Is it ever safe to add damsels as a late addition?

Perpetual Novice · Oct 13, 2019

I have a 100 gallon tank with several small tangs, a rabbitfish, a pair of leopard wrasses, two clowns, a canary blenny, and a pearly jawfish. there is a ton of live rock and places to hide. My tank has been stable with these fish for about 3 months now and I am thinking about introducing a second wave of smaller fish that will interact with the rockwork. Damsels are cheap and colorful and I am toying with including a pair of yellowtail damsels to my order from live aquaria.

I know damsels can quickly become monsters and are impossible to remove from a tank so I am apprehensive about adding these fish. Will damselfish still be a problem in a tank my size with a large number of larger fish and a large number of smaller fish added at the same time? and if I add more fish later will damsels still single them out and bully them? or will they be subdued and distracted by the constant traffic of other fish swimming around their area?

mort · Oct 14, 2019

It very much depends on what you want to add later. If it's shy species like firefish then I wouldn't add the damsels yet but more robust species should be ok.
I'm a damselfish fan and can't imagine a tank without them but if you can, it might be better to wait until everything else is in. There are species like allens damsels that can be kept in groups and which pick amongst themselves and wouldn't be interested much in anything you add but the yellowtails you are looking at might not be the same. I have pairs of chrysiptera damsels and the only time they control a territory is when they are breeding, so I don't add anything when they are. If you have a bigger group of them they are less likely to bother anything as they are keeping their own hierarchy.

motortrendz · Oct 14, 2019

I've had damsels before some were horrible some minded their own business. I feel like it's all about the other inhabitants. If you have a pretty robust selection of fish that aren't timid go for it. If you have skittish fish, maybe wait for get a lesser aggressive damsel (chromis maybe) and I think the rule of 3 is a good one for damsels. Kinds keeps their aggression within their own group if there is any.

westmichigan · Oct 14, 2019

Mr saltwater just did a video of this on the youtubes.

Brew12 · Oct 14, 2019

I keep 4 yellow tailed damsels in my system and they are wonderful.

jt17 · Oct 14, 2019

I have 3 Allen’s damsels and they are beautiful and always active and visible. They do pick more on each other than others species but I have one that will chase anything that comes near the nest.
I wouldn’t worry about adding damsels last to the tank. They adapt well. I would worry more about adding them early and being territorial toward new intros down the road.

Dom · Oct 14, 2019

It's a roll of the dice; no way to predict. They can get nasty. You could have them in your tank without issue for a year, and suddenly, they will target another inhabitant that they seemingly got along with.

Perpetual Novice · Oct 14, 2019

Ok. I think I might go for it then. I really love their colors.

I currently have a powder blue tang (yes my tank is small. It will be moved to a larger system when it outgrows the tank its in) and I had been worried about the same issue with him in the past. But the powder blue hasn't harassed new additions including the rabbitfish, jawfish, and wrasses, that all came in after it. I attribute that peace to my desjardini who is the boss of the tank and intervenes when the powder blue occasionally starts to show signs of aggression.

will the desjardini also keep the damsels in line or will it not bother enforcing on them because of the size difference?

Westside Guy · Oct 14, 2019

I added a Starcki Damsel last week to my 54 gallon DT which contained 9 other fish and the only issue I had was with my Electric Indigo Dottyback becoming semi aggressive and territorial toward it the first 2 days. Since then we have had "peace in our time".

The Starcki Damsel was not inexpensive like many other damsels are. It has brilliant colors and is beautiful to look at. In addition it is not showing any aggression to any of my other fish and is a model citizen.

Perpetual Novice · Oct 14, 2019

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Westside Guy said:
I added a Starcki Damsel last week to my 54 gallon DT which contained 9 other fish and the only issue I had was with my Electric Indigo Dottyback becoming semi aggressive and territorial toward it the first 2 days. Since then we have had "peace in our time".

The Starcki Damsel was not inexpensive like many other damsels are. It has brilliant colors and is beautiful to look at. In addition it is not showing any aggression to any of my other fish and is a model citizen.

It's gorgeous! Practically a substitute for a dwarf angel.

Westside Guy · Oct 14, 2019

Perpetual Novice said:
It's gorgeous! Practically a substitute for a dwarf angel.

Mine is a little over 1 inch long and I was told it can grow up to 2.5-3 inches. it is an active swimmer in the open area of the tank and is supposed to be reef compatible.

Jesterrace · Oct 14, 2019

Perpetual Novice said:
I have a 100 gallon tank with several small tangs, a rabbitfish, a pair of leopard wrasses, two clowns, a canary blenny, and a pearly jawfish. there is a ton of live rock and places to hide. My tank has been stable with these fish for about 3 months now and I am thinking about introducing a second wave of smaller fish that will interact with the rockwork. Damsels are cheap and colorful and I am toying with including a pair of yellowtail damsels to my order from live aquaria.

I know damsels can quickly become monsters and are impossible to remove from a tank so I am apprehensive about adding these fish. Will damselfish still be a problem in a tank my size with a large number of larger fish and a large number of smaller fish added at the same time? and if I add more fish later will damsels still single them out and bully them? or will they be subdued and distracted by the constant traffic of other fish swimming around their area?

All Damsels are a gamble. I know there are folks on here who are advocates for certain types (ie Yellow Tail, Springer's) but the fact remains that there are a fair number of horror stories with them as well. Plenty of other fish you could add to that tank that would be better suited than a Damsel.

Perpetual Novice · Oct 14, 2019

Jesterrace said:
All Damsels are a gamble. I know there are folks on here who are advocates for certain types (ie Yellow Tail, Springer's) but the fact remains that there are a fair number of horror stories with them as well. Plenty of other fish you could add to that tank that would be better suited than a Damsel.

any recommendations for something small, relatively cheap, and colorful, that will interact with the rockwork?

Westside Guy · Oct 14, 2019

Jesterrace said:
All Damsels are a gamble. I know there are folks on here who are advocates for certain types (ie Yellow Tail, Springer's) but the fact remains that there are a fair number of horror stories with them as well. Plenty of other fish you could add to that tank that would be better suited than a Damsel.

All fish are a gamble but as Damsels go the Starcki is fairly safe which is why I purchased it.