I bought two blue damsels (no yellow tail) for my 6 gallon nano from the LFS. One of them seems dominant. The other one stays in the caves. It comes out for feeding but soon becomes intimidated by the other one and retreats to the caves. There is physical damage done, just posturing. I am worried one will not eat and waste away. I thought damsels were social. I was wondering if they were labeled as damsels but they are actually chromis or something. Please help. Any info is appreciated.
Two blue damsels in a 6 gallon nano not getting along
- Thread starter Yarrow
- Start date
winstar311
New member
I had two damsels ,, blue and yellow tails, and one was very aggressive toward the other one also. I was told they are very aggressive fish,,, I finally gave them to my son because I didn't want to see a casuality in my tank. lol. I now have two clown gobies. I was told also that chromis's are very peaceful fish, and like to stay in groups.
Wolverine
Premium Member
Re: Two blue damsels in a 6 gallon nano not getting along
No, damsels are definitely not social. Chromis are much more likely to school, but even they will often kill each other off.
I've seen damsels like that kill each other in 50g tanks, there's almost no chance in a 6g.
Dave
No, damsels are definitely not social. Chromis are much more likely to school, but even they will often kill each other off.
I've seen damsels like that kill each other in 50g tanks, there's almost no chance in a 6g.
Dave
mntl
New member
Damsels are not good in pairs in nano's. The best I have done is two runt yellow-tails that I bought at the same time from the same tank (I picked the smallest ones) and they tolerated eachother. This was in a 10gal and it was a mistake on my part (my first fish in the hobby) It is better to get a single damsel for a nano, even when they do tolerate eachother in a nano, they are much more relaxed and long-lived alone.
just my .02c
-John-
just my .02c
-John-
tkeracer619
New member
I have a 3 stripe damsel that even though is supposed to be aggressive he doesn't mind the other fish at all. I have seen him working in conjunction with a fridmani dottyback when I placed nori in the tank for the first time. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it. The damsel and dottyback were stalking it from one side while a lawnmower blenny watched from his rock.
davidcalgary29
New member
And why not? They *can* be great additions to a reef tank if a little care is taken.
Wow, I seem to get conflicting advice. I wanted to yellow gobies but people said they would fight. Other reefers told me to put Damsels into a 6 gallon because they were hardy and social. I guess sometime you just gotta do the experiment yourself. I appreciate all the advice. I'm going to take out one of the damsels and leave the other one. Does anyone else feel that one damsel in a six gallon is too much. I really want to know. Maybe a single yellow goby in a six gallon would be much happier.
davidcalgary29
New member
I have a yellow goby in my 6g softie tank, and it seems content enough. It's certainly not very active, though -- just hangs around on the glass until feeding time.
IMO a 6g is too small for a damsel - it will be fine (most are very hardy), but you will not see the more active swimming behavior you would in a larger tank. I think people recommend them for 10g or smaller because they don't mind as much poor water quality common in nanos. Most people don't like them because of their aggresiveness, but that's not an issue if they're the only fish (although they may pester motile inverts like shrimp as well). Definitely take one out (a 6g should only have 1 fish at most, whatever the size), but I would stick with the 1 damsel if you like him (I'm assuming you have a Chrysiptera blue devil damsel). Small gobies like yellow clown, neon, hi fin shrimpgobies, etc. would be fine as well (instead of the damsel), but are all generally much less active than damsels.
Ryan
Ryan
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