aggressive damsel?

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ctheisen

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Dec 30, 2002
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I'm new to salt water and had a tank going pretty well until I introduced a new damsel. I have had two damsels in a 29 gal that have gotten along great. I'm almost at the end of cycling and saw a new damsel I liked. I added him while I added some more live rock and rearranged the whole tank. I thought this would prevent territorial behaivor but one damsel, that has been in the tank a couple of weeks, has scared the new one into a corner within a few hours and seems to have no plans of letting him be. My vast experience with territorial cichlids leads me to believe this new fish isn't going to last long. What do I do?

Do I part with the new damsel, which I feel is sure to die, or do I seperate the aggressive one, which may bother the new fish I plan to introduce later.

I appreciate any opinions.

Thanks,
Chris
 

BiggerWurm

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Dec 5, 2002
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ctheisen,

Welcome to the world of the little bast@rd damsels. They are very aggresive and pound for pound more like gram for gram one of the toughest fish in the ocean. Cousins of the clown who are known to be scrappy as well. I have had many damsels but ended up catching them with great difficulty and taking them back to LFS after cycling. Even with rearranging the rock they knew there was a new fish in town and like mine did will pester them to death if givin the chance. If you want to keep them all i would put the new fish in quarinteen the stress of being beaten up could eventually lead to ich or something else. Ich is a pain to treat and would transfer to all the fish. You could try to do another rearranging and a water change and add him at night. Or put him in a container in the tank so they can see him but can't touch him and let them get used to him that way. Our put the two in quarinteen and let the new one get comfortable but this will not help the fish if it is already sick from stress. But damsels are not really worth all that if you ask me they always bother new fish. Do you like them because there cheap, there look or just cycling the tank? I know you can't just get rid of fish everytime you have a problem but i would give them back to lfs.
 

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Damsels are extremely territorial. It's usually not worth the hassle to try and keep several, especially trying to add to an existing tank. Odds of being able to change the tank around enough is slim, and any new fish that isn't a huge bugger will be harrassed a great deal (we had a lion fish get chased around by a 3-stripe bugger--lion fish was a juvenile, but still way bigger than the damsel. We ended up getting rid of the damsel).
 

Soccer

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May 14, 2002
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I agree with Orion Girl and BiggerWorm. I just took my damsel back to the LFS. This was the same LFS that told me to buy the damsel. Anyway i took it back and the girl said "Oh he's agressive and territorial, oh they're never like that" But if you would have seen how scared the clown was and how beaten up it was you would have agreed. Anyway the clowns doing good now and I couldn't be happier. Take them back is your best bet for succes:) and good luck catching him:D it sure is tuff
 

Corax

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Nov 14, 2001
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I've read reports of damsels viciously attacking the face masks of divers before... Someone once said that if damsels were the size of sharks, then sharks would need to learn to walk on land... (translation, damsels are badasses hehehe)

If you like the damsel, great, but the best idea is to leave em at the store if you want other fish in the tank...
 

coyote94

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Jan 27, 2002
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Ok, just a quick questions to answer your question.. First off, did you use the first damsel to cycle your tank? I'm just asking this, because you stated that you had added both damsels before the cycle was completed.. If so, your going to want to take both damsels back and give your tank a complete cycle all over again. Use cocktail shimp from your grocery store and not fish.. Using fish only cycles the tank for that bioload, therefor, for each fish you add, your tank is going to go through a mini-cycle, and (especially for your more delicate fish) you may end up loosing any additional fish. I would still take both damsels back. Even though your not going to have a lot of fish in that tank (2-3 tops) it's going to be havoc to add anything else in there with a damsel.. If you truely found a damsel that you really like, add him in last..
 
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