Talbots Damsels - A Shark in Purple Scales

Neuratox · Sep 15, 2022

I recently posted about one of my talbots damsels attacking all the other talbots in my Red Sea Reefer XL300. I Managed to capture and surrender the offender at my LFS. A few weeks have gone by and now the two bigger talbots seem to have killed the runt - they were always harassing him after the big one was gone. They occasionally will start to pick a fight with my clowns, who quickly remind them that the clowns are in charge. I've also noticed that I see my red head gobies a lot less since the talbots have been gradually becoming more aggressive. I've been contemplating the idea of removing them, but wasn't sure... today they helped me make up my mind. I added in 3 rainfords gobies and IMMEDIATELY upon seeing them the talbots started trying to attack them. Once they found that there was something smaller than them in the tank they started trying to hunt down the rainfords. I'm not joking, they were literally searching every nook and crevice within the rockwork trying to find them. I've got a IceCap fish trap set up in the tank now with bait. Everyone is hesitant so I'm just trying to leave it be for now. My goal for today is get these talbots OUT!
I'm not sure why people seem to think that these are "peaceful."

djf91 · Sep 15, 2022

Yep I have Talbots and they can be mean. I also had three azure damsels, but two of them paired off and killed the third one…..in a 500 gallon display.

Neuratox · Sep 15, 2022

djf91 said:
Yep I have Talbots and they can be mean. I also had three azure damsels, but two of them paired off and killed the third one…..in a 500 gallon display.

Thats extreme. I kind of understood the conspecific aggression, but why go after the gobies. There is just some piece of the competition that Im missing unless it is simply territorial.

Tamberav · Sep 15, 2022

Springers are the way to go. They will squabble among each other though but mine pays no mind to the smaller fish in the tank.

Neuratox · Sep 15, 2022

Tamberav said:
Springers are the way to go. They will squabble among each other though but mine pays no mind to the smaller fish in the tank.

I'll have to look into these.

Cali Reef Life · Sep 15, 2022

Also you need to add most peaceful fish first and aggressive last if your choosing a semi aggressive fish.

exnisstech · Sep 15, 2022

One damsel per tank for me regardless of type. It's too bad because their color is stunning. I would love to have a small group but I know how that would end. I have the same luck with damsels start with 7 and end up with 1.

Neuratox · Sep 18, 2022

I hate to say it, but these fish are killing others in the tank and are doing their best to kill even more. So far I've lost 2 fish to them and they're trying to kill 3 others.

I've tried multiple methods for capture. I've used a food trap, net, fishing hook with bait, draining the tank so that there are only a few inches of water and then trying to net (tried this twice now), I've tried to confine them to areas that they hide with plastic bags (in hopes that they'd never be able to escape). I cannot tare the tank down because the rockwork is cemented. I've tried to catch them at night, but they sleep in areas of rockwork that are inaccessible to a net or even my hand. Frankly, even if I could, I wouldn't. Every time that I try to catch them I break a coral and stress the other fish out. Some of the smaller fish are just as hard to catch so I can't remove the small ones either in an attempt to save them.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I could stun these fish without hurting the others? I need these fish out dead or alive. Yes, I know that sounds awful, but they are killing other fish and terrorizing the tank. I'm not pleased with this, but frankly, two lives ending vs the lives that they have ended, will end, and the permanent disruption to the tank... its something that has to be done. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

i cant think · Sep 19, 2022

Neuratox said:
I recently posted about one of my talbots damsels attacking all the other talbots in my Red Sea Reefer XL300. I Managed to capture and surrender the offender at my LFS. A few weeks have gone by and now the two bigger talbots seem to have killed the runt - they were always harassing him after the big one was gone. They occasionally will start to pick a fight with my clowns, who quickly remind them that the clowns are in charge. I've also noticed that I see my red head gobies a lot less since the talbots have been gradually becoming more aggressive. I've been contemplating the idea of removing them, but wasn't sure... today they helped me make up my mind. I added in 3 rainfords gobies and IMMEDIATELY upon seeing them the talbots started trying to attack them. Once they found that there was something smaller than them in the tank they started trying to hunt down the rainfords. I'm not joking, they were literally searching every nook and crevice within the rockwork trying to find them. I've got a IceCap fish trap set up in the tank now with bait. Everyone is hesitant so I'm just trying to leave it be for now. My goal for today is get these talbots OUT!
I'm not sure why people seem to think that these are "peaceful."

That’s damsels being damsels. Some will be nasty some will be good. You need the fish that will put them in their place.

Also, they went for the rainfordis because they’re peaceful fish whereas your damsels took the remaining territory that the rainfords would’ve used.

If you think yours are bad, I had a beautiful Neon Velvet Damsel (Neoglyphidodon oxyodon). This thing was a tank, survived almost everything - Even ammonia - but then he unfortunately died due to cold water. If you can setup a species only tank for damsels then it would be a fun thing to watch, but they’re not for a reef unless you have more aggressive species such as tangs (In my case it was a Scopas Tang).

Neuratox · Sep 22, 2022

I got the last of the Talbot's out! I put the food trap back in and for 2 days would only put food into the trap. After the first day one got desperate and went for it while I was at the computer a few feet away. The last finally swam in for food a day later while I was hanging around waiting. I'm glad I just had patience. Unfortunately, they managed to kill a few of the new fish, but at least I won't have that problem moving forward.