hurt damsel fish

ok so i woke up yesterday and one of my damsels was missing or so it seemed. he has been hiding in the rock work . and when he comes out he has a very odd swim like he cant use his main fins . idk whats wrong with him . he dont like sick nore do i think he got sick this fast . he kinda has the look of someone who just got kicked around .

water parameters are great .

i have 2 true osc black clowns
2 stripped damsels 1 of these is the injured fish .
2 spotted damsels .
emeralds
turbo snales
narites
1 seahare

and about 7 anenames . these were all hitchikers out of the LFS.
and im thinking maybe the damsel got beat on by the other striped damsel cause he seems overly aggresive . or one of these anenames got to the lil guy . but i was under the impression being from the same family as clown fish damsels wouldnt be bothered by anenemes ........ any ideas andyone . ????

 

The hitch hiker anemone you speak of, could they be aiptasia anemone? If so, kill em.
The striped damsels have a rep for being extremely aggressive, as are many damsel fish.
What size is your tank?
How long has it been set up?
What kind of filtration?
Skimmer?
Lights?
How often are water changes?
Sound like you could just have a case of a big bully.

 

Damsels readily form breeding pairs in captivity and can be very aggressive especially in pairs. I have two pairs also and when they scrap it can be carnage, they don't do it often but when they do they can easily split fins and remove scales. It normally takes 3-4 days for the damaged damsel to recover by hiding in the rocks. Kept in pairs they should be okay in the long run but will occasionally fight any fish roaming near there nesting area. I have had a lot of problems keeping 3 damsels of the same spp. in the past, now I stick to pairs or just one individual in a tank.

 

That's why most people don't keep damsels. They're just too aggressive. Even in pairs they will attack not only the other fish but each other as well.

 

This isn't entirely true, I have never seen a pair attack eack other. They swim around together and look after each other. I was talking about the male from my talbots damsel occasionally attacking the male from my yellow-tail damsels. This only happens when the male yellow-tail enters the area which the male talbot controls.
The only fish my damsels won't fend from there respected areas is my tangs.

 

When kept in threes, two will pair up and the fish left out will be attacked; just my experience of keeping many damsels.

 

I've had a few mating pairs and they still would beat up on each other. Oh well.
I'm like most people tho, I just don't care for them.

 

Damsels get a bad rep for a good reason; they can be very aggressive.

I have two pairs in my DT and one yellow belly damsel in my smaller tank. They are very colourful and if provided with good water conditions and live stock selected with there area in mind will spawn on a regular basis, providing a lot of food for the rest of the tank. Plus with time and research you could raise them and sell to your LFS to make a bit of money at the same time...

 

thanks gang. they are all paired up . it just seems the one stripped damsel is being a pain . he is protectinbg the whole 55gallons like its his . i have 45 pounds of live rock and if any other fish swims into the riock work the stripped damsel sends them fleeing
. hell my only real problem with this is i just addecd the clowns and im not digging on the 5 doller damsel attacking my 50$ clowns kinda making me sick to watch if you know what i mean .......

 

You need to decide whether you want to keep your clownfish or your damsel pairs. Most LFS will take fish off you, some will even buy them back off you. Clownfish IMO do not mix well with damsels especially if you have a pair.