Agressive Blue Damselfish

K

kobeSumo

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Oct 28, 2005
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Hi, I have 2 blue damselfish in my 55 gal. tank and they have all of a sudden started to terrorize my other tank mates (royal gramma, percula clowns, blue-green chromis, scissortail dartfish, and lawnmower blenny) I have had the 2 damsels for about a year, no problems until a few weeks ago. Maybe they're fully grown now, and adults are agressive.

What should I do?
 
i would take them out.damsels are a nasty fish.i got rid of all of mine.a nice fish to replace it with is a blue chromis.i have them with my blue green chromis and they do well with each other.
 
Sounds like the tank is a bit overcrowded with 8 fish in a 55g. These are territorial fish; sometimes if you rearrange the rockwork it lowers agression, but it doesn't always work. The easiest solution is to remove the damsels IMO. A relatively simple way to remove the is to get a few Rubbermaid bins, drain the tank most of the way and create a depression in the sand so the fish are forced to swim into one area. Net out the damsels, fill the tank back up and you're done. It doesn't take long and nothing gets really stressed - I did this on my 30g and found that the corals were irritated for about a day afterwards, but no permanent damage and it was worth it to get a fish out quickly and safely without a chase that could have stressed/hurt the fish or the corals.
 
Damsels are fine!

"damsels are a nasty fish"

Couldn't be more wrong. Damsels are smart and active. They are attractive, hardy, and have interesting habits. They are not called devilfish or blue devils for being nasty, but because they are ferociously territorial. I keep one, by itself, in my planted reef and it provides me with hours of entertainment. It's not the fish that is nasty, it's trying to keep a territorial fish in an aquarium that is too crowded that is nasty.

I'm tired of reading posts insulting the Damselfish for it's genetically-programmed behavior, as if it had a choice.

:clap:
 
That's different, Dansmarine...I hate oatmeal but I know it's not nasty...it's just wet horsefeed! :joke:
 
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My response to the thread title was "really.........?". Some damsels are mean, just plain jerks actually, in fact a lot of them look nasty as they age. Offhand I can say dominos, velvets, beau gregorys all look as good as they're gonna get when you buy them. Not to say I don't like a good Fiji blue devil. My question is, are they working as a team? Could you have a pair?
Also IMO if you are a fish YOU DO NOT MESS WITH LAWNMOWER BLENNYS!!!! YOU HEAR ME FISH!!!!!DON'T MESS!!!!!! :rant2:
 
I'll probably see if my LFS will take them. I don't even want to do a trade, it's enough to just get them to leave.
 
Not every fish works for every situation

ragc said:
"damsels are a nasty fish"

Couldn't be more wrong. Damsels are smart and active. They are attractive, hardy, and have interesting habits. They are not called devilfish or blue devils for being nasty, but because they are ferociously territorial. I keep one, by itself, in my planted reef and it provides me with hours of entertainment. It's not the fish that is nasty, it's trying to keep a territorial fish in an aquarium that is too crowded that is nasty.

I'm tired of reading posts insulting the Damselfish for it's genetically-programmed behavior, as if it had a choice.

:clap:
Click to expand...


Damsels do tend to get slammed. I believe the reason is that too many uninformed people just run out and get damsels for their community tanks and then they end up with nothing but nightmares. Granted this fish is highly territorial; but the point is, this fish DOES act fairly agressively when playing out that role - that's exactly what most people are refering to when they mention those "devils". IMO, it's a lack of research that causes Damsels to get the raw end of the deal so often....... Damsels are great fish; if you have the right setup!!!
 
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