2 striped damsels

mcbdz · Apr 12, 2019

Hello, Does anyone on here have any experience with keeping a shoal of these damsels? Are they just as aggressive as most others? Thanks for any advice?

nereefpat · Apr 12, 2019

If it's a Dascyllus sp, like domino and 3 stripe, then it will be large and very aggressive.

Better damsels in a group would be the species in the Chrysiptera genus. Yellow tail, talbot, saphire, azure, etc.

Act1n1c_L1fe · Apr 12, 2019

mcbdz said:
Hello, Does anyone on here have any experience with keeping a shoal of these damsels? Are they just as aggressive as most others? Thanks for any advice?

all damsels are aggressive imho. stick to chromis species if you want a pretty, peaceful, school of fish. they are also only a few dollars a fish.

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 12, 2019

Act1n1c_L1fe said:
all damsels are aggressive imho. stich to chromis species if you want a pretty, peaceful, school of fish. they are also only a few dollars a fish.

If you decide to do Chromis please QT them as Uronema has become very common.

Act1n1c_L1fe · Apr 12, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
If you decide to do Chromis please QT them as Uronema has become very common.

+1

mcbdz · Apr 12, 2019

nereefpat said:
If it's a Dascyllus sp, like domino and 3 stripe, then it will be large and very aggressive.

Better damsels in a group would be the species in the Chrysiptera genus. Yellow tail, talbot, saphire, azure, etc.

It is a Dascyllus sp. max size is 3 3/4 I believe. Was hoping they weren't so bad. I thought the yellow tail were suppose to be devil fish?

mcbdz · Apr 12, 2019

I originally wanted the blue/green chromis and still probably will try down the road. Just have read so much about them being sick now and also that they will pick each other off til you are left with one. The local LFS had a tank full of the 2 striped so thought I would check and see their story since I haven't researched them before.

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 12, 2019

mcbdz said:
I originally wanted the blue/green chromis and still probably will try down the road. Just have read so much about them being sick now and also that they will pick each other off til you are left with one. The local LFS had a tank full of the 2 striped so thought I would check and see their story since I haven't researched them before.

I’m going to eventually do 6-7 Chromis but they will be QT’ed and treated prophylacticly for Uronema, along with everything else.

ca1ore · Apr 12, 2019

Act1n1c_L1fe said:
all damsels are aggressive imho. stick to chromis species if you want a pretty, peaceful, school of fish. they are also only a few dollars a fish.

Not ALL damsels are aggressive, given enough space and hiding spots. Chrysiptera genus are mostly well behaved. I find chromis more aggressive - they will usually winnow themselves down to just one or two.

Act1n1c_L1fe · Apr 12, 2019

ca1ore said:
Not ALL damsels are aggressive, given enough space and hiding spots. Chrysiptera genus are mostly well behaved. I find chromis more aggressive - they will usually winnow themselves down to just one or two.

sure. I have a one inch yellow damsel that bullies my 13 inch $1,000 vlamingi tang and it ticks me off.

Act1n1c_L1fe · Apr 12, 2019

and of course I cant catch the stupid little fish to take him out. my sixline wrasse is more peaceful then the damsel. the damsels are evil!!!

albano · Apr 12, 2019

ca1ore said:
Not ALL damsels are aggressive, given enough space and hiding spots. Chrysiptera genus are mostly well behaved.

As mentioned Chrysiptera are the ‘better’ damsel.
If you’d like to keep a group of chromis together, plan on restocking weekly

Sailingeric · Apr 12, 2019

I have 4 damsels in my tank, a blue, yellow tail, a talbot, and three strip. They all behave really good but I do have a 75 gallon tank so there is plenty of room. My biggest ****** in the group is my blue green chromis but even then he is not too bad.

User1 · Apr 12, 2019

Has already stated if you want to keep Damsels in any number you want to be in the Chrysiptera genus. Talbots, azures, etc. @ca1ore has over 50 in his 450 gallon so speaks based on experience with regards to large numbers if you will. I've kept 3 Azures and 3 Talbots together without issues in a 40 breeder. The key is to have enough rock and mature coral so that they all have their own territory and safety space.

