Question on Adding a Yellowtail Damsel or Not

[RobertN]

Hi--
I have a 100g cube. Currently the fish that I have are a female and male Ocellaris clownfish, a medium Melanurus Wrasse, a medium male and female Lyretail Anthias, a medium Yellow Tang, a small-to-medium Royal Gramma, a Pajama Cardinal, and 4 small/young Green Chromis.
I'm wondering folks' opinions on adding a Yellowtail Damsel to that group? Do you think it's likely to be ok or likely to be trouble (I know there are always variations in any "typical" situation and exceptions to "rules")? And if you think it's ok, should I stick with one or would it be wiser to add 2 or 3?
Thanks much in advance! Robert

 

[Rattooth]

Do not! You will regret, because they are aggressive . The longer you have tank , you will see that the fish you add now , will prevent adding a fish you like better later. Space is limited.
They are hardy . If you really like , add last. I would only use as dither fish in aggressive tanks like eels, triggers , lion.
Or maybe use in child's tank that has strict budget. They are cheap.

 

[Squid]

Have had mine for over 2 years. Is only aggressive when new small fish are added. I put him in the sump for a couple weeks when I get new fish and by the time I put him back he is a model citizen. Eats flatworms too.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Derivation of the work Damsel.........Dam plus n, and sel.....and I'm convinced sel means fish in some dialect. It is a dam plus n fish!!!!

I had a damsel once that killed three of my fish.....a purple velvet damsel. It was placed into the witness protect system by luckily finding a home in an aggressive tank. It has since passed on to hell!

 

[FL_Reefer]

Damsels are the devil in fish form! They look nice while you are at the store, then bam, instantly you will want it out of your tank cause it picking on all of your other fish. Then you will have to try and trap it, all of your other fish will go into the trap but the damsel. You will finally get it out of there and then say man, I should have listened to all the good peeps on R2R that told me not to. Just saying, been there and done that with a couple of different kinds of damsels.

 

[RobertN]

Thanks for the feedback so far! I do know that Damsels are generally monsters when put into tanks with peaceful and/or some small fish. But I had seen quite a few people saying that Yellowtails can be pretty agreeable and acceptable. I was particularly wondering about the combo between a Yellowtail and the Royal Gramma or the combination with the young Green Chromis.

 

[4FordFamily]

Don't.

 

[NanaReefer]

Don't. The one I had up and killed my $90.00 Swalesi Basslet [emoji35][emoji36]

 

[eatbreakfast]

There are literally hundreds of species of damselfish. Most are very aggressive. However, the genus Chrysiptera has some of the mellowist and community friendly members.

The yellow tail, Chrysiptera parasemena, is a good choice for a community tank. They will claim a small territory and defend it, but as long as the "intruder" keeps swimming there is no issue. If you decide to get them only get one because if a pair begins to spawn they get much more aggressive.

I have frequently added Chrysiptera damsels to a mixed community reef without issues.

 

[Chris Adams]

I had yellow tail for 7 years and sure they have an attitude and try to be a bully but never actually did damage to a fish. More flashing and saying this is my territory but basically the others ignored it. I think my clowns are more territory aggressive than a yellow tail was. My yellow tail would hide when I put hand in tank and clowns would attack(black Ocellaris and snowflake) .

Seems that everyone's experiences vary which seems to be common for most things related to this hobby.

I will say once you put it in it will make you pay if you want to remove it they are fast, generally small and very elusive

 

[malira]

Why take the risk? My son had to tear his tank apart to get his out. It attached him when he was tending to his corals and it killed/harassed two other fish.

Why take the risk?

 

[runzwithscissors]

Even if they don't kill anything, IMO the stress they induce on other fish just ain't worth it.......stressed fish are more susceptible to the nasty stuff that fish can contract.

 

[louieg]

Don't do it. I had 2 blue yellow tail damsels in my tank and they were bullies. Well, the largest of the 2 damsel was very aggressive and would not let my other fish swim near the front of the tank. It was terrible because my other 3 fish, including the smaller damsel, would always be near the back corner. I ended up removing the larger of the 2 damsels but then the smaller one became as aggressive as the one removed. Getting the second damsel required breaking down the tank. Moral of the story: Don't get a yellow tail damsel.

 

[MikeCizzle]

I had 2 blue yellow tail damsels that apperently met their match because my Purple Dottyback bullied them to death. They must have messed with the wrong fish. But the damsels where a pain in the butt anyway. They would dig into my sand with their tails and cover some of my corals.

 

[ilovereefing <3]

I currently have 2 yellowtail damsels, and I wish I had not gotten them. They used to bully the heck out of my clownfish, and although that has stopped as the clown has gotten bigger, they still like to chase fish around and cause stress. My yellowtails are the only fish that bite me when my hands are in the tank. I wouldn't add them.

 

[Jerry Gaddy]

I have one in my tank now. I have tried to introduce several fish and he attacks them all instantly. I am in the process of removing him. I want to introduce some chromes and I know there is no use until I remove him.

 

[RobertN]

Hmmm.....well, it just sounds like too much of a risk that I may end up regretting a lot. Thanks for all of the feedback!

 

[Helenareefer]

I just completely broke down a 75 gallon tank to remove a super aggressive blue spawn from Hell damsel and his gang members. The gang leader owned about 75% of the tank and would keep 6 fish, some larger than it, in about a 2' square place in the tank. It killed 2 cleaner shrimp, a lawnmower, and one clown before I decided the murderous SOB was just a bad seed and had to go. I have a little tank set up for the gang members, but he's gone...don't miss him.

 

[Tank2379]

I had a pair of Yellow tail Damsels that where model citizen until they started breeding.. That's the only time they got aggressive to protect there eggs..

 

[ca1ore]

Been keeping yellowtail blue damsels for decades and have never had any trouble with them. Cannot say the same for other damsel species, but these have never caused any problems. The one in my tank at the moment is right at the bottom of the pecking order.