Aquariums don’t do justice to the Dascyllus species

[Ohioreefer7]

In an aquarium the Dascyllus species are setting up territories and fighting constantly and harassing other fish. So often in aquariums the Dascyllus is by itself. But out in the ocean where you can observe them in their natural habitat the Dascyllus species are really interesting. They form little groups and each one is watching the other for the slightest hint of danger and if it comes then they quickly dart back into their coral hiding place. It is amazing how many can fit into one little coral. Then as the threat of danger subsided they begin to emerge from their coral hiding place once again. The three stripe and reticulated damselfish are pretty awesome in how they fit into the tinyest openings in coral. The domino damselfish is one of my favorite because they can live in anemonies and the get big enough that they can swim around you when you are scuba diving and beg for food just like the sergeant majors do. Anyway, I am definitely thinking of going scuba diving in Asia again. It is a long trip but the diving is amazing and aquarium Dascyllus behavior does not come close to how they behave in the ocean.

[oldhead]

Had to google what it was. I had one, meanest fish I ever had. It would terrorize everything, including corals that I move. It really liked to head butt things.

[Haley]

The simplest answer is that fish behavior changes with the amount of space available. Obviously in the ocean they are going to be much more relaxed and less territorial! Damsels are small fish so people assume that a small tank is fine. This is similar to how so many people come into aquaria wanting a shoal of tangs! And that just simply doesn't work in limited space! In order for many species to properly form groups they need LARGE numbers and when a fish is large or needs a large amount of space per individual it just isn't a reasonable thing to replicate. To mimic wild behavior or a damsel it would be something like 50 fish in a 1000g tank. Not many people can replicate that.

In addition to all this some species are just plain mean! The garibaldi is one example of damsel that simply just doesn't have a lot of fear and is incredibly territoral even in the wild. Even going so far as to attack divers when they feel like their space is being intruded upon!

[Ohioreefer7]

The simplest answer is that fish behavior changes with the amount of space available. Obviously in the ocean they are going to be much more relaxed and less territorial! Damsels are small fish so people assume that a small tank is fine. This is similar to how so many people come into aquaria wanting a shoal of tangs! And that just simply doesn't work in limited space! In order for many species to properly form groups they need LARGE numbers and when a fish is large or needs a large amount of space per individual it just isn't a reasonable thing to replicate. To mimic wild behavior or a damsel it would be something like 50 fish in a 1000g tank. Not many people can replicate that.

In addition to all this some species are just plain mean! The garibaldi is one example of damsel that simply just doesn't have a lot of fear and is incredibly territoral even in the wild. Even going so far as to attack divers when they feel like their space is being intruded upon!


I agree with what you are saying. Most fish don’t have enough room in an aquarium to live like they do in the wild. I just think that the Dascyllus has a really cool nature and when the wild it is fun to see. Here is a video of some three strip damsels. They look cool to me when the come out of the coral.

https://youtu.be/KqUy29nfL2s