damsels: a blue velvet [the devil in fins!], a b/w striped, a yellowtail, and a blue, plus a domino [black with white spot]. They all managed. A lot of nipping and chasing, which I don't like [nipped fins mean the chance for bacterial infections if you don't run a clean tank, or if the water goes 'off'.] They were the healthiest and the most active fish, and the others got along pretty well despite their activity---the chromis even schooled and minded their manners [bloodthirsty little dickenses that will thin out their own numbers until they think they have just enough for the tank]---because they were terrified of the damsels and kept together [schooling is a fear-response].

If you have damsels, you need room. If you don't have room, the damsel needs all of it. If I had a really big tank now [I don't] I'd probably install a few damsels. They'll pick a lump of rock, hang near it and chase anyone who 'intrudes on their space' : read: comes in reach. But if you want color and motion, you can't beat them.

[stingythingy45]

I have a blue devil and a yellow tail Damsel.
Both behave pretty good except the blue likes to undermine my rocks.Most of the trouble i've heard of is when they're in a nano.

[mg426]

They are very colorfull and active fish, they just seem to develope an attitude towards just about everything. I have a few and they behave most of the time but they still act up once in a while.

[Seldric]

I have 3 blue with yellow tails most of the time they are peaceful, but become aggressive when breeding, so much so they even attack me

[masonicman]

jdgdtt

Damsels are ok if you have alot of room in the tank. If you have a smaller tank like myself they can be true HELLIANS. I just caught all three of my damsels last weekend. 1 Domino and 2 striped. The were great when they were little, but as adults they would run the tank. One stripe damsel would bite my arm every time I put my hand in the tank, and the domino would not let the chromis( which are damsel also) come out from hidding unless there was alot of food around.

I caught all of them with the water bottle and fishing line trick.

[Thomalop]

What is the water bottle and fishing line trick?

[ejrabekoff]

Damsels are great fish, but they are very aggressive. They can take over a tank, and terrorize every other fish, sometimes even killing them. They are a difficult fish for a reef tank because they will terrorize tangs, an almost universal reef fish, and great algae eaters. They can be in a tank successfully with triggers, but these will eat all of your invertabrates. I would stay away from them, but if you end up getting 1, put it in a tank with puffers, or other fish that are difficult to harass.

[masonicman]

Water bottle and fishing line trick. Tie fishing line to one of the hole punched holes in order to pull the trap up to the top of the tank before the fish can escape.

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/fish_trap.htm

[Rewd]

Chromis are awesome fish. Even though I've tried to school them I always end up down to 1.

[FragMan07]

I love my yellow-bellied Damsel!!!!

Dude's got attitude, is colorful, and never stops!

[Snausy]

I had four yellow-tails and one bowtie in my 100.

One of the yellowtails decided he was king and would attack everything including my big Harlequin tusk...he could never damage the tusk but ALWAYS irritated him. The tusk would look for him to eat but he could never catch the little jerk.

Eventually I caught him hiding in his big barnacle shell and netted everything...extraction.

They are much more peaceful now but the bowtie is starting to chase fish around. I see him being removed soon as well.

You just can't beat the color of the yellowtail blue damsel but you do pay a price. I have a large aggressive tank so they stay in their place for the most part but I couldn't imagine keeping them in a reef with nice fish.

[FragMan07]

Am I the only one on Reef Central that has a Damsel that gets along with the other fish in the tank?

My mated clowns and the Damsel are like the Three Musketeers. Granted they each retreat back to their own space in my 29 gallon, but they literally "hang out" with each other all the time. No aggressiveness at all.

[Jareth]

I think it has to do with upbringing, seriously. For example, when I first got the tank set up I put a blue damsel and a red honey in the tank. The blue started to pick on the red honey. So I thought to add another red honey. This one started chasing everyone around in the tank. He terrorized the fish for about a month before I took him back. Now the original red honey & blue damsel are in the tank with 3 fire gobys and everyone is perfectly happy. The blue swims in the virtual hamster wheel of my powerhead right along with the gobys and only rarely charges at anything. It might change over time as the tank continues, but fish have their own personalities right along with genetics.

[stingythingy45]

Originally posted by Rewd
Chromis are awesome fish. Even though I've tried to school them I always end up down to 1.

Same exact thing happened to me.
Started with 3 and ended up with 1.
I read somwwhere that they need to be fed a little constantly throughout the day to be happy.

[vito is hooked]

My domino 2inch, pantha grouper 7inch, minitus grouper 6inch, niger trigger 4inch (just came out of hiding). Took over whole tank, little TOUGH GUY. Next stop, 10gal QT

[CookieJar]

I realized that the cool looking black vevlet damsel that looked so nice as a juvenile grew up in less than 1 year to be a pretty ugly 4" fish. So it wasn't a good addition.

[Snausy]

That's what I've heard about my yellow-top bluefin damsel aka bowtie damsel. He looks pretty cool as a juvy but turns all black as an adult and gets MEAN. Already showing signs of being mean after being pretty cool for a few months.

[spetitti]

Everything I have read about Damsels is so true. My damsels were great until I introduced new room mates, then they got very aggressive. I ended up removing the damels (moving LR and coral out of the way)it was still a chore. They are very happy in their new tank, a small 10 gal with LR and being so small I can't add any more fish to it. They're happy, my other fish are happy, and I'm happy.

[Sk8r]

In the wild, their territory seems to be about 50' to 100'. Very few tanks can satisfy this.