Easy to add and nearly impossible to remove, which is one source’s own summary of the animal
Damselfish are the standard first marine fish, and the reason is the same as the reason they are a problem. Aquarium Store Depot gives the whole record in six words: easy to add and nearly impossible to remove.
The hardiness is real and every source names it. Wikipedia describes the family as noted for their hardy constitutions and territoriality, and those two nouns are the whole argument: the first is why the fish is recommended and the second is why the recommendation goes wrong. Fishkeeping World puts the appeal plainly: their hardy nature makes them even more popular with beginners as it’s more resilient to common beginner mistakes such as stalled nitrogen cycles.
And then the same trait read the other way. Aquarium Store Depot: one should never consider cycling with damselfish. It rates four Chrysiptera species as tier 1, beginner-friendly and immediately withdraws the comfort: even Chrysiptera damsels are still damsels. They are territorial, and you should introduce them last.
Fishkeeping World supplies the detail a keeper remembers. The fish is territorial and will become aggressive if a fish intrudes on its patch; it will chase and nip at subordinate fish, and some Damsels have even bitten hands that have been placed into aquariums. A three inch fish that bites the hand doing the water change is not what most people mean by beginner-friendly.
Why this record was written now
- The gap
- Four thousand searches a month, and the largest keyword left in our map. It is also the first saltwater record on this site.
- What it changes
- A new silo, the highest pH floor here at 8.1, and a row that carries salinity where every other record carries hardness. The pairings grid was patched before this page shipped, and station 02 says why.
- What it does not
- No growth rate, because no source publishes one, and no species name, because the label is a family of about 385 species.
The first marine record here, and the two rows that stop it being read against the other forty six
| Row | Damselfish | Black molly, the most alkaline freshwater record | Do they meet? |
|---|---|---|---|
| pH | 8.1 to 8.4 | 7.5 to 8.5 | From 8.1 to 8.4, by four tenths |
| Water density | Specific gravity 1.020 to 1.025 | 268 to 536 ppm hardness | Different measurements entirely |
| Temperature | 73 to 81 °F | 72 to 78 °F | From 73 to 78 |
| Tank | 30 gal | 20 gal | Both available |
| Can they share one? | No. One lives in salt water and one does not | Never | |
That table is the argument for a separate silo, and it is worth walking through because two of its rows look like agreement. The temperature bands overlap across five degrees and the pH bands overlap across four tenths of a point. A grid built on those two rows alone would print this record as compatible with our black molly record, and it would be wrong in a way that no amount of temperature arithmetic could catch.
So the grid was changed before this page was published. Our tank mates page now refuses a marine record against a freshwater one before it compares any band, and the cell says fresh water and salt rather than giving a figure. That is the same rule this site applies everywhere else: a cell is a figure, a refusal with a reason, or a blank, and never a guess.
The row that gives this away is the third one, and it is the one this site’s schema was not built for. Every other record here fills that row with hardness, dissolved calcium and magnesium measured in parts per million. A marine keeper does not measure that. The density question in salt water is salt, so this record carries specific gravity, 1.020 to 1.025, the span both aquarium sources contain. The row is honest about the substitution rather than quiet about it.
The pH row is the single clearest number for the separation. 8.1 is the highest pH floor on this site, above our black molly and nerite snail records at 7.5. Reef water is carbonate-buffered at a level no freshwater tank here reaches, and the fact that the molly’s ceiling sits above this record’s floor is arithmetic rather than compatibility.
One thing worth saying for anyone arriving from the freshwater side: specific gravity is not new to this site even though salt water is. Our freshwater puffer fish guide carries 1.005 to 1.010 for the green spotted puffer, which is sold on freshwater lists and is brackish, and our brine shrimp guide carries one too.
Is a clownfish a damselfish? Our reference source answers twice and the answers differ
There is no binomial on this record because the label is a family. Wikipedia: around 385 species are classified in this family, in about 31 genera. Which of those genera are damselfish turns out to depend on which Wikipedia page you open.
The damselfish page: damselfish are fish within the subfamilies Abudefdufinae, Chrominae, Lepidozyginae, Pomacentrinae, and Stegastinae within the family Pomacentridae. Amphiprioninae, the traditional clownfish subfamily, is not on that list, so on this page a clownfish is not a damselfish.
