srfisher17
Active Member
"how to get rid of damsels" is one of the most common questions on this forum. IMO, for good reason.
Damsels
- Thread starter johnnyreb
- Start date
crypt keeper
Active Member
Its common because people have no idea what they were doing to start out. They buy a $5.00 fish to help cycle their tanks. They hate the fish to begin with but dont care if it dies because it was $5.00. Then the fish lives because they are like roaches and can live through anything. They then turn around and cause havoc and piss off the person trying to have a nice tank.
I call it Karma!
I call it Karma!
srfisher17
Active Member
Originally Posted by crypt keeper
http:///forum/post/3028261
Its common because people have no idea what they were doing to start out. They buy a $5.00 fish to help cycle their tanks. They hate the fish to begin with but dont care if it dies because it was $5.00. Then the fish lives because they are like roaches and can live through anything. They then turn around and cause havoc and piss off the person trying to have a nice tank.
I call it Karma!
I call it bad advice from a lfs to a beginner.
http:///forum/post/3028261
Its common because people have no idea what they were doing to start out. They buy a $5.00 fish to help cycle their tanks. They hate the fish to begin with but dont care if it dies because it was $5.00. Then the fish lives because they are like roaches and can live through anything. They then turn around and cause havoc and piss off the person trying to have a nice tank.
I call it Karma!
I call it bad advice from a lfs to a beginner.
salami trigger
Member
Give a fish a break!
Chromis,yellow tails and blue devils are awesome little fish Not bullies at all.
NOW..3 spot and 3 stripes now thats a different story!
I have had Clown fish that were the meanest Ba#*:Rds you could ever meet!
Chromis,yellow tails and blue devils are awesome little fish Not bullies at all.
NOW..3 spot and 3 stripes now thats a different story!
I have had Clown fish that were the meanest Ba#*:Rds you could ever meet!
johnnyreb
New Member
Crypt, I have a 120 gallon tank. So far it's just the Damsels, 10 hermits and a handful of snails. I lost one of the 5 damsels yesterday. Not sure if it got stuck under a new piece of LR that I added or what, but when I saw him, the hermits were all over him, too late. All of the others look happy. As far as what I want to have in that tank, clowns, tangs (if it's possible to have more than one) an angel, maybe a fox face lo, blennies, gobies...........
crypt keeper
Active Member
the blenny will be hiding in the rocks. any smaller passive fish may have an issue. Clowns are
[hr]
in their own right they will be fine. as will the foxface and angel. Do it!
Scribbled angel!
[hr]
in their own right they will be fine. as will the foxface and angel. Do it!
Scribbled angel!
joslinhome
New Member
My LFS didnt give us any other option but Blue Damsels as starter fish. As recommended for my 90 gal i started out with 8. After 2 days i witnessed the biggest 3 bully and kill all other 5 damsels. since then (beginning march) those 3 evil fish are still alive. When introducing new fish after my cycle killed 3 in one day (small clown, royal dottyback, and firefish goby). Since then i have only bought fish larger then my damsels. No other fatalities since my discovery. Im not being bias by stating i wouldnt buy them again nor recommend although i love my blue babies!!!
johnnyreb
New Member
Yeah I've got one right now that is a real bully. 3 of the 4 damsels all hang around the upper right corner of the tank while one cruises the entire tank and occasionally chases the other 3. I'm thinking about taking him out (and I don't mean removing him from the tank) I mean dead fishy! The only thing thats stopping me is, that I'm thinking another one will just step up in line and take the role of bully. I use to have a real problem euthanizing fish but when it comes to what's best for the entire tank, I'll whack a trouble maker in a minute!
naclfish
Member
damsels are/can be aggressive. Most people that hate them have good reason. they either killed fish or just beat em down. At a point it pisses ya off when a 5$ fish has killed 60-70$ worth of new stock. But ya really start to hate them when you have to tear down a tank pull all your rock to catch em. fast little buggers.
johnnyreb
New Member
Well I killed off the bully last night. Turned the light off in the tank and used one of those LED flashlights that attaches to a baseball cap to see what I was doing. Once they settled down after the light had been off for a bit, it was on. Took a while but I finally got the trouble maker. I also got to witness them turning a darker color so that was cool. So now I'm down to just two and one of those looks emaciated, probably the stress. Hopefully out of the last two, neither decide to fill the shoes of the bully!
crypt keeper
Active Member
how did you kill it and why?
johnnyreb
New Member
Because it was stressing all the other damsels to the point that they were starting to look sickly. AS much as I hated to do it, I dropped it in some vodka. I read about this method on another site and heard it was pretty humane. On a positive note, the other damsels are exploring the rest of the tank and look a lot happier.
don trinko
Member
Most of the damsels are very teritorial and do cause problems sooner or latter.
I have 5 green chromis. They occasioaly chase each other but do not bother any of the other fish. ( 2 clowns, 3pj cardinals, 1 royal gramma, and 1 firefish.) I have seen the gramma and the clowns chase fish away from "their area" but never any damage.
With salt water fish it is important to do your homework, preferably before you buy fish. All of this IMO; Don T.
I have 5 green chromis. They occasioaly chase each other but do not bother any of the other fish. ( 2 clowns, 3pj cardinals, 1 royal gramma, and 1 firefish.) I have seen the gramma and the clowns chase fish away from "their area" but never any damage.
With salt water fish it is important to do your homework, preferably before you buy fish. All of this IMO; Don T.
johnnyreb
New Member
Well I had done a lot of research but, went ahead and trusted my LFS because they have yet to steer me wrong. They said the only damsels I would really have trouble out of would be the black and white ones but, blue ones would be fine. I don't mind the occasional chase but when 4 of 5 2" fish won't leave a 120 gallon tank because one is mean as hell, the bully has to go.