What's the big deal with damsels being bad?

J

Jason13

New member
I'm noob reefs and saltwater, but I've been keeping freshwater for years. 3-4 months ago I sold what I could and transitioned over to a building a 75 gallon reef. So far, everything except my wallet is doing really good.

My 9 year old has been helping build the tank and for all his hard work, I let him pick most of the fish to stock it with. One of those is a yellowtail damsel about 2" long. So far the damsel hasn't been mean at all. Really passive. In fact, everything in my tank gets along really well.

Current fish stock:
Yellowtail Damsel
Flame angel (he completely ignores the few pieces of coral I have)
Firefish
Orchid dottyback (my favorite)

Did I just get lucky with the damsel, or am i in for a surprise?
 
Some are devils and others behave.. I think if enough hiding spots are given and smaller than the others in DT is the way to go..

I had 3 in my tank and sometimes it got heated.. But all become BFF's later in the day :D
 
I forgot to mention that the damsel freaks me out a little. I'm convinced it's plotting against me. Everytime I look at the tank, it is staring back at me from the rocks. If I move to another area of the tank, theree it is, in the rocks poking it's head out staring back at me. Everyone thinks I'm a little nuts until they see it for themselves.
If he ever figures out how to breath air and escape his glass prison....I'm screwed...

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you have 3 aggressive fish, the dottyback, damsel and angel all probably keep eachother in check. Typcally people get a damsel as a first fish because its considered a hardy fish, but when more peaceful fish are added later they will get picked on.
 
I would think with 3 aggressive fish, the firefish would get picked on constantly...not the case though. He doesn't seem to care much about the other three.

I thought I did my homework and the regular purple dottyback was the aggressive one. Just about everything I have read about the orchid says it's pretty well behaved...maybe I'm wrong.

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orchids can be more behaved but they are hit or miss too. Dartfish stick to the top of the tank while the other 3 like mid/bottom and rockwork, their territories dont usually overlap.
 
That makes sense. Hopefully they stay behaved in the long term and don't become little jerks.

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I have a yellow tail and my older pair of clows in a 20L and the clowns pick on the damsel. In my very limited experience fish tend to be more concerned about other fish that are roughly the same shape. In my 45 I have a firefish and none of the other fish ever look twice at him. Also my LMB is left alone, but the tang and the cherub are constantly interacting with each other and my wrasses (they usually bolt) and the clowns really only watch them. It might be the swim stroke or the shape or even the coloration, but to me fish seem interested in each other mainly in a "are you eating the same thing as me" sort of way. If that's true it makes sense that damsels are often at odds with other fish because they are sort of fish shaped, they eat anything and their movements are definitely more predatorial. That's my completely unscientific feeling anyway.
 
I had three yellow tailed damsels. They were my first fish. I loved the color on them. Anyways, they turned out to be terrorists.

They would plot against other fish and ended up killing two of my fish. I eventually pulled them all out and sold them at my LFS before I found this site.

I'll never get them again. Nice looking fish but I wouldn't risk it again unless they were in a tank all alone. My fish now are all peaceful and loving fish.
 
I have three yellowtail damsels. Recommended to keep singly of in small groups of odd numbers. A lot of people will buy these fish just to cycle their tanks and then they end up never dying. I recently let my girlfriend pick out some fish for my 125 and she chose 3 little damsels. Haha mine have been very passive but thy aren't biggest species in the tank. This species of damsel is known to be of a less aggressive nature and mine are very docile. Mine hide in rocks and sps till I'm ready to feed or they see me and mine also are right up on the glass looking. They stick to one side of tank so they don't follow me around. My purple dotty back is a fierce fish that holds his own with much larger fish. Your dotty back shouldn't b aggressive. I don't think you should have any damsel problems in your tank
 
Time to update...a week ago the damsel was removed fron my dt. I think it had a mental breakdown or was bipolar, cuz it went from "docile and inquisitive" to flat out psycho. All i did was added a new fish.

Don't get me started on the pain of catching the little bastard...

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Jason13 said:
Time to update...a week ago the damsel was removed fron my dt. I think it had a mental breakdown or was bipolar, cuz it went from "docile and inquisitive" to flat out psycho. All i did was added a new fish.

Don't get me started on the pain of catching the little bastard...

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Lol and thats their problem they are always tge first fish put in tank. Because there cheap. But in reality should be last fish added. But in another reality there is no last fish added to r tanks im always selling and getting new . Im sure every one else does the same .
 
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