WHY damsels ???!

I read over and over again how people suggest to add damels to saltwater reef tanks including clowns. I have read more where people have been unhappy with them. In an agressive fish tank I can understand it but why do others keep saying these are good to others who ask for safe tankmates?

We had a blue damsel and it harrased my clowns terribly (percs & ocell). We finally had to tear down the 72 gallon (125# of rock) to get rid of him. It just concerns me that I still read that it's a "good fish to add when someone has clowns already in the tank". I had an old maroon that might have taken it on.

 

My maroon keeps my damsel in check. I have no problems at all. It's best when adding damsels to get what looks like a shy guy at the LFS. These are good for cycling - and there are even some ethical problems arising with that - by not as tank mates unless kept with aggressive species. They do come in decent colors and can essentially survive in a mud puddle - I would suspect this is the main reason for suggesting them. They are EXTREMELY hardy and for a beginner that is what you require. Your clowns as a pair should have been able to take him. If they couldn't then they weren't paired up.

 

My problem is I love my clowns. They are an enjoyment and I hate to see them continually harrased. If someone new asks what to add and someone doesn't explain their clowns must be paired to defend themselves it's unfair to the new reefer.

It just stinks that they can be so pretty and so mean. I'd love to have them but as I said my mama clown is special. She is about 7-8 years old now. She got tore up by a tang once that found her eggs that she was defending. She is the toughest gal around.

I just want some newbies to be aware that the pretty little fish aren't the loveable peaceful ones to always put with peaceful fish.

Sorry for the rant. Had a horrible fish week.......you name it, it went wrong!:

 

I totally understand what you mean, I had a couple of damsels and a pair of clowns and the damsels would just harass my clowns over and over, so in order to get the damsels out of the tank, we had to take down the whole thing down. It's such a shame because I really do like them. Maybe if I make an aggressive tank I might have them

 

K+ for this post. Use Blue/Green chromis and you will have no problems when you add other fish. it's that simple.. you can not go wrong. Giving advice to use damsels only creates a situation where you have an agressive fish in a tank that you can not get it out of.

 

I disagree. When cycling, you should only use one fish, and chromis don't do well and often die when kept singularly. Also, chromis are a damselfish, and often have as many behavioral problems as yellowtails and blues, particularly when kept in lower numbers.
Also, ALL fish are individuals and can be mean, docile, whatever, no matter what the species.
I used a yellow tail and a blue to cycle mine (yes I know I just contradicted myself but it was my own fault to cycle with multiple fish). Never had a problem with them at all, they were bottom rung on the chain. Even my blenny picked on them. I wouldn't heisitate to do it again with future tanks.

 

Remember this, clowns are damsels. They're just the least aggressive of the kind usually. Mine are still pretty agressive to new comers, though. : And like damsels, most clowns can survive almost anything. I've heard stories where a tank royally screwed up sending every fish in it onto the carpet. Everything was dead on the ground when the owner got home from where ever she was, except the clowns. They were sucking air, but she was able to keep them alive afterwards, and to my knowledge, the tank is established now and the clowns are still in there.

Some people like damsels, some don't. It's all a matter of preference. Some like them because of cycling tanks, and they can survive ANYTHING. They're perfect for cycling cause they're pretty, so you have something to look at while the tank just sits there; they're probably the most hardy fish in the trade, so they can take any abuse that might happen in the opening stages of a new tank; and they're dirt cheap.

Some damsels can live with other fish quite easily, and might even end up being the fish that gets picked on, not the fish that does the picking. It's all a matter of the individual fish you get. There are several owners with damsels in their tank, and everyone is happy and healthy.

The only damsel we have, other than our O. Clowns, is the little 4 stripe damsel in my soon to be mantis tank. I chose a damsel to cycle it because he was 4 dollars, is pretty, and might hopefully have enough guts in him to survive living with a mantis. And being four dollars means that when/if my shrimp kills him, I won't cry.

Another note, don't cycle with a fish you don't want to keep. Why cycle with something, then have to tear your tank apart again just to catch him? Only cycle with fish you plan to have for the long run. Some people hate fish cycles period. We cycled with flake food and raw grocery store shrimp for a week, letting our ammonia levels drop from .5 to .25 before adding our clowns to finish the job. There are plenty of other ways to cycle a saltwater tank, it's just alot of people want fish. What's the point of having an aquarium if you don't have a fish, right? Whatever floats your boat I guess.

My 0.02

EDIT: I just saw the chromis comment. Chromis are damsels, but are also schooling community fish. They don't do too well without buddies, and are not as hardy as your standard damsel fish. And Pack is an example of members on here that have damsels in there tanks with not troubles what so ever. Sorry for writing a novel by the way...

 

Hey great thread guys. I am having the same problem as I have a 28gal JBJ nano cube in which I have one perc. and one yellow-tail damsel. I love the damsel so much and I dont want to get rid of him but he continues to bash the clowfish into the back corner of the tank and I am really starting to get irked. My question is that if I got this clown back in the end of november, although it doesn't seem he has matured that much, would it still be too late to pair it with another, and if I was successful, would that solve the damsel problem.

P.S. How would one go about pairing a clownfish up?

I don't mean to hijack this thread but it seemed like a relevant question.

Thanks

 

ok sorry for not being specifc. I agree clowns are damsels, chromis are damsels. I've just never seen a post where someone complained about their Chromis causing issues in their tank. I can see what you are saying about one chromis being alone- while I had a single chromis for a while I do understand it can go the other way as well. To each his own, but for me I stay away from the 2 dollar damsels. have heard too many stories.

 

get a little hook and some food and go fishin!! You could try rearranging the rocks. I have heard that this helps. Not sure on the clowns.. hopefully someone else can chime in.