Lonely Damsel

[Guest x2minusblndfold]

hey i have a 55 gallon reef. The only fish in it is a little yellow tailed damsel..i had this one fish for about 4-5 months now (problie longer). Iv been wanting to get another fish, but i heard that u cant keep any other fish w/ a yellow tailed damsel.. is this true? if not, then what kind of fish CAN i get??

[Sph2sail]

The damsel family is very territorial.  They like a lot of area to be theirs (meaning the whole tank).

 

That said, how much rock work is in your tank?  Could another occupant hide until things settle down a bit?

 

One method is to put a substantially larger fish in who is not as likely to be intimidated, but this is risky.

 

Mebbe a clown or two?  a royal gramma?

 

Several experts in the club on this one.  Reefmon/MichaelG/Iceman/tgallo may comment soon.

 

Another strategy:  donate this guy back to your LFS and get a more friendly fish.  Sometimes they will trade...

 

s

[Guest x2minusblndfold]

ok thanx for the helpful advise.

-- It would be ok to put MORE Damsels(of the same species) in the tank right?

--I have alot of rockwork. so that idea could work.

[xeon]

I have a yellow tail also.  It was the first fish I had.  I thought about removing it, but to date it has not harassed any other tank inhabitants.  That would include a yellow tang, pair of false percs and a mandarin.  As far as damsels go, I think they can be fairly peaceable as far as damsels go.  I don't know about a school of them though.  I do think they do well in small groups of their own if you wanted to add more.

 

I do know one thing though I'd make sure I wanted damsels before I loaded my tank with them.  I've heard some stories about people trying to catch one... let alone a bunch of them.

[Gatortailale]

I guss you are talking about the yellow tail damsel that is almost all black with greenish diamond on it's side and a yellow tail?  I have one of these in a 29.  Seems to get along with bicolor blenney and did fine with green chromis.

 

I also have a yellow tail blue damsel in my 125 - first salt fish I bought - that never bugs anyone or anything.

 

Royal gramma or 6 line wrasse would be fine I think.  Probably a dwarf angel too.