anyone have a damsel tank?

[Beemo]

i think damsel fish are really pretty and i was wondering if its possible to keep a mix of damsel species in a 55 reef tank containing corals, shrimp, crabs, snails and maybe a lawnmower or scooter blenny.
do they do ok with other fish or are they only aggressive with themselves? would they attack a royal gramma?

 

[Mike de Leon]

it is unadvisable to keep damsels with each other, or with any other fish in such a small space. all damsels become territorial after they have established their territory. they have been known to bite the owners when there hand was placed in the tank, near their territory. so to answer your question, nope i would not complete the setup with damsels. one damsel will do fine, as long as you have added them last. a royal gramma would be able to fend for itself, and like the damsels, it will attack other dottybacks.

 

[Angel*Fish]

I have these 3 damsels in a 100g - they are basically a family unit - one being the dominant fish who bites me if I put my hand near the shell it calls home. One of the others is mate #1 with the 3rd one being the back-up mate. In a 55g you could get by with 2, 3 would be pushing it.

There are so many different types of damsels. If you want some, I recommend getting S.Michael's handbook: 500+ Fish You Should Know (Or some such title)

Damsels of the genera Chromis & Pomacentrus are what you want to look for & within those groups try and find the one that stay s-m-a-l-l -- like 2.5 inches. The last thing you need is a mean fish that gets 4 inches long

Dwarf angels will keep a damsel in line. My more belligerent Chrysipterus genus damsels often try to do some bullying to new fish, but give up after a day or so. I even have some small fish like the 4 threadfin cardinals. My damsels were the first guys in the tank (NOT to cycle )

That said you must have lots of rockwork for hiding.

I think you could try some chromises with a couple of "rock dwelling" damsels

 

[Angel*Fish]

Sorry my post got a little off track - why not try it?
Choose them carefully and add all at once with rubbermaid tubs ready in case you have to tear down. Avoid Dacsyllus and Chrysipterus. Post photos!

And since clowns are technically damsels also, so you could have a pair of clowns & still call it a damsel tank. Avoid the mild mannered pink skunks, don't think they'd like the stress

 

[Beemo]

your tank is beautiful
i really like dwarf angels but i wondered if they are reef safe? i read different things about them, some say they are reef safe and some sites say add with caution.
i plan on alot of corals and i wouldnt want them destroyed, although a zoa picked off here and there wont matter much

 

[VSpeck]

i had a damsel tank as my first tank everything went well except for one fish which i caught and took back. i also had damsels mixed in my other tanks with many diffrent kinds of fish and that went well to try it if you have one that is a problem take it out just keep variations of damsels or the ones that look alike will normaly fight.

 

[MIKE NY]

I have about 5-6 different species in my 90. There was some fighting when they were introduced until territories were set up. Now there just a little bickering and fin flaring once in awhile, but no injuries and all are out in their own areas with the most dominent ones swimming the whole tank.

 

[Beemo]

im trying to find sites on damsel behavior and i cant seem to find any info on why they are aggressive.
is it an urge to breed and establish terriotories? or are they just in it for the kill?
i keep central american cichlids and some of you will know they are down right vicious, but i learned not to keep pairs of any one species since its the urge to breed that causes most of the aggression, and i slightly overstock so no one fish is singled out for an attack. would this be the same for damsels?
maybe i just have a thing for aggressive fish lol...but there is something about those lil pug faces and big eyes of the three striped damsel

 

[anabolic_1]

The 3 stripe damsel is a piece of work! I don't know where the attitude comes from for such a small fish! (but that just might be it) I swear mine used to curse at me in the middle of the night! The yellow tailed blue damsels seem to be okay.....I have had mine for almost 20 years. They are brutal, but soon put in their place! I have a breeding pair and the male makes SURE the female pays attention to him! Surprised I have not seen them on Jerry Springer! The striped damsels you will have to rip your whole tank apart to get them out, if thats your plan, they will find any little hole in a rock and just sit there for hours, whether in water or not! I hear they make great bait! Best of luck.
Mike.

 

[Beemo]

does the 3 striped attack fish or inverts as well?

 

[anabolic_1]

My 3 stripe attacked everything, rocks, other fish, its reflection in the glass! It was relentlass! Someone up the road from me farted and he was right there! They are like weeds. And not weeds that bloom pretty!

Mike.

 

[Beemo]

lol ok i dont think damsels are gonna work then
petshops are usually loaded with them, i wonder who buys them all, are they all used for cycling only to reach death when they are done doing their job?

 

[Big Ying]

I have an Atlantic Orange Tail Damsel in my shallow 125 gallon along with a three stripe damsel and a bluehead wrasse, Niger Trigger, and a Snowflake Eel. The atlantic Orangetail is the most aggressive fish I have ever seen, but does not bother the three stripe at all. It occasionally goes after the wrasse, especially when it was first introduced. The wrasse seems to have worn it down with its persistence. It goes face to face with the trigger sometimes, with neither one backing down, but neither one attacking each other either. I have had some other small damsels in the tank at times, and although it did show some aggressiveness, it wasn't excessive unless they went into the heart of its territory.I had a Harlequin Baslet in there also and they fought a lot at first, but both learned to respect each other and coexisted nicely after that.

I've also kept a yellowtail damsel in a 10 gallon with a Sebae clown with no problems, and there is currently one in my 55 gal with 2 dwarf angels and a tomato clown with no problems.

I have read posts before of people keeping a lot of Damsels together with no problems. I believe because if there is a lot of them it reduces the territoriality behavior because it takes too much energy to police a territory.

 

[Beemo]

so if i get one of each, which will come out to about 9 damsels, that doesnt leave much room for territories, so maybe then less aggression?
i keep cichlids and what i do with them is overstock this way the fighting is so spread out that no one fish is singled out for an attack, everyone gets along great and i have some pretty nasty fish. so maybe i can do the same with damsels?

 

[MIKE NY]

Why is everone of afraid of this cute little guy...LOL

I have a pair and they aren't that bad. I think the PBT I have keeps them all in check.

 

[Beemo]

see what i mean lol look at his face, its soooo cute
whats a PBT?
do damsels grow fast?
my clowns havent grown at all, ive had them for like 6 months now and they are still small. they bicker all the time, so there not exactly sweet pea's either

i was looking at fish that i like, and the flame angel is like 60 bux!! im like holy moly thats alot, damsels are like 4.99 lol

 

[Big Ying]

It should work. Do a search for some other threads about it to be sure, although I rarely can get on the search engine any more. Maybe get up at 6:00 A.M.