Egg laying damsel going bad.

[RareZ]

Hi, For a month now my stripe damel is acting very agressive toward my other fish (except toward the Yellow Tang, maybe cuz it's the biggest). Anyway, I've been trying to figure out why it was acting that way.

It seems that it's been laying eggs about ever 2 or 3 weeks for the last 1 or 2 months. But none of them survive. It is very very protective of the eggs as no fish, snail can get close to them. I even tried to grab some with a stick but it came out and charged at the stick with it's tails.

Now I am sure that they are eggs, it had layed about 4 or 5 times so far but non of them would survive or simply dont know what happns to it. They last about 1 - 2 weeks, and they slowly go away by numbers.

I really liked the pair and that they are laying eggs and all that.. but I dont like the fact that the female (large one ?4") keeps chasing my fish. Specially the blue hippo tang. It's like that one is it's worst enemy. I even tried to remove them but I can move all the rocks to get them and they are very clever at escaping. It knows the difference between a stick and a net.

It attacks the stick but hides from the net. Anything I can do to bring peace back to my tank? Or anything I can do to get the eggs to hatch?

Please let me know. Thanks. I will try to get a picture of the egg cluster.

 

[marrone]

That's the problem with having Damsel in your tank as they are very aggressive and once they start to lay eggs they become even more aggressive, specially in the area where the eggs have been laided. The best thing to do is get a fish trap and remove them from the tank. You may want to place them in your sump, a seperate tank or give them away to someone.

As for trying to hatch the eggs, well it's very similar to raise clown fish.

 

[loismustdie]

Very few people are equipped to raise the eggs/fry. Think of them as free coral/fish food.
As for bringing peace... how do they act when there are no eggs? if it's an occasional issue which arrives every 2 to 3 weeks yet has benefits (feeding quality food to your tank), I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[RareZ]

Thanks for your inputs. I have another tank ready for them, but I cant seem to catch them. I will try to do it when they are sleeping at night. They seem more imobile at that time.

 

[marrone]

If you can't catch them at night get yourself a fish trap. Just ask here and I'm sure someone can lend you one.