Yellowtail Damsel question

[jamesd28]

Hey guys,

I have a 14G biocube currently stocked with a male percula clownfish that is roughly 1.5", a cleaner shrimp, and a few hermits and snails. My next addition is going to be some type of small goby, and I would really like to make my last addition a small yellowtail damsel.

I have heard various things about the level of aggression that they display and was curious if making him the last addition to the tank and getting him in the smallest size possible (ideally 1-1.5") would make him compatible with the clown and goby?

An alternative that I was considering (if possible) is getting a small bicolor dwarf angel. Would that be better/worse/same as getting a yellowtail damsel?

Thanks for any advice or feedback from personal experiences with these fish!

 

[carey]

As far as tempermeant the angel would be better BUT the tank size isnt big enough. :-(

How about a royal gramma? Very colorful and nice. thats all I got for ya, sorry.... LOL

 

[Maya]

Yellowtails have a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde reputation as they age. Ours doesn't
do any damage but she is a bit of a closet bully with our clown. My primary complaint about her is her lack of "personality". All of our other fish display loads of it but the damsel is really quite blah. So much so that I tend to refer to her as Pat, in reference to a SNL skit from the 80's. The gramma very well may be a much better choice for a tank that is going to have a very limited number of fish, although I can't personally vouch for it. I honestly wouldn't waste precious space on a damsel, after my experience with my own.

 

[jamesd28]

Haha, I am familiar with the skit. I was told by a friend of mine that used to work for a LFS on the east coast that the addition of an anemone that could survive in the biocube would make the addition of a damsel less risky because it would give the clown somewhere stress-free to go where the damsel would not follow. Is this valid, or was he wrong? lol

 

[Maya]

It may. In all honesty there are a lot of variables that could change the scenario. I've heard stories of viscous damsels who harass fish 5 times their size to death. Mine doesn't display that sort of antagonism and the clown doesn't really seem to mind her all that much. If my clown hosts anything it would be my tang. He follows her everywhere... He's like her little chihuahua in a purse lol. My issue with the damsel isn't so much aggression. It's just that she is incredibly boring, as far as our fish go.

 

[jamesd28]

Right. What size is your tank? and when was your damsel added relative to the other fish?

 

[Maya]

Our tank is a 75 gallon with a 30 gallon sump. The tank itself is over 5 years old now but we have only owned it for about 8 months. We actually bought it for the live rock for our 125 gallon tank (really good price) but it came with fish. A percula clown, a firefish, a yellow tang and a yellowtail damsel. I have no idea how old these fish are or in what order they were added to the tank. We have only added inverts and equipment. Apparently, we are incredibly patient people. Our 125 has been sitting empty in our basement for almost a year waiting on a custom stand and custom lighting. But hey, we researched for over a year before we bought anything. 2 years into this journey and we are getting ready to set up our original tank. Lol

 

[RicoNica]

I have the exact same set up in my BioCube 14 Gallon:

1 yellow tail damsel
1 clown fish
1 goby
1 shrimp

When I introduced the clownfish to the tank the damsel did show alot of aggression but the clown fish would hold it's ground' they now have been in the tank for nearly a month and r getting along jus fine.
See picture below

 

[Maya]

Rico... What do you think of the damsel? Ours is pretty but is a bit of a dud when it comes to "personality". I've seen a lot of great fish, including the others I own and our damsel is just kinda ... Blah. I'll never waste our time with another one. How is yours?

 

[RicoNica]

Maya..
My damsel is pretty cool he likes to swim all around the tank and in-between the live rocks and is very active, if he gets angry his top fin goes straight exposing all the spikes on his top fin and he'll swim really fast around the tank, so I have no complaints.
From time to time he'll show some aggression towards the clownfish during feeding but the clown holds his ground and puts him in place. He usually runs away and let's the clownfish eat and then comes up once he's done.
Soo he a bully but picks the wrong fights all the time

 

[jamesd28]

haha I am hoping that my clown will hold his own too if the damsel shows aggression. Currently, he is about 1.5 inches, but I think he is a little bit of a scaredy cat haha. He doesn't even like it when the cleaner shrimp tries to clean him. I just talked to my contact at the LFS and he said he gets all of his damsels from a local wholesaler and can hand pick the smallest one so hopefully he is a baby and doesn't think he can come in and own the tank! haha. I wont be ordering him for another week or 2 though. I just had him add a twin spot goby to his order for me, which should be here thursday!

 

[carey]

Nice, the twin spots are really neat! make sure we get pictures!!lol

 

[jamesd28]

Of course! Thanks for linking me to the twin spot, carey! I will definitely post pictures. I re-did the LR a few days ago and added a pretty cool red rock with a cave. Also noticed my water getting a little clearer with the addition of the InTank Media Basket! My replacement water flow piece should be here today, so I can fix the small gap where water bypasses the basket

 

[jamesd28]

Rico, what type of Goby do you have in your tank?

 

[RicoNica]

I have an orange spot watchman goby that's always hanging around my tiger shrimp I jus add 4 small hermit crabs today

 

[jamesd28]

Oh nice! make sure to have extra shells in your tank for them! I just had one of my crabs remove another one from his shell, at which point my cleaner shrimp grabbed him and ate him haha.

So you don't see too much aggression from your yellowtail damsel?