Are flasher wrasses compatible with azure damsels

Reef.Blue

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Hey guys I was wondering about getting a carpenters flasher wrasse but I was worried about aggression with my azure damsels. I have 3 of them and they were the first fish in my tank. I also have 2 clowns in the tank also. An employee at my local lfs told me to get 3 damsels as good cycling fish and to be ok to be the first in the tank, but now I am seeing many people saying not to put in damsels first? Did I make a bad decision? Before getting the wrasse i just wanted to make sure aggression was not an issue, being know that Azure damsels are one of the more laid back species of damsels. Thanks!
 
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I have a flasher with my three Azure Damsels in a 105g......never had a single issue between them. Only aggression I have is between the Damsels themselves.
Thank you!
 

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What size tank do you have? I wouldn't think you'd have a problem but if you have a small system the clowns may be as much or bigger problem than the azures. FWIW My first fish in a system will always be some of the Chrysiptera sp. damsels (Yellow Tail, Azure, Talboti and Rolland's)
 
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What size tank do you have? I wouldn't think you'd have a problem but if you have a small system the clowns may be as much or bigger problem than the azures. FWIW My first fish in a system will always be some of the Chrysiptera sp. damsels (Yellow Tail, Azure, Talboti and Rolland's)
I have a 40 breeder. I don't think the clowns will be much of a problem, It seems like the azure damsels like to occasionally go after each other, but I haven't had a problem with aggression to my clowns yet. The damsels were the first to go in, which is what my lfs told me to do, but I am reading now that if added first they can be territorial and should be added last. It seems like my clowns are scared to go into the rock work because of the damsels and they are just hanging in the back corner. Sometimes one of the damsels might swim over to the clowns, but they seem fine and just swim by eachother.
 
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I have a flasher with my three Azure Damsels in a 105g......never had a single issue between them. Only aggression I have is between the Damsels themselves.
I'm just worried in a smaller tank like mine, which is a 40 breeder. It's less space and so the damsels claimed their territory. They only hang inside and around the rock work and my clowns won't go near the rock work. Knowing that wrasses are known active swimmers, I'm just nervous that there will be aggression if the wrasse goes into their territory. I have not had any aggression problems yet with my clowns, but I have no idea what to come in the future.
 

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I added mine first and he can be evil toward newcomers. I figured out how to minimize it... Add in groups any new fish or... Rework some of the rock work/aquascape. He will hide for a day or two if I do that. By then everyone has a spot of their own and he can't bully anyone. He is just impossible to catch or I would remove him. Sure is beautiful though
 
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I added mine first and he can be evil toward newcomers. I figured out how to minimize it... Add in groups any new fish or... Rework some of the rock work/aquascape. He will hide for a day or two if I do that. By then everyone has a spot of their own and he can't bully anyone. He is just impossible to catch or I would remove him. Sure is beautiful though
The problem is my rocks are glued together and I couldn't move them even if I wanted to. I tried that before, It wouldn't budge. I just want to minimize aggression as much as I can
 

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I have a 40 breeder. I don't think the clowns will be much of a problem, It seems like the azure damsels like to occasionally go after each other, but I haven't had a problem with aggression to my clowns yet. The damsels were the first to go in, which is what my lfs told me to do, but I am reading now that if added first they can be territorial and should be added last. It seems like my clowns are scared to go into the rock work because of the damsels and they are just hanging in the back corner. Sometimes one of the damsels might swim over to the clowns, but they seem fine and just swim by eachother.

MHere's my thoughts - most damsels should never be added to a reef system because they can get rather large and will establish breeding pairs just like clowns will and as many will get considerably larger than perculas or oscilarus can be a handfull. The four I listed stay small (~1 1/2") and if there's a group generally will bicker among themselves. I've met lots of clowns far more aggressive than the Chrysiptera genus damsels I listed. You may not see it right now but keep in mind your fish are still juveniles and you will see behavior changes as they mature and espesially once they start breeding in a couple years. FWIW I rarely see clowns go into rock work like damsels will. They've picked that spot to host and likely won't move from there much.
 

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I find that the more rock work you have the happier damsels seem to be - particularly if they can each carve out their own "niche" in terms of their go-to hiding/sleeping location (that's probably why each of them kind of stick to their own quadrant in the tank, although they do interact constantly without any signs of aggression).

My wrasses all basically "do their own thing", which I guess is typical wrasse behavior. Occasionally that means swimming together but usually it means their off 'on patrol' with their own pursuits (particularly the sixline and melanarus).

Most of the chromis in my tank are bigger than my damsels right now (the damsels probably being roughly ~1.75" in length), although they're fat and wide - like piranha!
 

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I'm just worried in a smaller tank like mine, which is a 40 breeder. It's less space and so the damsels claimed their territory. They only hang inside and around the rock work and my clowns won't go near the rock work. Knowing that wrasses are known active swimmers, I'm just nervous that there will be aggression if the wrasse goes into their territory. I have not had any aggression problems yet with my clowns, but I have no idea what to come in the future.
Yeah, that is a legitimate concern.....I didn't catch the tank size. I am not sure I would put a group of any species of damsels in a smaller tank with other fish, strictly due to them staking out their own individual territories. Damsels are similar to freshwater cichlids in that regard.
 
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Yeah, that is a legitimate concern.....I didn't catch the tank size. I am not sure I would put a group of any species of damsels in a smaller tank with other fish, strictly due to them staking out their own individual territories. Damsels are similar to freshwater cichlids in that regard.
So what do you think I should do in this situation?
 
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Also for anyone in here, if I was to get a flasher wrasse should I just get one or 2. I read online not to get 2 males because of aggression, but to get a male and a female
 

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