For the past several days I have observed what can only be described as strange swimming behavior between my two resident Yellow-tailed Damsels. It appears they have chosen a dark crevice, formed by lace rock adjacent to a piece of artificial brain coral that was added to the tank several days ago, to lay their eggs. The two Damsels appear to have stopped their strange swimming behavior and the larger of the two Damsels has become very protective of the area around the entry to the lace rock crevice. She pecks at hermit crabs that get too close, she confronts any of the other two blue damsels that swim too close, and she even swats at the Panther Grouper with her tail if he gets too close. Its all quite comical. In addition, I have noticed that she will leave the eggs occasionally only to return to fan them with her tail. The area that surrounds the lace rock structure has been systematically excavated by her and she fastidiously cleans the area of debris and algae. My concern is that if the eggs do manage to hatch, they will be devoured by the Panther Grouper! It may be time for a refugium. I will provide an update on the progress of the eggs as soon as there is more to report.