Talbots damsel being a rude dude.

Neuratox · Jul 19, 2022

Roughly a month ago I removed all fish from my display tank and housed them in a temporary container of roughly 25 gallons (3' long and 2' deep). After rebuilding the tank I added everyone back in after about 2 weeks. The first few days everything was fine, one of my Talbots damsels (I have 4) that had previously been hiding was now happy to be out and about. A few days ago I noticed that two of the damsels (one in particular) were becoming overly aggressive. The smallest (the one that was hiding in the previous build) is hiding and won't even come out to eat, I'm trying to get it food, but this draws attention of all the fish into its area and I think is stressing it further. Another is hiding as well now. I've watched as the aggressive one chases them around the tank in laps, unrelenting in its need to nip at them. My tank is a 65 gallon, with at least 7 different caves and only 4 Talbot's, two clowns, and two red head gobies. The smallest Talbots has taken so much abuse in the last 3 days that it hardly has a tail left. Parameters were spot on two days ago (will check again tonight). I'm not sure what to do. I've read that Talbots can become aggressive and territorial when mating (the two that are dominating the tank are constantly side by side), but I've seen no indication that they are actively breeding and they haven't really picked a particular area, they just roam the tank. Even then, I've read that even when breeding that 60 gallons is plenty - 15 gallons per pair based on what I've read.
Any idea why this could be happening? I've had them all for a year. They were pretty small when I first got them, so they've grown up together. All my other fish are pretty chill.

Thanks for any advice or thoughts.

Waters · Jul 19, 2022

I think your Damsels are just being Damsels unfortunately. I had the same thing happen to my trio of Azure damsels. I had to remove the dominate one (who now sits in my sump)...the other two started coming out within minutes of removing the angry one. Now the tank is peaceful again lol. It doesn't help you have a smaller tank also......he thinks the entire tank is his territory. I would try to remove and maybe add back in after a couple of weeks if that is a possibility.....or remove entirely.

JumboShrimp · Jul 19, 2022

I have had a lot of Talbots— great color for just a few bucks. But I could see it being a challenge to have several in a 65 gallon. As someone mentioned, a dominant one might think that 65 gallons is just perfect for HIMSELF. (120 or bigger, with essentially a right and left side with space in the middle, is probably more workable.) For your situation, try either getting the main bully or the main victim (usually the runt) out. Let us know how it goes!

Neuratox · Sep 3, 2022

Initially, I moved the one who was being beaten into the sump to recover. The aggressor then turned to the remaining damsels and began attacking them the same day. They were both in really bad shape. I managed to corner the bully and transferred him into the sump and the little one back into the display. Everyone is healed up now, just surrendered the one from the sump to my LFS and warned about his aggression. Little one in the display has been told that she has to stay inside a specific cave. She only comes out to eat, but her overall health seems good based on weight. Unfortunate that I had to get rid of one and that the other now plays the role of Rapunzel, but I don't think I'll ever get a chance to catch and rehome her based on her being trapped in her cave.