Chrysiptera Damsels don’t deserve their bad rep

[Patrick Fenis]

In my opinion the Chrysiptera Damsel is one of the best fish to keep as long as your aquarium is at least 75 gallons. They’re very inexpensive, hardy, disease resistant, and highly tolerant to medications. They also contribute almost negligible bioload. And of course, the blue ones are especially gorgeous.​

The downfall? Most people say they’re too aggressive for a community aquarium. In my experience, this is only true if the aquarium is smaller than 75 gallons. I have included a blue Chrysiptera damsel in every one of my medium-large aquariums over the past 2 decades and I’ve never had any issues. Currently my custom 100 gallon cube tank includes:

Female Chrysiptera cyanea (3”)
Chrysiptera springeri (2”)
Female/male Ocellaris clown pair (4”/2”)
Orchid dottyback (3”)
PJ Cardinal (4”)
Coral beauty (4”)
2 Flame hawkfish (3” and 2”)
Male and female Lyretail molly (Poecilia latipinna) (4” and 3”)

They’ve all been living together for 2+ years without any issues. Not even a single torn fin.

So why do people report issues? Is it just an issue with overstocking and/or undersized tanks?

EDIT: one very important detail that I left out - I’ve never attempted a male Chrysiptera taupou or male Chrysiptera cyanea in a community aquarium. From what I’ve read, those ones can be much more belligerent. I did keep a male Chrysiptera taupou in a 180 gallon FOWLR tank with a Maroon clownfish and predator fish 10+ years ago with success though.

 

[areefer01]

I've kept a few damsels of the Chrysiptera genus. Check out the Lyretail Damsels, Neopomacentrus azysron, from Biota. I currently have 11 of these in my 210 gallon mixed reef and they are a joy to watch. Really brought the reef to life. Lots of spawning, activity, chasing without fight club.

 

[Tamberav]

I have a true springers damsel, would love more but difficult to find.

 

[Patrick Fenis]

I've kept a few damsels of the Chrysiptera genus. Check out the Lyretail Damsels, Neopomacentrus azysron, from Biota. I currently have 11 of these in my 210 gallon mixed reef and they are a joy to watch. Really brought the reef to life. Lots of spawning, activity, chasing without fight club.

I found one of those at my LFS years ago and decided to try it without knowing the genus/species. It was in a 55 gallon QT tank that unfortunately got wiped out by velvet before I could medicate the tank. It seemed very aggressive so I never tried one again after that. But maybe I’ll give it another shot sometime!

 

[Patrick Fenis]

I have a true springers damsel, would love more but difficult to find.

The true springers are the ones with black/blue patterns right? I had one of those awhile back but I ended up giving it away when I had to move. I really liked it but I found it was less likely to swim out in the open than the more common “springer” damsel (solid blue color). Still a great fish to keep though!

 

[TurboTang]

The first 2 fish I put in my tank (150g 72") after cycling was a pair of azure damsels (Chrysiptera hemicyanea). One was pretty calm and skittish but the other owned the tank and every cave in it. Would relentlessly peck at and tear fins of later fish I added. Eventually had to remove it and it has been the king of my nano tank since. The other has continued to live peacefully in the 150g. Sometimes I consider putting the other one back in the big tank - but then I see the spot on my foxfaces tailfin that never healed fully and remember how hard it was to catch that little dart. Not worth it.

 

[Lavey29]

My springerie is cool

 

[Patrick Fenis]

The first 2 fish I put in my tank (150g 72") after cycling was a pair of azure damsels (Chrysiptera hemicyanea). One was pretty calm and skittish but the other owned the tank and every cave in it. Would relentlessly peck at and tear fins of later fish I added. Eventually had to remove it and it has been the king of my nano tank since. The other has continued to live peacefully in the 150g. Sometimes I consider putting the other one back in the big tank - but then I see the spot on my foxfaces tailfin that never healed fully and remember how hard it was to catch that little dart. Not worth it.

Yea that’s another important detail. Gotta add damsels toward the end of your stocking. In my aforementioned stocking list, I added the damsels second to last. The 2 hawkfish were added last and no one bothered them.

 

[Tamberav]

The true springers are the ones with black/blue patterns right? I had one of those awhile back but I ended up giving it away when I had to move. I really liked it but I found it was less likely to swim out in the open than the more common “springer” damsel (solid blue color). Still a great fish to keep though!

No, they are all blue and stay smaller. The black and blue are related but not true.

They are hard to find, I assume most places don’t label them correctly and they are just a misc blue damsel.

I want more true ones because they stay so absolutely tiny! They so dang cute and small and absolutely peaceful to other fish.

This is the article on them:

Will the real Springeri damselfish please swim up? | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Chrysiptera springeri is an amazing species of damselfish which we’ve long admired. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen at least two color forms of damselfish being offered up as C. springeri…

reefbuilders.com

Jerry Allen via Rudie Kuiter who replied “The dark Chrysiptera is an undescribed species from the Philippines that is closely related to C. springeri“. He went on to add that he and some colleagues are in the process of describing the black and blue Chrysipteraspecies. So there you have it, the blue fish is the true C. springeri and the other morph is in the process of getting a name of it’s own.

 

[Patrick Fenis]

No, they are all blue and stay smaller. The black and blue are related but not true.

They are hard to find, I assume most places don’t label them correctly and they are just a misc blue damsel.

I want more true ones because they stay so absolutely tiny! They so dang cute and small and absolutely peaceful to other fish.

This is the article on them:

Will the real Springeri damselfish please swim up? | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Chrysiptera springeri is an amazing species of damselfish which we’ve long admired. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen at least two color forms of damselfish being offered up as C. springeri…

reefbuilders.com

Jerry Allen via Rudie Kuiter who replied “The dark Chrysiptera is an undescribed species from the Philippines that is closely related to C. springeri“. He went on to add that he and some colleagues are in the process of describing the black and blue Chrysipteraspecies. So there you have it, the blue fish is the true C. springeri and the other morph is in the process of getting a name of it’s own.

Ah ok I got them mixed up. Currently I have a true Springeri and it’s a model citizen. It seems to swim out in the open more than most damsels as well.