Damsel Dominant Tank Owners Thread
- Thread starter tsav
- Start date
o2manyfish
o2manyfish
I have a large collection of damsels in my 400g reef.
4 Blue Damsels
4 Orange Tail Damsels
3 Starki
2 Stegassi
10+ Kupang
10+ Springeri
There are another 100 fish of various shapes and sizes in the tank. Within chaos you can sometimes find order. The Blue damsels are the oldest and could be almost 10 years at this point.
Dave B
4 Blue Damsels
4 Orange Tail Damsels
3 Starki
2 Stegassi
10+ Kupang
10+ Springeri
There are another 100 fish of various shapes and sizes in the tank. Within chaos you can sometimes find order. The Blue damsels are the oldest and could be almost 10 years at this point.
Dave B
The small-species fishes like blennies and gobies seem not to tick off the dascyllus---which is about the pushiest, in form and behavior a lot like maroon clowns---and I suspect that they wouldn't bother wrasses, though I'm not sure; the danger with dartfish would be more that the dartfish might spook and jump. But based on dascyllus attitude toward chromis, I'm not sure I would trust them with anthias. The fiji blues and blue stars are shaped like chromis, but they seem to be perfectly ok with them. I have no idea why chromis tick them off, but I'm always cautious when putting in fish of similar shape as one that was 'objected to.'
jenjen
New member
Live aquaria says a 55 is min for a small group, so it likely would work to add 2 or 3 azure to your 65. I would suggest making sure your tank is tightly covered if it isn't already because you do have some fish that are prone to jumping and any assertiveness from the damsels may exasperate that.
tsav
New member
tsav
New member
jenjen
New member
How big is your tank?
jenjen
New member
Reading back I see that now.. Sorry!
That's a lot of damsels for a 45g. The three stripe in particular will be a feisty one.
Mine have been in my system for around a year and are just now starting to show aggression (they're very sweet when they're little!), but in a 180 I have a bit of space for guys to hide out.
Are you planning to add other fish? If yes, what do you have in mind?
tsav
New member
Nope no other fish plans here. Wanted to keep it a chrysiptera only tank.
If any of the fish end up being killed because of aggression I do not have plans to replace them. I wanted damsels because this will be an SPS tank and to me, when I see pics of real SPS reefs, I see damsels, mostly. Going for a specific biotope I guess.
tsav
New member
If you are going with one species, I would go with the Talboti. They look like miniature anthias to me.
jenjen
New member
Damselfish are not nice fish! They are colourful, active and affordable. But they're mean as heck (most of them). They also rarely hide which does make them appealing.
Theyre brave as can be!! They defend their territory vigorously against any size predator they feel is a threat - be it to their sleeping quarters or their food supply.
Their agression grows as they age and if they pair up and start spawning their territory requirements expand and their defence of that territory increases. They come into our systems as colourful, bold little 'model citizens ' but that can quickly change as they get older.
I would personally not risk a spawning pair of any kind of damsel in anything but a very large tank so I personally wouldn't try more than one of anything. Some have seen success with groups of azure but I'm too much a chicken to try even that.
Personally in my limited experience with damsels my opinion is they absolutely won't tolerate being crowded - I feel they need to be able to claim around 30 gal each but that said I don't think they do well in less than 100 gal. I do think they do ok with other species occupying the same space as long as sleeping spots are plentiful and there's enough space to run away if needed.
Mine are in with dwarf angels, tangs, gobies and blennies. They don't like the blennies and gobies and really don't like the chromis. They seem not to even notice the others so far.
I'll be curious to see the updates from anyone who cares to let us know how their damsels do as they get into the 2-3 year range.
Good info everyone.. keep it up!
Theyre brave as can be!! They defend their territory vigorously against any size predator they feel is a threat - be it to their sleeping quarters or their food supply.
Their agression grows as they age and if they pair up and start spawning their territory requirements expand and their defence of that territory increases. They come into our systems as colourful, bold little 'model citizens ' but that can quickly change as they get older.
I would personally not risk a spawning pair of any kind of damsel in anything but a very large tank so I personally wouldn't try more than one of anything. Some have seen success with groups of azure but I'm too much a chicken to try even that.
Personally in my limited experience with damsels my opinion is they absolutely won't tolerate being crowded - I feel they need to be able to claim around 30 gal each but that said I don't think they do well in less than 100 gal. I do think they do ok with other species occupying the same space as long as sleeping spots are plentiful and there's enough space to run away if needed.
Mine are in with dwarf angels, tangs, gobies and blennies. They don't like the blennies and gobies and really don't like the chromis. They seem not to even notice the others so far.
I'll be curious to see the updates from anyone who cares to let us know how their damsels do as they get into the 2-3 year range.
Good info everyone.. keep it up!
jenjen
New member
Talbot is an interesting one. Definitely the most mild of my crew by far. It has a small burrow at one end of my tank and hangs out there and under a small overhang. Nobody seems to bother it. It hasn't grown much - still around an inch though apparently they can get to 2.5 or so.
Definitely not as active or interesting as the others but pretty colours and good behaviour so far. Very chromis-like. I'm not sure I'd want a tank with only them in.
jenjen
New member
That would definitely be my suggestion.
