Damselfsh aggresion and pump flow

[Jarrito]

I am new to reef keeping and my lfs recommended I get two damselfsh for my innovative marine 10 gal. I have a bunch of live rock in my sump and display area. I have two questions, I have a rock cave in the man display and one damselfish stays in the cave besides feeding and does not let the other one in. It nips its fins and forces it to always be out. Is this normal aggression and territorial behavior? My other question is the pump seems to be very powerful for this size of tank because when the fish are in the direct flow they are blown into the side of the glass, they also somehow get sucked by the pump. Any solutions? Should I upgrade the tank? or maybe replace the pump?

 

[sunken3]

well first... Damsels are recommended because they are hardy and cheap... unfortunately they are also super aggressive (think small dog syndrome). If you read enough posts you will see many toss them or give them to someone else (I would not advocate tossing them... just saying). Depending on what type of damsel you were sold, you may have issues with new fish additions in the future.

As for the pump, I have an older IM and the pump wasn't too strong.. maybe they have upgraded it (or your fish are really small). you could install a valve in the hose to adjust the flow down, or better by one of the rotating nozzles that goes on the end (in you tank)... they spin to give more random flow while reducing the jet stream effect.

 

[sunken3]

btw .. do you have a picture? you "have a bunch of rock in the sump"... these are AIO tanks... last time i checked.

 

[vtecintegra]

More often then not, damsels are territorial, aggressive, mean, annoying, and jerks. Two in 10 gallons is asking for trouble. I had one of the supposedly peaceful ones, and it caused havoc in 130 gallons. Took two months to finally catch it.

 

[sunken3]

More often then not, damsels are territorial, aggressive, mean, annoying, and jerks. Two in 10 gallons is asking for trouble. I had one of the supposedly peaceful ones, and it caused havoc in 130 gallons. Took two months to finally catch it.

yep.. the little dominos (3 spot) are SUPER cute when babies... then.. big, ugly and mean as adults. (wait... I think i just described myself...)

 

[Jarrito]

Sorry not sump but the filter area I stuffed as much live rock in there as I could.What would you recommend instead of damsels they are yellow tails. Should I return the fish or rehome them or get a larger tank Im kind of on a budget and don’t have much space. What would u recommend to do.

 

[Jarrito]

I can provide some photos of what is happening would that help?

 

[sunken3]

Sorry not sump but the filter area I stuffed as much live rock in there as I could.What would you recommend instead of damsels they are yellow tails. Should I return the fish or rehome them or get a larger tank Im kind of on a budget and don’t have much space. What would u recommend to do.

those are actually not terrible.. they tend to stay smaller and are not as aggressive in my experience (as other damsels).. . they are ok to cycle with. You may want to rehome if you try and add other fish.. though a 10 gallon tank cant house too many fish (and you need to be careful of their final grow size). I have a EVO13 with a orange spot goby, mandarin goby, black storm clown, and a six line wrasse.. they all stay relatively small (4 fish)..

 

[sunken3]

I can provide some photos of what is happening would that help?

fish are territorial... especially damsels.. and in a smaller tank with nothing else to pick on.. you could try moving the rocks around to "reset" the territory.. but in all likelihood if one has established dominance without any other distractions.. it won't make a difference..

I have had issues with clown fish (in the damsel-ish family).. they just torment each other until only one or two are left..

 

[Jarrito]

one of them was stuck in this area when I got back home it was the less dominant out of the two it is very weak right now I'm not sure what to do but right now I have a plastic bottle to reduce the flow I am very worried right now anything I could do?

 

[Jarrito]

the fish is not lookin too good

 

[Jarrito]

one of them was stuck in this area when I got back home it was the less dominant out of the two it is very weak right now I'm not sure what to do but right now I have a plastic bottle to reduce the flow I am very worried right now anything I could do?

 

[Jarrito]

oops posted it twice sorry

 

[Jarrito]

now it's getting sucked into the intake so I've put a net over it this is really getting out of hand

 

[Jarrito]

I'm getting really worried now I hope it'll be ok its fins are torn and some of its scales are gone

 

[sunken3]

you could put him in a QT box in the tank and see if he recovers.. sometime it just happens.. the other option is to give him back to the store.. unlikely they will refund, but you never know.

 

[Jarrito]

sadly he passed away... is this normal in the damselfish family?

 

[Tired]

Damselfish are often very aggressive, yes. Don't take any more advice from your LFS, this was pretty much inevitable when putting two damsels in a tiny tank. Try a clown goby as a tankmate, they taste bad and are therefore not often bullied. Alternately, a small shrimpgoby like an antenna goby should be fine, since it'll live under the rockwork. A candycane/randall's pistol shrimp will go nicely with said shrimpgoby and make a great show.

You should probably take the live rock out of your filter compartment, it's just going to pick up gunk back there.

I have a EVO13 with a orange spot goby, mandarin goby, black storm clown, and a six line wrasse.. they all stay relatively small (4 fish)..

A 6line is too aggressive to go in a small tank with other fish, the clownfish is iffy with tankmates in a tank that size, and a "mandarin goby" is actually a mandarin dragonet. Dragonets need a huge amount of tiny, highly nutritious food items, and shouldn't be kept in a tank under 30 gallons unless you're dosing hundreds of pods a day. Also, four 3-inch fish in a 13gal saltwater tank is overstocked.

 

[sunken3]

Damselfish are often very aggressive, yes. Don't take any more advice from your LFS, this was pretty much inevitable when putting two damsels in a tiny tank. Try a clown goby as a tankmate, they taste bad and are therefore not often bullied. Alternately, a small shrimpgoby like an antenna goby should be fine, since it'll live under the rockwork. A candycane/randall's pistol shrimp will go nicely with said shrimpgoby and make a great show.

You should probably take the live rock out of your filter compartment, it's just going to pick up gunk back there.



A 6line is too aggressive to go in a small tank with other fish, the clownfish is iffy with tankmates in a tank that size, and a "mandarin goby" is actually a mandarin dragonet. Dragonets need a huge amount of tiny, highly nutritious food items, and shouldn't be kept in a tank under 30 gallons unless you're dosing hundreds of pods a day. Also, four 3-inch fish in a 13gal saltwater tank is overstocked.

lol... i have several tanks and have been keeping them for decades. I have never had an aggressive sixline.. (i have them now in 4 different tanks), my orange spot goby is easy going, the mandarin eats calanus and some mysis no issues... the only fish that i would classify in this group as aggressive is the clown, but only with his own kind (and yes, he would kill them for sport). I have so much other life going on on this tank -

several snails, hermits (scarlet, blue knuckle, blue, halloween), shrimp (skunk cleaner, blood cleaner, pederson anenome, bumble bee, and some sexy shrimp), crabs (couple of emerald and a pom pom), shrooms, ricordia, 10 or so flower nems, a RBTA, a few zoas, several sps.. and a bunch more..

i do run a separate canister filter on the side..

I would likely agree 4 fish could be too much if I had big fish here.. but these guys are pretty small and dont get all that large. If I had an issue I would just move them to another tank.

 

[sunken3]

sadly he passed away... is this normal in the damselfish family?

sorry... it is not uncommon that a bullied fish will end up dying if not removed from the tank. the "bully" typically never stops.