The Pomacentridae page: traditional classification included Amphiprioninae, but more recent phylogenetic analyses instead support the four subfamilies Chrominae, Glyphisodontinae, Microspathodontinae, and Pomacentrinae, with the clownfishes nested within the latter subfamily. Pomacentrinae appears on both lists. So on the newer arrangement a clownfish sits inside one of the subfamilies the other page calls damselfish.
Neither page is careless and the disagreement is the state of the field rather than an error. Subfamily boundaries inside Pomacentridae have been rearranged by molecular work, and a page describing the traditional subfamilies and a page describing the current phylogeny will not line up. What they agree on is the family and the count.
The trade cuts the knot by genus instead of by rank, and for once the commercial answer is the more useful one: Amphiprion and Premnas are sold as clownfish, and the other genera are sold as damselfish. That distinction has no taxonomic authority and it predicts behavior well, because the fish sold as clownfish are the ones associated with anemones and the ones sold as damselfish are the ones in station 01.
This site has met the shape before, twice. Our siamese algae eater record carries Crossocheilus and the words the species is disputed, and our black molly record sits over a species complex of about thirteen species. What is new here is that the disagreement is between two pages of the same reference source, which is the same defect our danios guide found in Aquarium Store Depot on the celestial pearl danio.
The full record
| Field | Recorded | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum tank | 30 gal | Both aquarium sources give the same minimum and one of them gives the figure that matters more. Aquarium Store Depot: minimum tank size, 30 gallons. Fishkeeping World: the Blue Damselfish can be housed in a 30-gallon aquarium, and then the condition, that if you plan to keep more than one you need to make sure the aquarium is over 50 gallons. So the tank is not really about the fish, it is about how many of them, which is the territoriality row restated as a volume. Fishkeeping World is blunt about the limit: you shouldn’t try to keep different species of Damsels together in the same aquarium. For scale on this site, 30 gallons puts this record above our angelfish record and level with the oscar record’s floor, though a marine tank of that volume carries equipment a freshwater one does not. |
| Temperature | 73 to 81 °F | Both aquarium sources publish this band identically, which is rare enough on this site to name. Aquarium Store Depot gives 73 to 81 degrees F. Fishkeeping World gives water temperature should be between 73°F to 81°F. Neither Wikipedia page publishes a temperature. Eight degrees is wide by the standards of this site and it contains the 75 to 76 the rest of the records share, which is a coincidence rather than a compatibility: the pairings grid on our tank mates page refuses this record against every freshwater record before it compares temperatures at all, because a shared band between a marine fish and a freshwater one is a misleading number rather than an incomplete one. |
| pH | 8.1 to 8.4 | Both sources give 8.1 to 8.4 and neither qualifies it. That floor of 8.1 is the highest on this site, above our black molly and nerite snail records at 7.5, and it is the clearest single number for why this record cannot be read against the freshwater ones. Reef water is buffered by carbonate at a level no freshwater tank on this site reaches: the molly record, which is the hardest and most alkaline freshwater record here, tops out at 8.5, so its ceiling is four tenths above this record’s floor and that is the only place the two scales touch. |
| Hardness | Specific gravity 1.020 to 1.025 | This row is a hardness row on every other record on this site, and here it carries salinity instead. That is a deliberate substitution and it is worth flagging rather than hiding: the schema this site uses was built for fresh water, where the density question is dissolved calcium and magnesium, and in a marine tank the density question is salt. Aquarium Store Depot gives a specific gravity of 1.020 to 1.026. Fishkeeping World gives 1.020 to 1.025. The row prints the span both contain. Neither publishes a general hardness figure, and neither should: general hardness is not the measurement a marine keeper takes. Two other pages on this site already carry a specific gravity figure, our freshwater puffer fish guide for the green spotted puffer, which is sold on freshwater lists and needs 1.005 to 1.010, and our brine shrimp guide. |
| Adult size | 3 in, and 12 for the largest in the family | The label covers a factor of four and both reference pages give the same ceiling. Aquarium Store Depot puts the four Chrysiptera species it recommends at 3 inches each, except Starck’s damsel at 4. Fishkeeping World: the majority of Damselfish grow to around 3 inches in length, and then names the exception, that large species, such as the Garibaldi, can grow up to 12 inches long. Wikipedia agrees from the family side: the four largest species can reach 30 cm, 12 in, in length, while most are relatively small. So a three inch fish and a twelve inch fish share this shop label, which is the same problem our freshwater puffer fish guide has at a larger scale and our black molly record has at a smaller one. The row prints the three and names the twelve. |
