Looking for a fish that will stand up to my damsel

L

leetch

New member
I have a 36 gal bowfront reef tank (not a lot of coral but continuing to add over time). There's a mated pair of false percs, a psychotic blue damsel and goby who hides under the rocks with his buddy Pepe the the pistol shrimp.

The damsel certainly has taken on the tank as her territory although the momma clown puts her in her place every now and then. I would like to add another fish but know that the damsel will harass it so I need a fish that will keep up with the damsel.

I know a dottyback will work but am wondering about other fishies like a flame angel (worried about being reef safe - no hard coral at this point for it to pick on though), or some other type of fishies that wont back down from the damsel. I have about 35 pounds of live rock providng a lot of hiding places and plan on adding a little more just to make sure the new addition will have a place to go that the damsel hasn't claimed.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.....keep in mind it still has to be a somewhat small fish 4" or less since the tank is only 36 gal.
 
My advise after being harassed by my 2 striped damsels for 8 years...ditch the damsel! I now have a wonderful, peaceful tank where everyone gets along.
 
Tough call. There are fish that would work well but the damsel has squatters rights and likely won't tolerate anything else being added. I'd suggest removing the damsel for awhile (put it in your sump if you have one, or a rubbermaid tote with a powerhead and heater). Add another fish and let it get settled, then re-introduce the damsel. I have a similar stock list in my 37; pair of clowns, ywg, pair of yellow tail damsels and a multicolor angel. The damsels square off with each other every now and then but leave everything else alone.
You could try a wrasse, a cherub angel, maybe a flame hawk?

or, as the other posters suggested, get rid of the damsel altogether!
 
I hear ya about the damsel. It's near impossible to catch and I love the color of it. I had put in a dottyback that it harassed at the beginning but after a few rounds in the ring, they become good friends and swam around together fairly often. Unfortunately a sea monster ate it or aliens abducted it as one day it just completely disappeared with no signs of ill health.

I liked the dottyback but wanted to see if there were any other viable alternatives outside of removing the damsel.
 
try to put a volitan lionfish.hehehe kidding aside +1 to have it placed on the sump and er-introducing it after you introduce the rest of the tank inhabitants :)
 
Ceebuano said:
try to put a volitan lionfish.hehehe kidding aside +1 to have it placed on the sump and er-introducing it after you introduce the rest of the tank inhabitants :)
Click to expand...

Haha - yeah my daughter wanted a Lionfish until I told her it would eat everything.
 
Not much will stand up to damsels, they will even take on divers in their territories
best to remove it or sump it and introduce it last!
 
Sounds like you love that damsel. Nice color I would agree, but you now have the damsel problem. You have to decide how much you want to keep it.
 
Look into the pygmy complex angels - cherub, flameback, etc. They should be able to hold their own once they're used to your tank, and they can handle some initial harassment.

You could definitely keep some of the cooler dottybacks in a tank like that, too. :)
 
I would also say, to get rid of the damsel, BUT, IMO, many dottybacks can also be aggressive
 
If he likes his damsel, there's no reason for him to get rid of it. Plenty of people keep aggressive tanks successfully.

Also - do you have a photo or more info on what kind of damsel this is?
 
treylane said:
If he likes his damsel, there's no reason for him to get rid of it. Plenty of people keep aggressive tanks successfully.

Also - do you have a photo or more info on what kind of damsel this is?
Click to expand...

It's a Blue Damselfish (Chrysiptera cyanea) - all blue so it is a female. It's a cheap fish but fun to watch because it's so active, swimming in and out of the rocks and re-arranging the sand. I also enjoy watching it give a little nudge to the momma Clown then watching the Clown put her back in her place.

All my fish at this point get along great - although the Damsel does harass the goby but that's no big deal as the goby has his nice home under the rocks with his bachelor buddy, the pistol shrimp. They've all been in the tank (together) for about 6 months now with no serious issues.

The tank is about a year and a half old and I will be adding about 5 more pounds of live rock when I add the new fish to hopefully make things different enough that it reduces territorial aggression.
 
leetch said:
It's a Blue Damselfish (Chrysiptera cyanea) - all blue so it is a female. It's a cheap fish but fun to watch because it's so active, swimming in and out of the rocks and re-arranging the sand. I also enjoy watching it give a little nudge to the momma Clown then watching the Clown put her back in her place.

All my fish at this point get along great - although the Damsel does harass the goby but that's no big deal as the goby has his nice home under the rocks with his bachelor buddy, the pistol shrimp. They've all been in the tank (together) for about 6 months now with no serious issues.

The tank is about a year and a half old and I will be adding about 5 more pounds of live rock when I add the new fish to hopefully make things different enough that it reduces territorial aggression.
Click to expand...


sounds like a nice plan to me :dance:
 
i have a 3 striped damsel for years in my 90. it has survived power outages and crash. a dwarf angel is ur best bet.
 
Well I went to my LFS and talked to him about it as well. He stated a dwarf angel or dotty would do the best with some other small suggestions. The flame angel they had was a little on the thin side and he stated it probably wouldn't be the best since they've had it for a while and it still hasn't really grown out.

I decided to go with a neon dottyback that they had who, when fed, had quite the voracious appetite and seemed in great health. I figured the healthier looking specimen could more readily withstand a challenge.

I added another 5lb of live rock and moved it a round a little bit so as to not stress out the current inhabitants too much. The dotty found himself a nice hole but the damsel is certainly making his case for who's tank it is. I will watch them closely over the next 24-48 hours and if the damsel continues it's aggression and the dotty doesn't assert itself, I will use my LFS's suggest of floating a spaghetti strainer in the tank and putting the damsel in it until the dotty has set it's territory.

Wish me luck, I hope it works out....although I feel the dotty was probably the better choice.
 
A Bicolor Dottyback! LOL
That will teach THAT damsel a lesson it will never forget.
I've always kept semi-aggressive fish, so I don't really mind the damsels myself..

Matthew
 
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