I think that is really important though. New tanks or relatively young tanks do not offer enough mature coral to break up the chase. They need places to sleep. Places to shack up with others if they bond/nest. And finally places that they basically retreat too when things go crazy. If you can provide a mature tank with good coral growth then you can put in any number of Chrysiptera Damsels. It will add a splash of color and speed which is a good thing.

Lastly on the Chromis front - they are cheap but more or less fight until there is only one left. It may not happen right away but they start with the smallest and weakest then before you know it only one or two are left. Damsels, at least when I go diving and run across a reef crest with them, there are thousands in a small area and when you breach the crest of the reef and look down, well, it is a very mature reef with lots of different corals and the Damsels just dart in, out, and around so quickly that there is no wonder why so many and so many hiding spots.

Good luck with whatever you do.

GoldeneyeRet · Apr 12, 2019

I have a group of tuxedos, C tricincta. They are "striped" and are good community fish. They are a bit more fiesty amongst themselves than my other damsels, but they are wonderful fish. Not all damsels are evil.

If the striped damsels you are referring to are from another genus they may very well be aggressive. A more specific ID would be helpful.

mcbdz · Apr 12, 2019

GoldeneyeRet said:
I have a group of tuxedos, C tricincta. They are "striped" and are good community fish. They are a bit more fiesty amongst themselves than my other damsels, but they are wonderful fish. Not all damsels are evil.

If the striped damsels you are referring to are from another genus they may very well be aggressive. A more specific ID would be helpful.

(Dascyllus reticulatus) But I think I'll Hold off for now.I have a 55gal for observation QT and later will go in my 240gal DT. My local LFS QT and I was trying to decide on which fish I wanted to add first. They had a tank of these and I had not researched so thought I would see if anyone had experience with them. I do plan on having more docile fish so don't want to start with something that would cause a problem with gobie and blennies. Want to start with hardy fish that want kill anything that I put in later. Looking for my 1st fish. May go back with clowns first.

Act1n1c_L1fe · Apr 12, 2019

saf1 said:
Has already stated if you want to keep Damsels in any number you want to be in the Chrysiptera genus. Talbots, azures, etc. @ca1ore has over 50 in his 450 gallon so speaks based on experience with regards to large numbers if you will. I've kept 3 Azures and 3 Talbots together without issues in a 40 breeder. The key is to have enough rock and mature coral so that they all have their own territory and safety space.

I think that is really important though. New tanks or relatively young tanks do not offer enough mature coral to break up the chase. They need places to sleep. Places to shack up with others if they bond/nest. And finally places that they basically retreat too when things go crazy. If you can provide a mature tank with good coral growth then you can put in any number of Chrysiptera Damsels. It will add a splash of color and speed which is a good thing.

Lastly on the Chromis front - they are cheap but more or less fight until there is only one left. It may not happen right away but they start with the smallest and weakest then before you know it only one or two are left. Damsels, at least when I go diving and run across a reef crest with them, there are thousands in a small area and when you breach the crest of the reef and look down, well, it is a very mature reef with lots of different corals and the Damsels just dart in, out, and around so quickly that there is no wonder why so many and so many hiding spots.

Good luck with whatever you do.

that's a different species. the yellow ones (Pomacentrus moluccensis) are the evil ones. if you do chromis buy at least 6-10 of them. they do fight within species and will kill a few of each other off but damsels fight anything. im waiting on adding a barrier reef chromis...

Mastiffsrule · Apr 12, 2019

;Smuggrin

Frtdrmrose7 said:
If you decide to do Chromis please QT them as Uronema has become very common.

Beat me to it.

I have 5 chromis I added to my long established tank to jazz it up a bit about 5 months ago. They school nicely and get along for the most part. Mine went right in w/ no qt, but I do NOT recommend this.

Feed lots of healthy foods like Larry’s reef or frozen clams, etc. between qt and healthy foods you should be ok