I got my Black-tail Humbug Damselfish!

marinegrl

marinegrl

Member
He is so perfect. He was the fastest fish in the community tank and the aquarium store owner took forever to try and catch him. But he is none for the worse and is swimming quite happily in my tank. I always picked up ten blue leg hermit crabs. This is my new fifty five gallon that I've been cycling for about a month. The damselfish certaintly got their share of 'don't's but most of the people I talked to at the stores, etc. considered them a really great first fish. I'm pretty excited. I keep going into my room to watch him swim around. Does anyone have any experiences with this fish? If there are people who keep them, would you please let me know how you feed and manage them? I always appreciate personal opinions, as well as those of authors of marine life books. Thanks!
 
marinegrl

marinegrl

Member
I'm not sure. It the Humbug Damselfish...only it has a black tail instead of the white like the regular Humbug Damselfish. They are pretty popular, every store I've gone into has a few in their tanks. Does that help at all?
 
klearstar

klearstar

Member
marinegrl,
In my experience, Humbugs are very territorial(sp.) Damsels. Although small they can be aggressive and are a pain to catch when you want them out. Good luck though. They are fun to watch. :)
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
That's also called a Four-stripe Damsel aka Striped Damselfish aka Blacktail Dascyllus. Should eat anything you put in the tank. Will bully any other fish you put in too. They are really nice looking tho and cheap. :D I personally like them, but I'm afraid it would terrorise my tank.
 
snipe

snipe

Active Member
Ok I know what your talking about I have a 3 stripe really cool he is actually more docile than my yellow tail.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
Heh. I like the 3 stripes too. I just know he would likely tear into my cherub angel and I can't have that!
 
snipe

snipe

Active Member
It goes like this my sunshine damsle my 3 stripe me yellow tail then my domino. That is from least agressive to the most aggressive. Right at the moment my domino is the only one that has the reputation that ppl give damsles but my other ones just ignore him and do what ever anyway lol.
 
marinegrl

marinegrl

Member
The highjacking is ok by me. Continue be all means, its interesting and since I DO have one I can use the extra info. Snipe-is it normally a top level swimmer? Mine has been hiding way at the top of my tank, behind the heater. He has some long algae and lots of coral, plus the secluded corner behind the algae, but he is loitering at the surface. I know there is plenty of oxygen, I use an airstone hidden in one of the rose corals, plus my filter makes a good deal of water splash...lots of bubbles and chances for oxygen to move into the tank water. I mean, that how it seems to me. The pH and SG of my water is on target, too. Just want to make sure he's ok... :notsure:
 
X

xnikki118x

Guest
I first got into saltwater with a friend at school senior year; we set up a 30-gallon tank as a science project. Our teacher was taking down her 100-some gallon and needed someone to take care of her fish...all she had left was a 4-year old blue damsel and a 5-year-old three-stripe damsel. They both swam all over the tank, ate whatever we have them, survived our off-the-chart nitrates that we had for more than a week, and were always fun to watch and full of personality. However, they were both rather large....just shy of 6 inches for the three-stripe...and they ate any other fish we added.
 
snipe

snipe

Active Member
He may be scared of the new tank. Mine go everywere. My 3 stripe will squeeze through a small hole and the domino chasing him cant fit through so the 3 stripe will come back out from a diffrent hole and make the domino even more mad lol.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
At first it's normal for damsels to crowd the filters, heaters etc. In the wild they are like clownfish and tend to "host" things. The two are actually closely related.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
When I first set up my tank I had a domino, I had to get him out, he was pounding my other fishes.
 
marinegrl

marinegrl

Member
Yeah, I know what you're saying about the clownfish/damselfish species closeness. Most books/sites had them both under 'anemonefish' or at least, placed next to each other. Supposedly they both like to host things, like you said. So that makes sense...new tank and it probably wants to have a place where it feels safe. The hermits have crawled all over the place already. lol Thanks for the replies!
 
snipe

snipe

Active Member
My domino is dominant in my tank he is around 2 1/2 inches from the 1/2 I got him at lol. He isnt really mean he just wants the other fish to leave "his" food and "his" space alone. But there are to many for him to keep up with lol.
 
marinegrl

marinegrl

Member
What would you suggest for my next few fish? I'd like to keep the fish to a fairly small number. I have the Three Stripe (AKA Black tailed Humbug) and I know I want a Clownfish, either ocellaris or percula...as it is, I'd like to get a Black Percula Clownfish, but then my tank will be like some formal dining room with thats all black and white fish.
I don't want that! I'd like the Flame/Dusky Angelfish, and the Coral Beauties but don't think I could do the best job providing them with continous grazing, so they're probably out of the picture. What do you think? :needhelp:
 
snipe

snipe

Active Member
6 month tank would probly help with the dwarf angles and around 100lbs of rock "around". For the clowns I would go with the oc just because there is more orange and there smaller "orange is my fav color"
 
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