| Diet | Omnivore, and it will eat almost anything | The easiest row on the record and all four sources agree. Aquarium Store Depot types it omnivore and says they will eat just about anything you feed them. Fishkeeping World: the vast majority of Damselfish are omnivores. They will eat both live and frozen food, in addition to flake food, and for the blue damsel names brine shrimp, worms, squid, shrimp, copepods and small pieces of fish. Wikipedia gives the wild diet twice: their diets include small crustaceans, plankton, and algae, and on the family page pomacentrids are omnivorous or herbivorous, feeding on algae, plankton, and small bottom-dwelling crustaceans. Nothing here refuses prepared food, which is part of why the fish became a beginner recommendation and part of why it is hard to get rid of. |
| Water column | Around rock, and it defends a corner of it | No source states a swimming layer, and both aquarium sources describe something more useful instead: a territory. Aquarium Store Depot says a damsel is territorial and will claim a cave or corner of the tank. Fishkeeping World describes the defense: the fish is territorial and will become aggressive if a fish intrudes on its patch; it will chase and nip at subordinate fish. Wikipedia gives the ecological version, that the family shows many examples of resource partitioning and habitat selection that are driven by aggressive and territorial behaviors, and places most species on or near coral reefs in the Indo-West Pacific at 2 to 15 m depth. So the row is a structure rather than a level, and the practical consequence is the one Fishkeeping World gives for groups: more rock, because more rock is more corners. |
| Lifespan | 5 to 6 years | Two sources and they barely overlap. Aquarium Store Depot gives to 10 years. Fishkeeping World’s care chart gives 5 to 6 years. Read as ranges, up to ten contains five to six, so the row prints the narrower figure and names the wider one, which is the same treatment our vampire shrimp record gives a source claiming ten years against two claiming less. Neither Wikipedia page publishes a lifespan. Five to six years is long enough that the aggression row matters more than it looks: a fish Aquarium Store Depot calls nearly impossible to remove is a fish you are keeping for half a decade whether the rest of the tank suits it or not. |
| Growth rate | Not recorded yet | Not stated by any of the four, which is what a record covering a family has to expect. Fishkeeping World publishes an adult size type by type, 3 in for the blue damselfish and 5 for the domino, and no rate for any of them. The closest figure anywhere is Wikipedia on Pomacentridae, where larvae are 2 to 4 mm and the pelagic stage lasts from under a week to more than a month. That measures the open ocean rather than a tank, so it is recorded here and not in the row. |
The same nine fields for every animal on this site are in the A to Z index.
Where our sources disagree
Every record here names a disagreement. On this one two sources take the same fact about the fish and reach opposite conclusions about what to do with it.
Aquarium Store Depot, on cycling
one should never consider cycling with damselfish
Fishkeeping World, on the same hardiness
their hardy nature makes them even more popular with beginners as it is more resilient to common beginner mistakes such as stalled nitrogen cycles
Wikipedia, on the trait both are describing
noted for their hardy constitutions and territoriality
What we record: we side with Aquarium Store Depot and we print why the other position exists. Both sources are describing the same trait and neither is wrong about it. A damselfish is hardy, and hardiness is exactly what made it the standard fish for cycling a marine tank for decades: it survives the ammonia and nitrite spike that a new tank produces.
The objection is not that it fails, it is what happens next. Aquarium Store Depot’s own summary of the animal is easy to add and nearly impossible to remove, and a fish cycled into a bare tank has had the whole volume to itself for weeks before anything else arrives.
That is the worst possible starting position for a territorial animal, and it is why the same source that rates four of these species beginner-friendly also says to introduce them last. Modern practice cycles a tank without livestock, which makes the argument moot: the trait is real, the method it justified is obsolete, and this record recommends against it.
The cycling argument, where two sources take one fact and reach opposite instructions
For decades the damselfish was the fish you put in a new marine tank to cycle it. The logic was sound and it rested on the trait Wikipedia names: hardy constitutions. A fish that survives an ammonia and nitrite spike will establish the bacteria a tank needs, and a damselfish survives it.
