How aggressive are damsels??

M

markeo99

Guest
dont get one or mark my word someday you will be tearin your tank apart to get him I just caught mine
 
scrombus2

scrombus2

Member
I've got a 1" dusky damsel(stegastes adustus) that absolutely rules my 75 FOWLR tank. I'd get rid of him if he wasn't so beautiful.
 
forcrz6

forcrz6

Member
I have 2 damsels in my tank. The Blue is nice and peaceful. But the Yellow is a little Pain in my well you know.
Now the Yellow is Extremely Territorial. He will attack my hand when I go to feed the Haitian pink tip. To kip him incheck. I got the Yellow tang. Yea he tried to go after the tang and the tang won. Now the yello just hides in the rock.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Damsels, for the most part, are very territorial. They will chase and harass fish many times their size. There is the occasion when people are able to keep them without aggression. It is not common though. Do a search on here for damsels. You will see how many posts there are asking how to get them out of the tank.
 
omen nemzo

omen nemzo

Member
I have a black and white 4 strip and other then the nipping of the tail when i first add a new fish ( seems to do it so welcome the newcomers) its just another fish with no real problems (lucky maybe)
 
mustangcaleb

mustangcaleb

Member
mine are pretty aggressive. i have 2 black and white striped damsils and they rule my 125g. they nip at my hands when i put them in the tank, and when i introduced my snowflake eel, they were on him like stink on... poo. once i get a refugium/sump/skimmer setup complete, ill pull them out of my tank and start working on my livestock.
 
T

tangofish

Guest
I have a blue and a domino damsel, they are SO territorial, the domino is always after the blue, the blue after the tomato, the domino also attacks the pajama cardinal, I also saw the blue, (only once), attacking with so much hate my Lawnmower Orange Spotted, that I hate him back for a min., haha! They are just crazy!! But I cant get rid of them, because for me they are beautiful
 
sk8r_dave

sk8r_dave

Member
I have no experience, however i've compiled some information. Basicly it the damsels are introduced first they will claim the entire tank as their own, leaving no "real estate" within the tanks for other fish. Even in some cases if the fish is put in last with similal sized fish it will chase them and be aggresive towards them. However if put into the tank last with larger fish it should be somewhat docile... Take this info if you will, however my word should be taken lighter than those with experience with them.
 
drtito

drtito

Member
Removed a bunch of three striped that NEVER schooled untill it was time to fish em out then they schooled,it was to late as I had made up my mind to remove them. fish go bye bye. traded for live rock at my LFS.
 
otley 1975

otley 1975

Member
damels and gold strip maroon clowns are the devil. I just got rid of my clown, he ruled the tank even over a yellow tang.
 
pjlovesbaskets

pjlovesbaskets

Member
I bought 5 to cycle my tank, (yep a rookie error...shouldn't use fish to cycle your tank) Then, they killed each other off. I had two left. I decided I didn't want the bad boys in my tank so I went to get them out and return them. Well, that was an hour later. I got one and the other wedged itself in the LR. I was so #@$$#@ I took the piece of live rock out and dumped it upside down in a bucket. I didn't care if I killed it. It plopped out and off we went to the LFS to exchange it.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
You can't categorize Damsels as all being overly aggressive. Some, like Dominos and Maroon Clownfish, are at the high end of the scale, and others like Percula Clownfish and Reef Chromis, are at the low end of the aggressive scale.
Saying all Damsels are aggressive is like saying all ducks are white.
 
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