Pink Smith Damselfish a model citizen...for now!

Budman93

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Hello everyone. Part of what makes this forum great is people sharing their experiences with different fish/corals/invert and learning to avoid other's mistakes and what works. Upon going into the LFS for the first time with my gf she was immediately drawn to the Pink Smith Damselfish. It was cheap and came right up to us in the glass with a good personality but having read about damsels here I told her no chance. Anyways, after we brought it home we eventually added a tailspot blenny and a cleaner shrimp. To my surprise she has not bothered any of them. If anything the blenny will politely shoe away the damsel when she gets too close. The only problem she has is if something tries to go in her little cave. She will back them out by wavering her tail at them and push them out. I will be adding more fish soon and will be monitoring her as she gets older and how she behaves with the new additions and post about it here. I figure months down the line when someone types 'Pink Smith Damsel' into search here they will have another piece of data to use to decide whether or not to buy one or not.

As of now though she is a perfect tank mate. Very active, colorful, eats like a pig and is always swimming about the water column and in and out of caves. I will mention I have a 40g IM all in one tank. If you have a smaller tank perhaps you would see more aggression. I will be adding a yellow watchman goby and a pygmy filefish soon. I am curious to see how she acts with the filefish. Either way I will keep you posted.
 

KING KONG

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Hello everyone. Part of what makes this forum great is people sharing their experiences with different fish/corals/invert and learning to avoid other's mistakes and what works. Upon going into the LFS for the first time with my gf she was immediately drawn to the Pink Smith Damselfish. It was cheap and came right up to us in the glass with a good personality but having read about damsels here I told her no chance. Anyways, after we brought it home we eventually added a tailspot blenny and a cleaner shrimp. To my surprise she has not bothered any of them. If anything the blenny will politely shoe away the damsel when she gets too close. The only problem she has is if something tries to go in her little cave. She will back them out by wavering her tail at them and push them out. I will be adding more fish soon and will be monitoring her as she gets older and how she behaves with the new additions and post about it here. I figure months down the line when someone types 'Pink Smith Damsel' into search here they will have another piece of data to use to decide whether or not to buy one or not.

As of now though she is a perfect tank mate. Very active, colorful, eats like a pig and is always swimming about the water column and in and out of caves. I will mention I have a 40g IM all in one tank. If you have a smaller tank perhaps you would see more aggression. I will be adding a yellow watchman goby and a pygmy filefish soon. I am curious to see how she acts with the filefish. Either way I will keep you posted.
I hv seen them becoming aggressive as they grow. But, they r less aggressive than other members(specially if kept right tank size and given lots of hiding places). Will be interesting too see how it goes:)
 
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Budman93

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Just added the filefish and ywg and everything seems fine. After a few minute 'what the heck are you' phase she just leaves both alone and swims around. I am a bit worried it may be hard to properly feed the filefish just because the damsel is such an active feeder but we will see.
 
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Budman93

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Still good with the new additions. I doubt he even knows my YWG exists to be honest. And he just swims around the filefish. Definitely a lot of energy in these guys though. A bit surprised people recommend certain damsels for nano tanks as they can be more aggressive and constantly swim needing lots of open room. Certainly a bigger tank would be more well suited for them because of that.
 
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Budman93

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Adding an Azure damsel and a carpenters wrasse Friday so this will be the ultimate test. Has been good up until now. It's funny every time I add a coral to the tank he tries to dominate the frag by waving his butt towards it repeatedly. Very compatible with the tailspot blenny though. They both swim around each other. Damsel even copies the blenny by pecking on the glass and rockwork for algae.
 
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Budman93

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Sad update but the ultimate test was...a failure. Was aggressive to the Blue damsel and charged repeatedly. Was also a bit aggressive to the the wrasse but less so...Still enough to spook the wrasse and prevent her from swimming all around. I returned her Sunday and got an Exquisite firefish instead.

I think with the right tank mates it could still be a good tankmate. Perhaps if I had added her last it wouldve been different. Of course part of it is on me for both putting her in first and then adding another damsel fish on top of that. Live and learn.
 

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