What is the most peaceful and pretty damsel fish?

Fishtheatre

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there are other factors at play obviously. Tank size, fellow inhabitants, hiding places/rockwork, will you be feeding them regularly and sufficiently, where they introduced first/last, ect, all play a role in behavior, right? Yet you can put a fish in a perfect enviorment and get an unpredictable result because they’re wild fish and because like you said, not every individual will behave according to plan. Yet we can make accurate predictions because we know the characterization of fish as they have been well documented by ichthyologists, marine biologists, reputable hobbyists with a penchant for writing and so on. There’s a history there and just about every source I turn to says damsels have a tendency to be aggressive and territorial, especially to similar species and similarly sized fish. I want a domino damsel but everything I read about them says they are pugnacious and territorial, so i’ll leave them alone (for now), because I don’t want to destroy my peaceful community tank. i’ll leave that to the parasites that hitchhike in on some innocent looking chaeto or something. I hope you find the pretty and peaceful damsel you are looking for but I also hope whichever damsel you take home doesn’t become a nightmare for ya. Good luck! By the way, I think I mentioned this earlier but the yellowtail damsel is one I have personally seen get along peacefully in a community tank though i’m wary to recommend putting one in a Peaceful community tank
 

tripdad

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@bdesign I apologize if I offended you or anyone else. My whole point in this thread is to try and convey that fish are affected by and respond to their environment. It's up to us to create an evnironment they can be a positive part of. I expressed that numbers would help with their bad traits. Several people responded with every damsel is a devil. I think that lots of fish behave badly in certain circumstances. A single yellow tang can become a real terror, a bully. But when kept in groups are quite peaceful. My point was to get people to see past the stereotype and try a different way of keeping these fish.
 

bdesign

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@bdesign I apologize if I offended you or anyone else. My whole point in this thread is to try and convey that fish are affected by and respond to their environment. It's up to us to create an evnironment they can be a positive part of. I expressed that numbers would help with their bad traits. Several people responded with every damsel is a devil. I think that lots of fish behave badly in certain circumstances. A single yellow tang can become a real terror, a bully. But when kept in groups are quite peaceful. My point was to get people to see past the stereotype and try a different way of keeping these fish.

I'm difficult to offend / take offense, so don’t give it a thought.

BTW, have I told you that I hate Damsels and am convinced they’re spawned straight from the pit of Hades? Lol
 

Quietman

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I'm difficult to offend / take offense, so don’t give it a thought.

BTW, have I told you that I hate Damsels and am convinced they’re spawned straight from the pit of Hades? Lol
Well yeah...that's what we all really think isn't it? But hey, someone wants to put one in THEIR tank...be sure to tell me how that works out for ya. :)
 

Quietman

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Kidding aside...showed my wife a picture of the Rolland's Damsel and she gave it an approval. I control the what goes in to keep it all peaceful and well-behaved but she has right of refusal on appearance. :)

She used to want a couple clowns (who, except me, doesn't), but after she's been reading on here and vids, she's fine now without them. Just too many variables on them - too territorial especially if paired and coral wreckers. Not always, but many if not most.

Only worry now is the Chromis (another in same damsel Family (Pomacentridae) but like clowns they are a different subfamily) so not expecting much, if any aggression.

Still researching though...like the OP. I take seriously that I'll have these fish for 10/15 years or more and care a lot about keeping things peaceful. Plus if any fish nip fingers, I'll never get a tank sitter. :)
 

tripdad

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20200101_150155.jpg

A shot of my tank of mean fish, lol.
 

45ZoaGarden

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Kidding aside...showed my wife a picture of the Rolland's Damsel and she gave it an approval. I control the what goes in to keep it all peaceful and well-behaved but she has right of refusal on appearance. :)

She used to want a couple clowns (who, except me, doesn't), but after she's been reading on here and vids, she's fine now without them. Just too many variables on them - too territorial especially if paired and coral wreckers. Not always, but many if not most.

Only worry now is the Chromis (another in same damsel Family (Pomacentridae) but like clowns they are a different subfamily) so not expecting much, if any aggression.

Still researching though...like the OP. I take seriously that I'll have these fish for 10/15 years or more and care a lot about keeping things peaceful. Plus if any fish nip fingers, I'll never get a tank sitter. :)
Hahaha yeah my clown is a total pain. It attacks me if I get too close to his patch of gsp. It attacks the syringe when I’m trying to feed coral. dislike that fish but there’s no way of getting it out of it ain’t floating LOL
 

Sarah24!

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Hello,

Damsels are a love hate relationship with some. I love them because they are pretty. However they are also the most annoying when you clean your tank. My clown fish which is an ocellaris is pomacentridae which includes damsels. He bites me every time I have to place my hand in the tank. I want to serve him with chips. He use to be nice and now bites me unless flick him in the mouth. I’m to the point do I catch him and give him away or by another one and risk two of them biting me and trying to rule my 240. However some of my tangs tail slap them pretty good.
 

SDK

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Hello,

Damsels are a love hate relationship with some. I love them because they are pretty. However they are also the most annoying when you clean your tank. My clown fish which is an ocellaris is pomacentridae which includes damsels. He bites me every time I have to place my hand in the tank. I want to serve him with chips. He use to be nice and now bites me unless flick him in the mouth. I’m to the point do I catch him and give him away or by another one and risk two of them biting me and trying to rule my 240. However some of my tangs tail slap them pretty good.


I've mentioned this in other threads, but every clownfish owner should have a pair of these gloves..



They are impervious to even large female Maroon Clown bites. I currently have a good sized female Darwin Clownfish. She is intelligent enough to know that she can't hurt me through the gloves, and has given up trying to bite me when wearing them. She waits until I go in with the forceps and tries for my fingertips if they dip in :)

On the thread topic, another vote for Talbots. I have one that's about a year old and have had zero problems. She protects an area about 6" in diameter around her home cave, and is otherwise fine. Beautiful, active and always out and about too...

5347A146-5DAF-4726-AA66-94439FA5C6CE.jpeg
 

DSC reef

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Trying to say how a fish will act is silly IMO. I've seen fish that have a reputation for being mean act nice and calm and others that are supposed to be peaceful go on a rampage. Just like anything else, due diligence and understand there are risks to anything you add to your tank. I've even seen tangs shred soft corals. That said, the one starkii damsel we kept was boisterous and killed a lightning maroon, the clownfish was smaller. He would even challenge the purple tang but it would never end well for old starkii.
 

AC1211

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Never tried the true damsels that we consider damsels just clownfish and C. Viridis... its only been a month but I am trying heavy feedings and higher flow and so far chromis have been fine I believe that misidentification or simply bad husbandry may support the issues with chromis.
 

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My springer is totally peaceful in my 100 gallon mixed reef, also have a school of 9 green chromis that behave; the tangs in the tank are the biggest bullies.
My chrysiptera springerii is completely peaceful, if anything its the most timid one of the whole bunch.


Q about your springers damsels: do you have the mostly blue form (true springerii ) or the one with black speckles and stripes?

IMG_1927.jpg



And where did you get them?

I'm looking for 5-6 of the dark speckled firm, which isn't the true springers damsel, but which everyone has pics of on their store website, but everyone os out of stock.

The only in stock springers I can find are at BlueZoo aquatics but the pic is fuzzy and color is overblown so I can't tell.

Thanks
 
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