experience with canary damsels?

king kole

Member
thinking of adding a deep water canary damsel to my tank. anybody have experience with this fish? other tank mates are red sea tang, tri anthias, o. clown, chalk bass, coral beauty and a lawnmower. peaceful tank but no real passives. what do you guys think?
 

rc1626

Member
I'm interested in one also. Anyone have any feedback. My tankmates would include sixline, pair of false percs, orange spot goby, flame hawk, bangai cardinal. (75gal. reef.) Any feedback appreciated.
Rob
 

reef_dart21

Member
ya they can be pretty expensive, why dont you purchase a leamon damsel instead?
Lemon Damsel 2 inches $8.99 (from swf.com)
 

rc1626

Member
King Kole - I hope you don't mind that I'm asking also. I don't want to be considered a thread hijacker. Just thought it would be silly to start another thread on the same fish.
The Drs. site has them for $36.99. Just removed a false lemonpeel angel from my reef because he was a coral picker. I loved the yellow he brought to the tank. What I really liked was that he was an all level swimmer and was pleasing to the eye. I was looking for another bright yellow fish that could take his place. I just don't want the aggressiveness that a damsel usually is known for. Anyone have any experience with this fish? Will my other fish be hassled if I got one? Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks Rob
 

king kole

Member
i went ahead with the canary damsel because the little literature i could find said least aggressive of damsels. the lawnmower does enough damage to the reef like knock stuff around and pic at some corals so . this is an expensive fish for a damsel about 30 to 40 bucks but this is one cool fish so far and beautiful, again... so far., we'll see after a week or so.
 

king kole

Member
Reef Dart 21
you're right about the lemon damsel it's a very nice yellow damsel but it's a very bossy little guy. the body shape and finnage is like the yellowtail,domino, etc. i choose the canary because i like peaceful fish and unlike most damsels it's finnage flows and is multi coloredlike an anthias so i justified the price for the uniqueness. time will tell if im right won't be the first time i'm not but this is a very unusual deamsel.
 

king kole

Member
Reef Dart 21
you're right about the lemon damsel it's a very nice yellow damsel but it's a very bossy little guy. the body shape and finnage is like the yellowtail,domino, etc. i choose the canary because i like peaceful fish and unlike most damsels it's finnage flows and is multi coloredlike an anthias so i justified the price for the uniqueness. time will tell if im right won't be the first time i'm not but this is a very unusual damsel.
 

rc1626

Member
King Kole - I wound up going w/ one also for exactly the same reasons you stated. Hopefully in the end we will both be satisified w/ our purchases. Good luck w/ yours.
Rob
 

king kole

Member
RC1626
keep me posted on this . So far no [damsellike] tendancies. I hope your getting the same. This is a very cool fish so far!
 

rc1626

Member
Glad to hear. I get mine today. He'll be going into QT for about three weeks w/ a fire fish. I should be able to see his tendancies at this time. I'll keep you posted.
Rob
 

rc1626

Member
Well I'm going to have to wait a few more days. My canary damsel was DOA today. I'm getting another one shipped free of charge early next week. Hope this one makes the trip. I'll keep you posted King Kole. Just out of curiosity where did you get yours from?
Rob
 

king kole

Member
somethings not good ! 1st fish from supplier died on me too. they reshipped and the second one arrived doa. moderators i know we aren't to mention competitors but since SWF doesn't carry this fish and there seems to be a red flag i think it in the best interest of members who might consider this fish to be alerted about the supplier. i hope you agree and leave it just to save any fellow aquarists the pitfall of ordering the canarydamsel from[ live aquaria ] ric 1626 this one was a mistake i had to tear out half a tank of coral fish. and live rock to remove this dead. i'm sorry i started this thread
 

rc1626

Member
King Kole - sorry to hear of your misfortunes w/ this fish. I'm hoping my second time around proves to be better than our first three combined. At this point though my expectations are not going to be very high. Delivery is for Tuesday in which case instead of waiting for FedEx delivery, (last delivery, box @ terminal 8:00 am not delivered until 3:30 pm) I will go and pick it up from the local FedEx terminal as early as it gets there. If this one bites the bullet then I'm done w/this fish and will get my full refund.
Sorry again.
Rob
 

rc1626

Member
King Kole and anyone else following this thread - Second canary damsel came yesterday around 11:00am (Alive!). Drip acclimated for about an hour and a half. Put him in my 20gal. long QT and all seems fine. Tried to feed some frozen brine soaked in zoecon and all he did was spit it out. Tried some brine flakes I had laying around and again spit it out. So now I'm worried he's not going to eat. Bought some live brine today and he loves it (whew!). It's only been a little over a day but I'm trying to be optimistic. Hopefully all goes well.
King Kole - On your first one, how many days did he live for? Was he eating as far as you new?
He is a cool little fish though. If he makes it he will certainly add some color and personality to my DT. (fingers crossed)
Thanks!
Rob
 

king kole

Member
good luck good luck good luck! i'm really hoping you make it, it's a beautiful little fish .
my second one was d.o.a., first one was semi d.o.a.[that doesn't make sense does it] so i have nothing for you there.
 
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