Almost all damsels are safe with coral---a case of 'my fault'---read on.

[Sk8r]

OK, guys, we have found one damsel that WILL bother some coral...
Pocillopora and the 3-stripe dascyllus. NOT a good combo. The 3-stripes are a quirky lot in the first place, tending to grab coral frags and toss them if placed in an area it claims (gluing them down stops this). But apparently this fellow has decided poci is edible. Wondered what the culprit was, and caught him at it. The other dascyllus, a domino, is not interested, just the 3-stripe. And the 3-stripe is not bothering the sunset monti---unless he gets the notion from the poci snacks---and seems perfectly fine with lps. Just sayin'.

Damsel species that ever bother coral are rare, as in one. Lucky me. I found it. [It was my fault, as develops: read the whole thread.] I'm going to try an inexpensive frag of a not-poci type and see if he bothers that. Many things will go after poci---pep shrimp will almost always sample it, then leave it alone. But the b&w is pretty well going to do this one in, I fear, and he wouldn't be easy to catch, not that I really want to. He's part of the tank and fine with most corals: if he lets monti alone, I can just avoid the poci types.

 

[nereefpat]

Shoot. Do you think it's just this one specimen, or the species in general? Does it need some nori or something else to pass the time, or maybe missing something in its diet?

I had to get rid of a kole tang once because it was eating my candycanes. Seems silly because candycanes are so common, but I had a colony bigger than a football I didn't want to lose

 

[ThRoewer]

What corals do they normally live in?

I could imagine that they may try to kill off corals they don't live with in favor of those that they normally take as homes.

 

[Sk8r]

I may have a semi-answer. Read on.
"Well, interesting development: I'd been feeding a regimen of Reef Nutrition Mysis and Formula 1, which does contain some green, but apparently...
I know of an instance in which a Foxface Rabbitfish, in an lps tank, suddenly took after lps stony, notably a green hammer coral.
Out of curiosity, re the incident of an herbivore, the rabbit, suddenly turning on coral, and a green one---I suspect a rabbit's peculiar opal eyes filter strongly for that---maybe---my damsels haven't been getting enough green. And that's a green poci.

Now, the monster domino dascyllus was totally innocent of the poci-munching. But when I dumped some (shamefully old) spirulina pellet into the tank, the dascylli both were taking after every smidge of it, the big domino buzzing and fussing to scare everybody away from it.

The poci has some chance of recovery---there is some left of it.

I'm going to feed spirulina regularly, and see if that ends the desire for poci. That would be nice.

,,,Damsels aren't listed as herbivores, but---they may need some green. The little Fiji blues weren't showing interest, but the way the domino was buzzing, maybe they'll wait for next time, for safety. She's huge. They aren't. And note that both dascyllus, of different species, were after the green.
"

 

[ThRoewer]

All plankton feeders take in a good deal of algae with the zoo plankton they feed on - simply due to the fact that the zoo plankton is usually stuffed with the algae it feeds on.

But pretty much all Damselfish eat algae directly if they can get them. I've seen clownfish literally grazing on GHA.
Some damsel species are explicit herbivores.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Sk8r]

THanks for that. Well, they're going to get it regularly from now on. If I'd fed Formula One steady, it probably would have done ok, but using the mysis is probably heavy on the meat and not enough veggies. They'll be better done by from now on.

 

[Moort82]

Part of the reason some damsels are so aggressive is that they farm algae in their territory and have to defend it from much larger fish like powder blues. Its also why they will happily take a pop at divers. You've got to admire them really and its nice to see someone keeping them and enjoying them rather than "misusing" them.

 

[Sk8r]

Interesting! I love their color and action, and have a 105 gallon tank, where multiple types can co-exist nicely. In my first damsel tank we never had a total lack of algae, so no problems. This tank is probably a shade phosphate-poor, thanks to a number of problems stemming from a long blackout. But if spirulina is the ticket, we're on our way to happier fish. And happier me.