Which fish can live with a damselfish

[Picasso the Triggerfish]

I have seen that damsels are aggresive, there are any fish that lives without issues on a damsel tank or damsels need a species only tank? also, can damsels breed?

 

[Zionas]

Damselfish are divided into many genuses. Some are a lot more aggressive than others. If we don’t count Chromis, I think there’s somewhat of a consensus that the most peaceful damselfish are some species from the Chrysiptera genus. Some people seem to do OK with Pomacentrus species and the somewhat more obscure Neopomacentrus and the Lezyigdon (?) genus which only has one species, the Fusilier Damsels.

You’d want to steer clear of Dascyllus, anything “-phidodon”, not sure about Stegastes or the other genuses but better play safe than be sorry.

To play it safe, stick with species from Chrysiptera like Azure, Talbot, Springer’s, Rolland’s, Yellowtail, Tracey’s, Tuxedo (research, these look very similar to the striped damsels of the Dascyllus genus, you don’t wanna end up with a Three-Stripe or Four-Stripe) maybe King (Chrysiptera Rex) demoiselles too. If you can find one from the Neopomacentrus genus (Lyretail Damsel-Neopomacentrus bankieri/ azysron) or the Fusilier damsels that can be community-friendly and stay in small groups.

People have done damselfish specific tanks that include the “-phidodon” genuses and even the Dascyllus species but I’m not sure how it’s done.

 

[Fishpalace]

I have 7 springer damsels in a 100g tank alongside 19 other fish such as anthias, wrasse, yellow tang and blennys amongst others For the past 18 months. They were the last fish I put into the system and have lots of live rock and hiding places, which I think makes a decision.

i started with 9 but the 2 smaller fish died and they have now all found there own Territory and defend it. They are all well fed And see very little aggression despite all 26 fish growing in size and none are now juveniles. Not to say I won’t have problems in the future but all good for now and have no plans to add any more fish to system.

 

[Katrina71]

My son's blue Velvet lives with a pair of clowns and a large blue spot watchman/tiger pistol.

 

[Zionas]

Lucky him. The Blue Velvet is usually one of the most aggressive species, second only to the Dascyllus genus.

@Fishpalace Wow, 26 fish! My tank will be approximately the same size as yours though it’ll only be a 4 foot tank. Do you plan to house your Yellow Tang in there for the duration of its life?

Putting in more than 12 or 13 fish in my tank already makes me a bit nervous lol, and I’m talking fish 5-6” and below lol.

 

[Katrina71]

Lucky him. The Blue Velvet is usually one of the most aggressive species, second only to the Dascyllus genus.

@Fishpalace Wow, 26 fish! My tank will be approximately the same size as yours though it’ll only be a 4 foot tank. Do you plan to house your Yellow Tang in there for the duration of its life?

The goby is the tank alpha. The damsel even rubs his hand. Total baby. 4 yrs old.

 

[Zionas]

That’s cute! Awww.

 

[mort]

I have seen that damsels are aggresive, there are any fish that lives without issues on a damsel tank or damsels need a species only tank? also, can damsels breed?

Very much depends on what damsel you wish to keep. The first post from Zionas, sums it all up nicely.

Damsels can and will breed as well and different species have different methods.

 

[Picasso the Triggerfish]

Damsels can and will breed as well and different species have different methods.

Which one is the easiest to breed?

 

[Waters]

More importantly than the species of damsel is the size of the tank. If you have a large tank with lots of different territories, you can keep pretty much anything with damsels.

 

[mort]

Which one is the easiest to breed?

Just breed or attempt to breed and raise? Most will happily breed but they produce such small larvae that for a hobbyist it's nigh on impossible to raise them.

For personal choice I would go for chrysiptera hemicyanea, as it's small, colourful and readily forms breeding pairs. If you want a group of damsels them Pomacentrus alleni is another good choice that will regularly breed.

 

[ReefGrammie]

I have a three-stripe and an azure damsel in my 90-gallon-tank. They have been fine with the other fish, including the introduction of a fairy wrasse and a flasher wrasse after the damsels. Maybe I just got lucky?

 

[Oberst Hajj]

I have a three-stripe and an azure damsel in my 90-gallon-tank. They have been fine with the other fish, including the introduction of a fairy wrasse and a flasher wrasse after the damsels. Maybe I just got lucky?

How has your three stripe damsel been over the last almost year?

 

[ReefGrammie]

How has your three stripe damsel been over the last almost year?

Funny you should mention that. I have a few posts about it on my build thread, but basically I had to move the damsel to my 2nd tank, which is a BioCube. I introduced a new Kole tang about a month ago, and the three-stripe damsel and my clownfish did major damage. The tang is doing fine now, but I moved the clown and the damsel to my BioCube, which was fishless at the time. The azure damsel never paid a bit of attention to the tang. I'm thinking about moving them back to the 90 after "timeout" in the BioCube.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Funny you should mention that. I have a few posts about it on my build thread, but basically I had to move the damsel to my 2nd tank, which is a BioCube. I introduced a new Kole tang about a month ago, and the three-stripe damsel and my clownfish did major damage. The tang is doing fine now, but I moved the clown and the damsel to my BioCube, which was fishless at the time. The azure damsel never paid a bit of attention to the tang. I'm thinking about moving them back to the 90 after "timeout" in the BioCube.

Thanks for the update. Yesterday we went to the new Scheels in town and they have a 16k gallon fish only tank and they had a bunch of three stripe damsels in it that seemed to be getting along just fine (there were 3 or 4 that were hanging out together).

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

I have three striped damsels with an oscelaris in a reefer 170 and have had zero aggression.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

I have three striped damsels with an oscelaris in a reefer 170 and have had zero aggression.

How long have those three been in there together?

 

[Westside Guy]

I had a Starki damsel that lived peacefully with 2 clowns, 2 chromis, a 6 line wrasse, a yellow assessor, pajama cardinal, orchid dottyback and a Bangai cardinal.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

How long have those three been in there together?

The damsels went in together last spring. Clown arrived towards end of summer. Haven't had a single issue.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

The damsels went in together last spring. Clown arrived towards end of summer. Haven't had a single issue.

How big were they when you go them?