I want a damsel

Wesley42079 · Jan 27, 2016

I would advise not to put any damsel into your display. True, they are colorful and inexpensive, but they are known as the "devil" fish. Any new fish you add will get terrorized. And good luck in trying to fish them out of your tank. Thise little turds are very fast and love to use your rocks as cover. Live and learn.

eatbreakfast · Jan 27, 2016

GOSKN5 said:
Nice... my tank is 24x24x30.. could I swing a trio? Or would that not be enough space for them to spread out etc???

If added simultaneously you can add three.

Wesley42079 said:
I would advise not to put any damsel into your display. True, they are colorful and inexpensive, but they are known as the "devil" fish. Any new fish you add will get terrorized. And good luck in trying to fish them out of your tank. Thise little turds are very fast and love to use your rocks as cover. Live and learn.

I find Chrysiptera damsels are not that bad.

GOSKN5 · Jul 5, 2016

I wanted to bump this.. I swapped the 74 gallon for a standard 120... still considering a damsel trio..

Any more thoughts on maybe a trio of Azures? Tank mates include: a pair of occy clowns, firefish, bangaii cardinal, orchid dottyback, chalk bass, and two masked gobies.. all small fish..

Tank is open, but has several caves overhangs and holes in the rocks etc..

Ryengoth · Jul 5, 2016

If you get Azures, they each need their own cove/cave rock haven to make their own and patrol. Otherwise they will fight and kill each other until they establish their own land ownership. I had 6. I have 4 now and they still poke and chase each other being annoying neighbors but they behave during feeding time at this point. they are great fish and fun to watch but they are extremely aggressive and impossible to catch without a transparent fish trap and patience.

GOSKN5 · Jul 5, 2016

How are they towards tank mates? I wouldn't be as upset about them chasing each other haha

eatbreakfast · Jul 5, 2016

I haven't had a problem with azures. A trio will be fine in a 120.

Unless any of your other fish want caves, the azures won't bother them.

Ryengoth · Jul 5, 2016

They can be major energetic ******s towards other fish that come near their hidey-hole. They will often aggressively chase other Azures half-way across my tank if they've really irritated another one that refuses to stay away. They're pretty funny zipping in and out of pass-thrus in the wall reef. Sometimes the aggressor will stop mid-chase on the other side of the tank and realize he's not at home and run back or chase another fish because he's ticked off. LOL

I have mostly large species in my tank but I have seen them chase off an adult Bangaii or 2 and challenge the smaller adult female Ochre-Stripe which is usually a bad idea. They do not mess with my yellow tang or the starry blenny. They also help keep the smaller bits of food picked up off the rockwork. It's trade-off IMO.

GOSKN5 · Jul 5, 2016

My wife will kill me if they beat up any of our current fish hahaha... I just want some active mid level fish with color... I keep coming back to this idea

eatbreakfast · Jul 5, 2016

I've kept them frequently with fairy, flasher, and small Halichoeres wrasse species, as well as dartfish, firefish, and tilefish.

They would posture and chase some of the wrasses that got too close to their territory, but no harm was ever caused. They ignored the dartfish, though some would choose to hide well within the damsel's territory.

Ryengoth · Jul 5, 2016

Even the cardinals posture and chase in my tank but I've only lost Azures from other Azures fighting over territory.

GOSKN5 · Jul 5, 2016

Divers den has a trio coming up today.... trying to decide if I have the guts to pull the trigger hHa

jenjen · Jul 5, 2016

I have a trio of azures in my 180. They each have their space and they do chase each other from time to time but don't really bother anyone else. I think I could add 2 more if I wanted - I do have lots of rock though.

My tank is all semi-agressive, nobody timid so that may make a difference. But they've never done anything more than chase others away from their holes.

Personally I really like the movement damsels add to a tank. I've had more agressive ones as well (I had a full size domino for a few years, and also a large 4 stripe) and found as long as I stocked carefully around them they were fine. But it's definitely possible I was lucky, given the number of horror stories out there.

I have found that all damsels I've had do seem to hate chromis though.

GOSKN5 · Jul 6, 2016

I decided to wait until dead last.. I still have several fish to add to this tank... I'm not going to have any large fish... plan is about 20 3" or less fish..

I'm still on the fence but I know my odds are better if I wait until last

GOSKN5 · Jul 18, 2016

Well an LFS had 4 Springeri damsels I watched em for a while.. very little bickering and in a smaller tank that my 120.. also had a few other fish in there.. no missing tails etc... so I got all 4.. I will update how they do..

mrtian97 · Jul 18, 2016

good luck, my 5 YT were doing fine together in 120 gallon system for about 6 months, then they started fighting with each other, 1 is dead due to fighting , 1 is in my QT. I plan to just dwindle them down, eventually go with other fishes

SantaMonicaHelp · Jul 20, 2016

mrtian97 said:
good luck, my 5 YT were doing fine together in 120 gallon system for about 6 months, then they started fighting with each other, 1 is dead due to fighting , 1 is in my QT. I plan to just dwindle them down, eventually go with other fishes

That's crazy! They lived in peace for 6 months prior to the fighting?! Did they live on the same diet as well?

- C. Smith

mrtian97 · Jul 21, 2016

yup, same diet, prior to that, they were part of 11 colonies, I got them as part of used tank that I bought, out of the 11, only 5 of them I moved to the tank (the others were gone from my LFS holding tank until the tank was established).

Ryengoth · Jul 23, 2016

I noticed that the Azures are growing at different rates. One of the 4 smaller in my tank has been attacking a larger one during feedings. He's missing a few scales but all 4 of them are fine. I have to broadcast the food over their home areas so they don't end up in the same feeding frenzy or they'll fight like crazy.

SantaMonicaHelp · Jul 28, 2016

mrtian97 said:
yup, same diet, prior to that, they were part of 11 colonies, I got them as part of used tank that I bought, out of the 11, only 5 of them I moved to the tank (the others were gone from my LFS holding tank until the tank was established).

Your tank sounds really nice, but also very bizarre.

Are you going to try to repopulate your tank?

@Ryengoth I'm happy to hear you found a solution before it was too late.

- C. Smith

GOSKN5 · Dec 8, 2016

I wanted to update this thread for anyone searching in the future..

I added 4 blue saphire damsels (Chrysiptera springeri).. one was smaller and got pushed around and ended up in the top corner of the tank hiding.. so I gave him away...

The other three have been doing great in my tank for about 3 months or so.. there is a clear larger one and two smaller ones.. the larger one gets along with them all, the two smaller ones bicker sometimes but no damage...

They pay little mind to my other fish, other than the occasional shake at my clown or orchid dottyback..

At night time they all have distinct sleeping territory that they guard but still only posturing and a brief chase.. nothing brutal...

Overall I am absolutely thrilled that I added them. The bright electric blue is amazing and they are constantly in motion... really neat fish that I would recommend with the following requirements:

Don't add just one (at least 3)
At least a 3-4 foot tank with clear territories for each damsel
Add all at once

Just my thoughts