A word about Damsels.. (Caution! May be slightly graphic.)

[TomV]

If you've seen any of my posts, you know that I have a 55g that I just set up recently to move my 10g inhabitants to.

Since this is a new tank, I thought I would buy some more fish to go into it. Well, I made one major mistake because I thought that I could gamble on having a damsel in there that was relatively peaceful in my 10g.

Wow, was I wrong!! :columbo: :columbo:

As soon as I added the new fish yesterday, he immediately went about harassing certain ones--especially my Pajama Cardinal. I wasn't gonna stand for that. My new Royal Gramma tried to show me what to do with him by grabbing the damsel in his mouth and shaking him like a shark when he tried to harass him!!

So, I figured it would die down in a day or so... NOPE! The bullying intensified and the damsel managed to chase a few of the new fish into hiding. That was the last straw for me. I decided to catch him in the dark when he was sleeping--as someone suggested... But DAMSELS DONT SLEEP!!

So, I had to practically tear my new tank apart today trying to get him. He eluded the net several hundred times before I finally trapped him between two rocks and crushed him. Now, I DID NOT want to kill him. I wanted to put him back in the 10g which I am now using as a grow out tank for Macro/Refugium. But he left me no choice. It was either a $4 fish, or possibly hundreds of dollars of fish and coral. I feel pretty bad about killing him, but I had no choice.

Now, I come to my main message:

D O N O T P U T D A M S E L S I N Y O U R R E E F T A N K!!!!!!

I know, a bit loud, but it gets the point across!! I've read over and over again how these mean little buggers are nearly impossible to get out once you get them in. Absolutely true!!

And let me tell you, they are mean!!!

So, save yourself the hassle and pass on the Damsels unless you are gonna do a tank with fish larger and meaner than those little monsters.

And to emphasize my point, this is what my arm looks like after constantly scraping it against the rim of my tank trying to catch the elusive little #)(*@$_)%%@ !!!!

 

[wrightme43]

Wow! sounds like a rough evening. I am very careful about damsel choice. I have a very well mannered figi damesel in my reef. My bully is a tiny little pygmey angel that wont take nothing from no one. He especially hates the damsel. Sorry that happened to you.

 

[TomV]

Well, on the upside of it, all the new fish are out and about now--enjoying the tank as they should be. Although, my Coral Banded Shrimp is at a loss because I moved so much of his home that he doesn't know where it is anymore!

 

[TauntingTony]

New reefer

I have 3 damsels in my 20g long are they going to attack a clown fish I'm getting?

 

[TomV]

Damsels will attack ANYTHING that won't defend itself. And a lot of times, a fish defending itself doesn't deter the future harassment. Damsels are JUST PLAIN EVIL.

 

[Scooterman]

Clown fish are in the damsel family, mine never sleeps either lol!

I had a batch of green chromis, they are the most peaceful aggressive damsels there is, nope no more never again lol.

 

[Beckmola24]

I had a damsel story just like yours except for mine didn't die. They are ok in small nano tanks by themselves, but wow! When you move into larger tanks with other fish they get too big for their britches and start rampaging! I had to tear out all of the rock to catch this guy and it was such a pain.

 

[Angelscrx]

My damsel experience was in a 29 gallon tank. I took him back to the store after I caught him! Clowns can be pretty mean too so be careful. :badgrin:

 

[MikeS]

Borrow a friends lionfish...they are pretty good at damsel eradication... :badgrin:

Or, you can simply give the fish a cute name and sit back and wait...
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7083

:lol:

MikeS

 

[TauntingTony]

It will most likely take care of the clown fish I just stuck in my tank to.

 

[snobanker]

My two blue devil damsels were my first fish. They don't really bother anything else in my tank....just lucky I guess.

 

[Oscapus]

Last year I spent several Saturday nights (with too much wine) fishing with a bare treble hook in my reef tank. I finally snagged my bully damsel, and fed him to my very happy crabs. I guess I am just a party animal on the weekends.....

 

[gehidore]

Just like freshwater barbs, I would never put just one or two or even four damsels alone into a tank with other fish.

 

[TomV]

Tiger Barbs are the kings of jumping. So, leave the tank uncovered and sooner or later, your problem will be fixed.

 

[Angelscrx]

You know I hate to be a party pooper but anyone ever think that if everyone who had a problem with Damsels took the time to get them out of the tank and take it back to the store that stores would stop selling them because they get so many back? I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

 

[TomV]

Well, if you witnessed the CRAZE following the release of Finding Nemo (to buy a "Nemo Fish" and set up a "Nemo Tank"), you'll notice the ignorance-sometimes willfull- of the general public. More often than not, when I go into a LFS, there is someone there buying saltwater fish but looking kind of vacant. They see me looking at the same fish and a lot of times, they strike up a conversation. Now, I don't want to sound conceited here -- but I usually end up educating these people more than the LFS workers do.

So, there will ALWAYS be people who will buy fish without bothering to research them.

And since Damsels are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP, they'll always have a market.

 

[Fokkerdmr]

Interesting... I have a pair of yellowtail blue damsels that went from a 25 gal to a 55 gal tank. I recently added a lawmower blenny, and the damsels stared at it for a minute, then have left it alone.

We'll see what happens when the next finned friend joins the foray....

Dave

 

[gehidore]

-- but I usually end up educating these people more than the LFS workers do.

So, there will ALWAYS be people who will buy fish without bothering to research them.

Mind hanging out at the LFS I work at ?

I take the time to explain these things to people, but it gets redundant after a while. I find my self going back to my jl moderation days and screaming "RTFM! RTFM!!" in my head over and over....

Again I have to use the barb theory, if you get one it will murder anything it can touch, if you get a bunch they tend to bug eachother. No doubt there are the rotten apples though.

 

[TomV]

LOL. I'm on the exact opposite side of the country, gehidore! Otherwise, sure, I would come and hang out at your LFS.

That is true about Damsels in that a single one will bother other fish unless it has other damsels to pick on. I would just be afraid of the bunch forming a team and harass in a pack.

 

[spongebob lover]

man !! i feel bad for what you had to go through
My experience have been different, when i first started my tank i had 2 damsels, one was a cobalt chromis and the other one was white with light brown stripes and a dot on the top fin, i used to called him smushy.
Well the cobalt chromis used to pick on smushy until he grew up, but then i bought my 2 true percula clowns and smushy then started picking on the clowns, so he got flushed , now i don't know what happened with my cobalt chromis, but since we flushed smushy he totally changed his attitude ,now he's very peaceful and trust me i feel for him because he gets picked on by my clowns, he used to get into fights with my bi color pseudomis (he's gone too because if damsels are bad this fish is worse ), even my six line used to pick on him, but ya now he's a good fish