Fishkeeping World still presents that trait as a selling point: their hardy nature makes them popular with beginners because it is more resilient to common beginner mistakes such as stalled nitrogen cycles. Aquarium Store Depot reaches the opposite instruction from the same starting point: one should never consider cycling with damselfish.
The objection is not that the method fails. It is what the method leaves you with. A damselfish cycled into a bare tank has had the entire volume to itself for weeks before anything else arrives, which is the worst possible starting position for an animal that Aquarium Store Depot says will claim a cave or corner of the tank and Fishkeeping World says will chase and nip at subordinate fish that enter its patch.
Then the second half of the problem, which is the sentence this record leads with. Easy to add and nearly impossible to remove. A territorial fish in an established reef tank with rock has more hiding places than a net can reach, so the mistake is not correctable in the ordinary way. That is why the same source that rates four species beginner-friendly also says to introduce them last: the order of a stocking list is the only control you get.
The argument is settled by neither source, because modern practice removed the question. A marine tank can be cycled with ammonia and bottled bacteria and no livestock at all, which makes the hardiness irrelevant to the decision. The trait is real, the method it justified is obsolete, and this record recommends against it.
There is a parallel on the freshwater side of this site worth noting, because it runs the other way. Our black molly record carries Seriously Fish saying the species can live a happy life in full marine conditions and is a popular choice to cycle new marine aquariums. So the fish this site recommends against cycling with is a damselfish, and the fish one of our sources recommends for it is a freshwater molly. Neither recommendation is one this record endorses, and both exist for the same reason.
One fish, unless the tank is over fifty gallons
| Species | Max size | Named by | What the source says about it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure damsel | 3 in | Store Depot, Fishkeeping World | Tier 1, beginner-friendly |
| Yellow-tail damsel | 3 in | Store Depot, Fishkeeping World | Tier 1, beginner-friendly |
| Springer’s damsel | 3 in | Store Depot | Tier 1, beginner-friendly |
| Starck’s damsel | 4 in | Store Depot | Tier 1, beginner-friendly |
| Blue damsel | about 3 in | Fishkeeping World | Housed in 30 gallons; eats brine shrimp, worms, squid, copepods |
| Domino damsel | not stated | Fishkeeping World | no figure given |
| Bicolor damsel | not stated | Fishkeeping World | no figure given |
| Garibaldi | 12 in | Fishkeeping World, Wikipedia | Named as the exception, not as a tank fish |
Seven species named across two sources, out of a family of about 385. Four of the seven are Chrysiptera, and those four are the entire beginner-friendly list Aquarium Store Depot is willing to publish. The rest of the family it does not clear, and the last row of that table is why: the Garibaldi reaches twelve inches, which is four times the fish in the first four rows and the same label.
On numbers the two sources agree and the figure is one. Fishkeeping World: more than one damselfish needs an aquarium over 50 gallons, and you shouldn’t try to keep different species of Damsels together in the same aquarium. Aquarium Store Depot clears them alongside semi-aggressive fish, naming tangs, clownfish, dottybacks and gobies, and not timid ones. So the row on this record is one fish, and fifty gallons is the price of a second.
On reef safety Aquarium Store Depot answers yes, with a condition: they have to be introduced in the correct manner, which is the introduce-them-last rule again. A damselfish does not eat coral, so the risk it carries into a reef tank is behavioral rather than dietary, and behavior is what the stocking order controls.
The habitat explains why rock is the answer to most of this. Wikipedia places most species on or near coral reefs in the Indo-West Pacific at 2 to 15 m depth, and describes the family as showing many examples of resource partitioning and habitat selection that are driven by aggressive and territorial behaviors. Resource partitioning is the polite name for what station 01 describes: these fish divide a reef by fighting over it, and a tank is a very small reef.
There is one more piece of the naming problem and it is the most useful thing on this page for anyone shopping. The fish the trade recommends as the peaceful alternative to a damselfish is itself a damselfish, and it belongs to the largest damselfish genus there is. Wikipedia, on the genus Chromis: while the term damselfish describes a group of marine fish including more than one genus, Chromis is the largest genus of damselfishes, with around 100 recognized species. Chrominae is on both of the subfamily lists in station 03.
So a shopper told to avoid damsels and buy a chromis instead is being told to buy a damselfish under a different shop name, and the advice is still good: the trade name tracks temperament here even though it does not track taxonomy. Aquarium Store Depot clears its four Chrysiptera species and this record cannot extend that clearance to a genus of a hundred species on a name alone, so what it can say is narrower: the four species one source will vouch for, and a genus the trade separates for reasons of behavior rather than of biology.
