I am thinking of setting up a reef tank. I already have 65lb of sand and 35lb of rock, a light, and I have my eye on a 48x18x12 super shallow tank, maybe with a 29g sump. My favorite saltwater fish based off of youtube and what I see in LFSs are the damselfish, but the only info I find online seems to say they are a bad idea, mostly because they are aggressive. They don't seem to be any more aggresssive than their cichlid/sunfish cousins from the videos I see. Is there any good info on care for them? Line of sight blocks, keeping only damsels, avoiding similarly colored fish? Or are they really impossible to keep?
Good information on caring for damselfish?
- Thread starter J. H.
- Start date
I've used a small group of Blue Damsels for fish in cycle for 3 separate aquariums at different times and never noticed aggression.
The Garibaldi is the most aggressive specie from what I have read.
Certain species are more aggressive than others.
Springers, yellowtail, and (I think) Talbots are among the nicer ones, while domino and striped are some of the meaner guys. Clownfish aren’t very friendly either…
The aggression isn’t too far off from many cichlids and is manageable, it just takes the right selection of fish. I wouldn’t go mixing a firefish with one, but something like a dwarf angel or sixline wrasse should handle itself fine.
Springers, yellowtail, and (I think) Talbots are among the nicer ones, while domino and striped are some of the meaner guys. Clownfish aren’t very friendly either…
The aggression isn’t too far off from many cichlids and is manageable, it just takes the right selection of fish. I wouldn’t go mixing a firefish with one, but something like a dwarf angel or sixline wrasse should handle itself fine.
Super easy to keep, super hearty fish. If u decide to get more expensive fish down the road, they may get picked on. As stated, depends on which species of damsel. Dominos were the most aggressive of the species i used to keep.
Blue damsels get along just fine and are a nice looking fish. One of the guys at Mosquito management here in SW FL used to keep a tank of Blue Damsels and fed them live mosquito larvae daily. Very interactive little fish and fun to watch.
