Get rid of Damsels?

[tristan65]

I went to my LFS yesterday and met a great new salesperson who took a lot of time to talk to me about all the different fish I could add to my tank at this point.

While speaking with him I realized that my Damsels may be too territorial and aggressive for the tank I want to create. The salesperson was concerned that many of the peaceful fish he was recommending would be "attacked" by the Damsels (my current clownfish is currently not doing so well, possibly for that reason -- see other post). I also noticed that, after the Damsels have fed themselves, there is nothing left for the shyer fish (including my new Flame Angel)...

I asked him if I should get rid of the Damsels and he thought it would be a good idea (and said many people do that after the tank has cycled). He actually said I had gotten bad advice to buy Damsels in the first place since a tank with live rock doesn't need them to cycle.

I've pretty much decided to get rid of my Damsels. Not that I don't like them but I don't want my $3 fish to make life miserable for the more interesting, peaceful, and more expensive fish I'm really interested in getting. What is your opinion on that?

Also, does anyone have a trick to catch Damsels?! They're fast and they hide in the rocks so I have no idea how I'm ever going to be able to catch them...

 

[sokhamik]

i chase them into a corner and then let the net enclose over them leaving the tank wall to block the open side of the net and i lift it up.. works all the time for me.. i don't have aggressive damsels.. they're really nice.. and they don't eat much.. i used to have blue damsels who sould gobble up the food, but these guys don't..

 

[fishfreek]

Since you have alot of live rock it might be a challenge. They make fish traps and you can also build your own fish trap. This is a much easier way of doing it.

Ask some local LFS's if they will take your damsels for store credit

 

[PrettyFishies]

I ended up tearing down the tank to get them out... I bought a trap... never could get the dran thing to stay put...it kept shifting and closing prematurely... I did however catch them in the middle of the night when they were sleepy...and less alert...it's tough...cause they are small and will STAY in teh live rock if they figure out you want to net them