Damsels and Tridacnads !

[cheeks69]

I'm wondering if anyone has had problems with Damsels and Clams ??? I have a couple of Chrysiptera cyaneas and the male keeps taking nips at my Croceas one of them is soo severly stressed that the mantle has bleached in some areas, I just want to kill him I've tried to catch him but it's nearly impossible without having to take the whole tank apart. Did I ever say that this hobby can be soo stressful at times

[corallimorph]

Hey Robert,i 'm sure you've heard a million ways to remove a fish from a reef w/out taking it apart,....but my favorite is to use hook and line...i use the smallest fly-fishing hooks(smallest hooks they make) and use 1/2(.5)lb test with a very small piece of shrimp(very ,very small)...and it works ALMOST every time!
especially for damsels!
I'm sorry i can't provide any "hook" link, since i received the hooks a while back from a retired fly fisherman...and don't know the source.-Dave

[cheeks69]

Dave the problem is that my larger more aggressive feeders would quickly attack the hook and it would be very difficult to just target the Damsel, they will usually just get the leftovers. I guess I'm at the point that I will try anything, I may take a quick ride to Walmart to see If I can find a real small one hook and see how it goes. .

[reefjitsu]

A hook a line will work wonders! Get barbless hooks or take a pair of pliers and flatten the barb on the hook. The barb is not really neccesary for your purposes and you won't damage the fish as badly.

[JFK_Jr]

Robert... I had to pull a Sohal Tang out of my tank a few months ago. I wen't nuts at first, but what I did was... I would place my fish net in the tank every time I would feed the fish. After about a week's time the fish were so used to the net at dinner time, that I was able to just scoop him out with no fuss.

Even to this day... if I put my net in the tank to scoop up debris after turkey basting my rocks... my fish swarm to the net thinking there's food.

It just takes a little patience... good luck!

[lcstorc]

Neat trick JFK. Train them to think of food when they see the net. I like it.

[cheeks69]

I would place my fish net in the tank every time I would feed the fish.

I have used this method successfully in the past but Damsels besides being the toughest fish in the Ocean it's also quite smart after the first try you can forget about it. I ended up taking the tank apart this morning and removing the remaining 2 Blue Damsels it's too bad because they're great lookin fish ! I also don't think this Crocea is going to make it

[Woodstock]

I hope the clam makes it Robert.

I never thought damsels would nip clams... thanks for letting us know.

[cheeks69]

Thanx Doni.
I'm sure this isn't common behaviour for Damsels but it certainly goes to show that every fish has it's own personality and can be unpredictable.

[Woodstock]

I too like the blue damsels. I had one named Pluto for well over 5 years... it added a nice splash of color to my tank was a model citizen. I did not have a clam at that time though.

[billyr98]

Sorry Robert.. I Hope the clam makes it!

[cheeks69]

Thanx Billy I hope so too !
I'm thinkin it may need some phyto since part of the mantle has bleached.

[Witfull]

he may well out grow it or a passing infatuation. i have a flame angel that i was going to try and pull out due to nipping at my Gigas. after several weeks,,and sheer non involvement with my tank,,(known home issues) he stopped pestering it....i dont know why, but saved me a headache,,,and i have had several with the tank since above not mentioned issues made tank a second fiddle in the home.

[EmergencyDpt]

I've removed three damsels from my 90 gallon reef using the plastic bag method.

I put a largish fish store bag in the tank. I hold it open with some rocks on the bottom and the magnet cleaner on the top. Then I put some food in it.

None of them stayed out of the bag for more than a few hours.

Ah ha! Sucker!

[cheeks69]

Well the Crocea bleached and never recovered the zooxanthellae, I finally removed it on monday. The thing I don't get was why the Croceas and not the Maximas ??? I suspect that it started when I placed it next to it's cave but even when I moved it the behaviour continued.