Yellow-tail Blue Damsel and Percula Clowns?

laura-jean

friend to the fish
I have a yellow-tail blue damsel currently in my tank and I'm going to add my new pair of percula clowns in a little while.

The damsel is a scaredy-fish and hides behind the LR about 95% of the time.

Is he likely to pick on my clowns, or leave them alone?

Just curious. If he shows any sign of being rude he's goin' back to the LFS.

Anyone have an experiences with this, or thoughts?
 
I have a yellow tail damsel and have never had a problem with mine. Other people on here have seen their yellow tail damsels beat up and kill other fish. They tend to be one of the more docile types of damsels -- but that's not saying much, since the rest of them are horrible bullies. It's a 50/50 chance if you've got one that's going to play nice or not... Since it was in the tank first, it may feel a strong urge to defend its territory against the clowns. But then again, it may not care. You just have to see how it goes.
 
Is the damsel larger than the clowns? If so, he may pick on them for a bit. Also, for future reference: if you see the the clowns picking at each other, they're "fighting" for dominance, the larger will be the female. The males do a lot of shaking.
 
My first saltwater fish was a yellow tailed damsel.It killed EVERY thing I add to the tank.When I finally caught that spawn of satan,I carried him to the LFS.They put him in a tank with a blue spotted grouper,niger trigger,dogface puffer and a 3 ft longMexican horned moray.I was watching with a huge smile expecting to see him get nailed.3 weeks later,the damsel was given to some lady that only wanted ONE fish in her tank and that damsel was beating the crap of all the other PREDATORY fish in the tank.
 
my yellow-tail was great! he was one of the first fish I got and he always hid behind the filter, so we called him Phil (like Philter... haha... yea lame joke i know LOL)... he was so nice! he used to swim in between my fingers when i'd try to move a coral around or something... he was about the size of a quarter, sadly he dissapeared one day :(

I personally like damsels, i have 3 in my tank currently, a domino, a blue (aka blue devils), and a 4 stripe.... all 3 of them are very friendly towards the clowns and only bully my eel.... i've never had a problem with a damsel except my first blue one we called Bluto.... he got eaten tho lol.

it really all depends, he sounds like he'd be fine with another fish :)
 
I have an angelfish that can be nasty when I add new, tiny, brightly-colored fish. What I started doing was rearranging my rock a bit before I added them...then my angelfish behaves. I think it feels less territorial this way. I've never had a damsel fish...so I have no idea if this may help you. Good luck!
 
I've got a damsel and a clown in my 28g and the clown is the aggressive one. The don't ever seem to bite at each other, but the clown will chase the damsel occasionally.

Not sure what kind of damsel he, but he looks like this...

DSC02777.jpg
 
Umm...idk, maybe...i had thought that perhaps he was just a yellowtail with lots of yellow. Based on the prices in your link, either I get great deals at my LFS or he is not a yellowbelly. He was $3.99 at my LFS. :)
 
if you put a pair of clowns in the with an anenome, they will prob pick on the damsel, Clowns are actually in the Damsel Family which alot of people do not know, extended, but in the family, I have no problems in my tank with them
 
+1 darren

you will probably be okay, especially if you are adding the two clowns together. This will help reduce your damsels aggression. Also make sure you have enough hiding places for them so they can all sleep comfortably, when fighting occurs it is usually over territory.

Good Luck
 
IMO its an even split between, 1: They get along reasonably well 2. Damsel after clowns 3: clowns after damsel. Fish definatly have thier own personalities. My false clown killed the first firefish I added. Then I added a larger firefish and a larger gobi and rearranged the tank. I've since added lots of other fish including a very small damsel and now to be honest my clown is the most docile aside from my PJ cardinals. The damsel is well behaved towards even the docile cardinals aside from the occasional chasing event. So fish attitudes can change so keep mind of that too.
 
Thanks for the input everyone! Turns out as soon as I put the clowns in, the damsel started terrorizing the bigger clown. Thought he was boss or somethin. Soooo I took him back to the LFS within the hour. I don't need any damage done by a tiny little fish that cost $3, vs my $10 each clown fish. -___-
 
That was a good move Laura.
Damsels are cheap and a lot of em are pretty.But their the meanest fish in the ocean.
 
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