Aggressive damsel fish

tone973 · Mar 21, 2013

I got two demsells and one of them keeps darting at my other fish. What should i do?

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

Rikerbear · Mar 21, 2013

Damsels are one of the most aggressive fish I know of. They will batter and hound their target to death.
If you can remove them do so....you will be MUCH happier without them....as will the other fish
IMHO

tone973 · Mar 21, 2013

Its just the one. The other one is laid back and calm. I cant catch the aggressive one so what would be my next step?

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

rworegon · Mar 21, 2013

Never, ever will I put another damsel in any tank! I had two Talbot's Damsels in my 90 gal reef. Damsels are nasty, evil little fishes. I ended up tearing apart most of my rockwork one day to catch them. They now live at my LFS in their live rock tank with other damsels that people have returned for being agressive.
You might try a fish trap. Don't feed for a copuple of days and then bait the trap and set it on the bottom. You might end up catching every fish in the tank before you get the one you are after but you will be happy only when the little devil fish is gone.

tone973 · Mar 21, 2013

Wow. Yea i want that one angry one out asap. He is messing with my clown.

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

shovelrider · Mar 21, 2013

When you take the "angry" one out, the calm one will take his place as the angry one... Get them both out before its too late! It looks like your system is pretty new, take the rocks out and place in buckets if you have to to get them out. Its easier to do this befor you have coral everywhere. Fish traps suck IMO.

Rikerbear · Mar 21, 2013

shovelrider said:
When you take the "angry" one out, the calm one will take his place as the angry one... Get them both out before its too late! It looks like your system is pretty new, take the rocks out and place in buckets if you have to to get them out. Its easier to do this befor you have coral everywhere. Fish traps suck IMO.

+1
The calm one is only being submissive to the other...once his bully is gone he will step up to the plate. The only way to stop them from bullying is to get a bigger bully who will either bully them or eat them LOL
I dearly love the look of many damsels but will never have another as long as I live. Which is really sad....I just love the little dominos :cry:

Rockadile · Mar 21, 2013

tone973 said:
Wow. Yea i want that one angry one out asap. He is messing with my clown.

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

so your damsel fish is messing with your other damsel fish?

ahtatt · Mar 21, 2013

i caught a damsel fish for my old boss.
every other day i would feed flake food that would stay at the water surface. I waited a few extra days, fed the flake food and snatched up the damsel when it went to the top of the tank.
I didnt do it on the first try either.. it took about two months of trying. It got to the point that whenever the damsel saw the net it would hide, so i would have to wait a week to try again.

Sacohen · Mar 21, 2013

I had a similar experience with a CBS.
Had to rip apart the tank to get him out, but now all the other inhabitants are happy.
You gotta do your homework before you buy anything.
Most of the people at the LFS don't know anything and will tell you that it's fine or it won't bother your other fish.
I hate to say this, but the only person you can trust 100% s yourself.

tone973 · Mar 21, 2013

Thanks for all the advice. Im going to try it all until I get him.

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

Ghengis Keng · Mar 21, 2013

I agree with all the above. I'll never buy another Damsel. They are mean and hardy.

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

Dragonreef202 · Mar 21, 2013

I love the damsels I have 3 with a maroon clown and 1 molly. They have been getting along for a year. The maroon can take care of himself. If it gets really nasty I have a Niger trigger named Chevy in a 75 gal by himself who wouldn't mind a little friend. I see in your tank there isn't that much rock to take out. I have mine in a 75 gal so there's enough room for them. Good luck on the catch

arussellnsg · Dec 3, 2020

ahtatt said:
i caught a damsel fish for my old boss.
every other day i would feed flake food that would stay at the water surface. I waited a few extra days, fed the flake food and snatched up the damsel when it went to the top of the tank.
I didnt do it on the first try either.. it took about two months of trying. It got to the point that whenever the damsel saw the net it would hide, so i would have to wait a week to try again.

Mine knows the net too, they're smart jerks