Blue damsels

[105man]

Anyone know how to differentiate a so-called Orange Tail Damsel from the Fiji Blue Devil Damsel?

Also, any experience with adding either to a tank that has a Butterfly, Mandarin Fish, Yellow Tang and Chalk Basslets?

Thanks.

[g. mcclean]

The blue devil damsel is electric blue. Females and juveniles have a black spot on the posteriorbase of the dorsal fin. Males lack the black spot and have orange-yellow tails. Perhaps the two you mentioned are in reality just different sexes of the same species. This is one of the few damsels that display obvious sex differences. (taken from John Tullock's Natural Reef Aquariums) They are also very scrappy while your other fish are more docile. I don't recall your tank size, but I have read that damsels, while beautiful, can be quite the nuisance.

[kreblak]

Blue Devils are real jerks in a tank. I had one that killed every single one of his tank mates. He would harass them nonstop until they stressed so badly they just croaked. I wouldn't add one to a peaceful tank.

[105man]

I will watch it carefully and hope for the best. Maybe one good thing is that the other fish were there first, other than the Chalk Basslets. And all the other fish are bigger than the blue, and there are no other damsels (or clowns or chromis or other relatives!).

Thanks.

[kreblak]

Size means nothing to a Blue Devil. My homocidal (ichthyocidal... whatever) blue devil was about 2 to 3 inches long, and very torpedo shaped. He took out SIX other damsels that were all his size, as well as going after a 4 inch maroon clownfish and a decent sized yellow tang before I removed him from the tank.

[105man]

Ugh...what would be an early sign of aggression to look for?

Do you think there's any chance it might just live peaceably?

[kreblak]

Signs of agression:

ragged fins (fin nipping)
loss of color in other fish due to stress
fish stop eating
fish hide constantly

Other than those, watch for open agression from the damsel. Mine could care less who was watching. I saw him go after all the other fish in broad daylight.

[105man]

Well, you know how nearly impossible it is to get a damsel out of a reef tank...so far, at least, all the fish are eating. The only ones hiding and maybe fearful are the Chalk Basslets, which I added to the tank at the same time as the Blue Devil (or Orange Tail) Damsel...not sure which it actually is.

No overt aggression. Id like to get it out of there, though, just for peace of mind if you have any good ideas about how!

[kreblak]

This is kind of hit or miss, but I used a bait box to get mine out. Since he dominated the tank, I put a little food in the box, and he went after it before anyone else could. Once he was trapped in the box, I simply took him out and placed him in a Ziploc bag for transport back to the LFS. I got the trap box from my LFS for around $5. I think they are sold as "quarantine dividers" or something like that. They were designed to get sick fish safely out of the tank.

[Joey D]

I would stay away from electric blue damsels, domino damsels, striped damsels(black and white), and maybe even the yellow damsels as i have found them to be very aggressive, especially the domino and electric blue ones. Nice damsels are the yellow tail blue damsels.The green chromis damsels too, which swim in a school, and add a nice natural look to the tank.

[tricksterpup]

Another not so aggressive damsel is the Talbot Damsel. This fish has a yellow head and pinkish colored body, with a black spot. These guys will chase around new fish but still are not as agressive as the ones mentioned, or the neon blue line damsel. What is also neat about the talbot, is that they tend to blend in with the purple and pink of the live rock, you can watch your tank and the fish could fade away while you are watching them. they are really neat that way.



jim