Damsels in a reef

sturner

sturner

Member
Have any of you reefers ever had or heard of problems with damsels in your reef? I have two, a yellow tail and the other is black with neon blue stripes, I don't know the name. I've had both fish going on 2.5 yrs, but am slowly adding corals, and want to know if there's anything to look out for. Thanks.
 
fedukeford

fedukeford

Active Member
theres no problem haveing damsels WITH coral, but they get VERY agressive with any fish, esspecially anything close to their size or smaller.
Feduke
 
sturner

sturner

Member
Yes I'm fully aware of that now. After the death of my first small clown, I opted to keep the damsels and wait till their demise. I only have a 29g, and not too much room for fish anyhow. Maybe a goby in the future that's good at hiding, but when I upgrade I plan on more 'friendly' fish.
 
fedukeford

fedukeford

Active Member
If you have a stable tank the damsels could live 15+ years, so mabey try to catch them now so you can have some other fish
Feduke
 
johnny84

johnny84

Member
but he said he only had a 29 gallon tank and he knows that they are aggressive. Maybe he just likes damsels, nothing wrong with that.
 
sturner

sturner

Member
okay gentlemen lets not fight... and "he" is a "she" Sara to be exact... i enjoy watching my damsels, each has a very unique character and it's not fair to the fish to 'dispose' of it just because I want something different. I have future plans to upgrade to a larger tank, and when that time comes, the damsels will still be in the 29g... i've watched them grow from a half inch. The black one is probally 3" now. I just wanted to know if I needed to look out for any conflict with adding corals...
 
johnny84

johnny84

Member
Sorry Sara, I didnt know you were a woman, my appologies. I am not fighting with anyone just dont like the post about getting rid of them just because they are aggressive, I had a domino damsel once and he was really cool, just too aggressive for me and I took him out and sold him.
 
maxpowers

maxpowers

New Member
Well, this is one of my first posts, but thought I would give my 2 cents. I have had a reef tank for a little over 2 years now, and two yellow tails were my first purchases. Now I know every animal has its own personality, but I really don't see why these fish get such a bad rap. I have found that they are very playful, and rarely agressive. They now are brothers to a maroon clown, 6 stripe wrasse, and a royal gramma. Never have I seen them show any signs of being a menace.
To answer your question, they leave all of my coral alone (Xenia, mushrooms, zoos, and star polyps).
Hope this helps...:)
 
cajamajo

cajamajo

Member
I have had 2 yellow tails,2 4stripe, 2 dominos damsels together for about 8 months now. They get along great, and are fun to watch.
 
paulcoates

paulcoates

Member
My yellow tail damsel was he first fish in my reef 3 years ago. Currently, he is in there with the following fish and he doesn't bother anyone:
Yellow Tang
Hippo Tang (same body colors)
Longnose Hawkfish
2 Percula Clowns
Pseudochromis
 
sturner

sturner

Member
Only those two damsels at the moment. I have lots of hermits, snails, etc... one serpent star and one brittle star. some shrooms, three ricordia and more frags on the way. I tried one clown way back after I first got the damsels and he was already in sad shape
after three days of not eating the damsels did him in. I have wanted to get another fish, but realize the potential danger in doing so. That's why I was thinking about a goby, something that likes to hide that maybe the damsels would ignore... They seem to only be agressive with "swimming" critters, they never bother the other stuff.
 
albfishin'

albfishin'

Member
Originally Posted by sturner
Only those two damsels at the moment. I have lots of hermits, snails, etc... one serpent star and one brittle star. some shrooms, three ricordia and more frags on the way. I tried one clown way back after I first got the damsels and he was already in sad shape
after three days of not eating the damsels did him in. I have wanted to get another fish, but realize the potential danger in doing so. That's why I was thinking about a goby, something that likes to hide that maybe the damsels would ignore... They seem to only be agressive with "swimming" critters, they never bother the other stuff.
I have three green chromis in my reef, right now with two smaller firefish gobies and they all do fine. My biggest of my chromis posture at the gobies, (and the other chromis for that matter) dorsal fin up, etc and the gobies just chill. I haven't had any fighting, nipping, etc. Occasionally the big chromis will chase the other two and then they will school again. They also don't mess with any of the coral I have in the tank with them. The clown sounds like it had other issues besides the damsels. I think you will do fine.
 
sturner

sturner

Member
Well I feared the worst and it happened. My recent trade left me with a beautiful zoa rock, and minutes after I introduced it my blue neon damsel was plucking individual polyps off and eating them!!! I had tried a frag of zoas before, and thought my 'non-reef safe' hermits were the culprit, but after pretty much tearing down my tank, I caught the fish, so now she's fuge. I guess I'll take her back to the LFS for credit, or anyone local that wants her here is welcome to her.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
I have to say, my neon damsel never bothered any of my millions of zoanthids. But fish are individuals. That's why labels like "reef safe" need to be taken with a grain of salt. I assume this is the fish you are talking about:

This one died in hurricane Katrina (the photo includes the fish's reflection in the left side glass). But I currently keep a domino and a blue devil in my 70 gallon.
By the way, I love my damsels and wouldn't trade them for the world.
 
05xrunner

05xrunner

Active Member
well I have a stupid sgt major damsel. I got him free some time ago cause my buddy didnt want him.
Well he is a jerk and always stealing food. What is the easiest way to catch them without tearing th tank apart. I want him out.
 
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