Sign here if you've captured a Damsel

[srgvigil]

Many people buy Damsels to help cycle their tank
Some buy because the look cule
Some buy because the LFS persuaded them
However inside these little bodies is the temper of a lion
the will defend territory to the dead
They are Damsels
For all of us who have bought damsels and put them in our tanks. Eventualy chances are we will have to return them
They are smart however
Very often you will have to take apart all your live rock just to have a small chance of catching them.
So sign here if you have achieved the impossible and catched a Damsel

 

[srgvigil]

Mason Vigil aka SrgVigil
caught five in one hour

 

[calvertbill]

I have a Damsel which I sort of inherited from ***** when another customer returned it and I bought the DT it was in, contents included. It's an ultra-aggressive ridiculously productive digger which once stole a krill out of a snowflakes mouth (and he doesn't even eat krill...he was just being mean). I used to want to kill him but over time I've come to almost admire his determination when he's digging. A couple of months ago he lost his Alpha status to the grandmother beatch from hades in the form of a 5" Clarkii. Now I want to move the Clowns to protect the Damsel...go figure!

 

[tropills]

had 2 blue devils, 3 green cromis ,and 2 lemon, for almost 2 years, with 300 + lbs of LR and corals put in LIPS the porcupine puffer and within 3 days problem solved..

 

[salty blues]

I recently returned three to the LFS. I cheated though, since I removed all my LR to catch them. Would have been pretty much impossible otherwise.

 

[krazy302]

I have captured a damsel it took me about an hour or so to catch that DAMN thing. I think I gave it a heart attack cause after all that time it just sat in the corner and let me catch it..

 

[travis89]

I had an allens damsel, had to take all the LR out of the tank to catch it, took me about an hour.

 

[987654321]

At one time I had 4 damsels in my 55. 1 three stripe, 1 blue, and 2 yellow tailed blues. The only on that was ever aggressive was the blue. I tried on several occasions to catch them and it is very tricky. The blue dissapeared one night never to be seen again. My best guess is he got eaten by a CH starfish. Its the lony thing I can think of because I never saw any remaines and there was nothing else in the tank that could have eaten him. He was about 3" long and mean as hell. The 2 yellow tails were dispatched by Lionfish. The lion now stalkes the three stripe but it wont fit in his mouth. On three occasions I have seen the three stripe in the lions mouth. I figure its only a matter of time. I wont be getting anymore damsels for my tanks. They are not worth it.

 

[lexluethar]

Caught my domino damsel after about an hours worth of pulling all of my LR out of my tank. It was rediculous. He was the meanest SOB I had ever seen.
I still have two damsels but they both get along fine.

 

[m0nk]

After I moved everything from my old 12 gallon to the 55 last year I used the 12 for a damsel only tank. Unfortunately after about 4 months I had to take them out to use the tank as a QT for sick fish, but when I took it down I caught the two within 5 minutes. Of course, I had already taken out all of the Live Rock.

 

[noah's nemo]

Getting a bit nervous about all this talk of killer damsels.I have 2 yellow tails,and they do not pester anyone.Actually they get chased away by my percs when they get too close to their side of the tank.

They have been in my tank for over 5 months now.They were the first to go in.Since then i have added the percs,a yellow tang and a royal gramma.All with no problems(knocks on wood!)

 

[snakeblitz33]

I had one in a 55gal. tank with lbs and lbs of live rock and he was very docile. I just scooped em' up with a net.
I catch damsels in clients tanks pretty easy. I just use the coke bottle trick, and it works with a little time.

 

[groupergenius]

Trust me. It's easier to catch them out on the reef than in the tank. I have 5 blue-green chromis I want to get out of my 90 so I can put other fish in. But I don't feel like taking all my rock and corals out to do it. Think I'll try the coke bottle trick.

 

[05xrunner]

I had a Sargent major and he was an ahole.
So i took a 2liter bottle. and cut the spout off so it was big enough for the fish to swim in...then I cut the 2liter where it stops tapering at the top. Put that inverted into the bottle. slit holes on the sides so smell gets out..then threw a huge chunk of squid int here...once swims in then the fish cant swim out of the hole fast enough to put a net infront of it. pull it out and he is gone

 

[am00re34]

i bought 5 domino damsles cause my g/f thought they were cute and i needed to cycle my tank. After about 6 months there were only 3 left (those 3 killed the other two). They were starting to bother my yellow tang so they had to go. After hours of trying to catch them i had to remove over 100lbs of LR to catch them.
I hate those damn things!

 

[earlybird]

Got one in under 25 mins. First try.

 

[jthomas0385]

I caught 2 within minutes of each other. I just used a huge net to scoop them right up. I did have to take everything out of the tank though

 

[gatorzone19]

Caught one with four nets and all the liverock still in the tank.

 

[srfisher17]

I've posted this so often, I just cut & paste from an old thread.
"This may have been me, I always suggest this; but most people think its
silly...until they try it. Tiny hook (hair hook, used to catch bait. Flatten the
barb and bait with a bit of raw shrimp..after the little monster has been eating
it for a day or two. A lfs called me several times, when I I lived in another
state, to help them get unwanted fish out of customer's tanks (almost always
damsels). I never failed, nor hurt a fish (much). I think this one of the most
common questions on this forum. I suspect it is often the result of lfs selling
damsels as "cycle starters".. I'll bet I've posted this reply 20 times; I'm
going to copy & save it...I type very slowly. BTW, I never heard from anyone
that tried this and failed, but have heard several success stories. IMO, it is
no big deal on the fish, far less stressful ,(on the damsel AND tankmates),than
tearing a tank apart."

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
I caught mine....upgraded from a 37 gallon to a 46 gallon bow front. He's now happily living at a LFS in their LR tank. He's the biggest domino there and he acts like a puppy. They use him and his tank mates as guinea pigs for new products.
Kim