Sk8r
07/01/2015, 12:07 PM
...give or take one factor: the penchant of some stripey damsels to take up residency in an anemone, coral, or just about anything that waves in the current, and a few of these (percula, etc) to stay so close to that nem they don't much leave it. Others of the nem-residing type range further afield (clarkii, red, maroon, cinnamon clowns) and require quite a bit more room.
'Damsel' is kind of a catch-all name for fish that stay close to corals in general, and that encompasses amphiprion (clarki, ocellaris, percula), premnas (maroon), dascyllus (more territorial), chrysiptera (less territorial), chromis (everybody's victim--even each other's)...all of whom share some peculiar behaviors. If you classified them by activity instead of body form and other factors, you'd find there's real correspondence between the 3-stripe dascyllus and the amphiprion clarkii; and the premnas (maroon clown), far more timidity in the chromis and perculas than in the chrysipteras (Fiji blue devil, azures, yellowtail) --- and clarkiis and maroons AND the three-stripe dascyllus have a penchant for picking up coral specimens and throwing them in a temper fit if they haven't been glued down.
If you put any of these fish into a small tank, your chances for success are small. The timid little percs because they are so tightly focused on their nem can do it, but don't expect a clarkii to really thrive in close quarters, perish forbid a maroon. Most damsels, not anchored tightly to a nem, will require running room...100 gallons or more; but once that room exists, you can have several, because each fish stakes out a 'territory,' often around an upright rock: one spire per fish. The more room, the happier. It's all the same behavior...many identical behaviors. Dascyllus and some amphiprions and certainly the premnas will fight a buzz saw 'because it's there.' ---premnas will grab a tankmate and shove it (fatally) into its anemone...and dascyllus in general will do bodily harm if a tankmate can't get out of its way. They're more irritable if the alkalinity is lower than 8.3, and correspondingly more so as it sinks---and in general, they're much the same fish, with behaviors that have evolved around being real homebodies. They love 'their' rock spire, 'their' anemone, and as long as that's not disturbed or transgressed upon, they're generally cool. They'll chase out a little distance, then quickly return to 'their rock' or 'their nem' and be content.
This is why the ones called 'damsels' take so much room ---having a rock all your own can't just be a measly pebble: has to be a rock of some importance and easy to find in an emergency. Ideally really uniquely upright. Go figure.
Chromis are on every other damsel's hit list because they 'rove' about the tank annoying all the homebodies, unless you can offer them the branches of a gorgonian...then they may stay put and quit bothering other fish. They also have the bad habit of doing each other in at night over sleeping spots. This is why their numbers 'mysteriously' decline in small tanks.
Anyway---just a little sense of perspective on the whole lot of small reef fishes that are very similar in behaviors, because they live in very similar places: 'stay close to home and duck into the sleeping hole if a shark swims by.' Rule 1 and pretty well the law of their lives.
'Damsel' is kind of a catch-all name for fish that stay close to corals in general, and that encompasses amphiprion (clarki, ocellaris, percula), premnas (maroon), dascyllus (more territorial), chrysiptera (less territorial), chromis (everybody's victim--even each other's)...all of whom share some peculiar behaviors. If you classified them by activity instead of body form and other factors, you'd find there's real correspondence between the 3-stripe dascyllus and the amphiprion clarkii; and the premnas (maroon clown), far more timidity in the chromis and perculas than in the chrysipteras (Fiji blue devil, azures, yellowtail) --- and clarkiis and maroons AND the three-stripe dascyllus have a penchant for picking up coral specimens and throwing them in a temper fit if they haven't been glued down.
If you put any of these fish into a small tank, your chances for success are small. The timid little percs because they are so tightly focused on their nem can do it, but don't expect a clarkii to really thrive in close quarters, perish forbid a maroon. Most damsels, not anchored tightly to a nem, will require running room...100 gallons or more; but once that room exists, you can have several, because each fish stakes out a 'territory,' often around an upright rock: one spire per fish. The more room, the happier. It's all the same behavior...many identical behaviors. Dascyllus and some amphiprions and certainly the premnas will fight a buzz saw 'because it's there.' ---premnas will grab a tankmate and shove it (fatally) into its anemone...and dascyllus in general will do bodily harm if a tankmate can't get out of its way. They're more irritable if the alkalinity is lower than 8.3, and correspondingly more so as it sinks---and in general, they're much the same fish, with behaviors that have evolved around being real homebodies. They love 'their' rock spire, 'their' anemone, and as long as that's not disturbed or transgressed upon, they're generally cool. They'll chase out a little distance, then quickly return to 'their rock' or 'their nem' and be content.
This is why the ones called 'damsels' take so much room ---having a rock all your own can't just be a measly pebble: has to be a rock of some importance and easy to find in an emergency. Ideally really uniquely upright. Go figure.
Chromis are on every other damsel's hit list because they 'rove' about the tank annoying all the homebodies, unless you can offer them the branches of a gorgonian...then they may stay put and quit bothering other fish. They also have the bad habit of doing each other in at night over sleeping spots. This is why their numbers 'mysteriously' decline in small tanks.
Anyway---just a little sense of perspective on the whole lot of small reef fishes that are very similar in behaviors, because they live in very similar places: 'stay close to home and duck into the sleeping hole if a shark swims by.' Rule 1 and pretty well the law of their lives.