On water quality, none of our sources publishes a nitrate or an alkalinity figure for this fish, which is worth naming because a saltwater tank is usually specified more tightly than a freshwater one. What they do give is the density and the pH in station 02, and Fishkeeping World’s observation that the hardiness is what makes the fish forgiving of a stalled nitrogen cycle. A fish that tolerates a bad cycle is a fish whose water quality you will not learn from, which is the strongest argument in station 05 restated as a practical one.
So the practical answer this record can support is narrow and it is about the order rather than the animal. One damselfish, from the four Chrysiptera species one source is willing to clear, added last, in a tank with more rock than looks necessary. Everything else our sources say about damselfish is a description of what happens when one of those four conditions is missed.
Damselfish questions, answered from the record
Are damselfish good for beginners?
Hardy, yes. Easy, no, and one source says both in the same breath. Aquarium Store Depot rates four Chrysiptera species tier 1, beginner-friendly and then adds: even Chrysiptera damsels are still damsels. They are territorial. Fishkeeping World notes their hardy nature makes them popular with beginners, and also that some Damsels have even bitten hands that have been placed into aquariums. The whole record sits in one sentence from Store Depot: easy to add and nearly impossible to remove.
Can you cycle a tank with damselfish?
Our two sources reach opposite instructions from the same fact. Aquarium Store Depot: one should never consider cycling with damselfish. Fishkeeping World praises the same hardiness as being more resilient to common beginner mistakes such as stalled nitrogen cycles. This record sides with the refusal, and the reason is not that the method fails: a fish cycled into a bare tank has had the whole volume to itself for weeks, which is the worst starting position for a territorial animal. Modern practice cycles without livestock, which makes the argument moot.
Is a clownfish a damselfish?
Wikipedia answers twice and the answers differ. Its damselfish page lists the subfamilies Abudefdufinae, Chrominae, Lepidozyginae, Pomacentrinae, and Stegastinae, which leaves the clownfish subfamily out. Its Pomacentridae page says newer work supports four subfamilies with the clownfishes nested within the latter subfamily, Pomacentrinae, which is on the first list. Both agree on the family. The trade splits them by genus: Amphiprion and Premnas are clownfish and the other genera are damselfish.
What size tank does a damselfish need?
30 gallons for one, and over 50 for more than one. Both aquarium sources give 30 as the minimum. Fishkeeping World supplies the second figure and the limit: more than one needs an aquarium over 50 gallons, and you shouldn’t try to keep different species of Damsels together in the same aquarium. So the tank size is really a question about how many fish rather than how big they get.
How big do damselfish get?
About 3 inches, and the label stretches to 12. Aquarium Store Depot puts its four recommended Chrysiptera species at 3 inches, with Starck’s at 4. Fishkeeping World: the majority of Damselfish grow to around 3 inches in length, but large species, such as the Garibaldi, can grow up to 12 inches long. Wikipedia agrees: the four largest species can reach 30 cm, 12 in, in length.
What water do damselfish need?
pH 8.1 to 8.4, specific gravity 1.020 to 1.025, and 73 to 81 °F. Both aquarium sources publish the temperature and pH identically. On density they give 1.020 to 1.026 and 1.020 to 1.025, so the row prints the span both contain. That pH floor of 8.1 is the highest on this site, above our black molly and nerite snail records at 7.5.
Why does this record carry salinity where others carry hardness?
Because the schema on this site was built for fresh water and the row is being substituted honestly rather than quietly. On every other record that row is dissolved calcium and magnesium in parts per million. A marine keeper does not measure that; the density question in salt water is salt, so this record carries specific gravity. Neither source publishes a general hardness figure, and neither should.
Can a damselfish live with freshwater fish?
No, and our pairings grid now refuses it before it compares anything. The temperature bands overlap our black molly record across five degrees and the pH bands across four tenths of a point, so a grid built on those two rows would have printed the pairing as workable. The tank mates page was changed before this record was published and the cell now reads fresh water and salt.
How long do damselfish live?
5 to 6 years on the row, and one source says up to ten. Fishkeeping World’s care chart gives 5 to 6 years; Aquarium Store Depot gives to 10 years. Neither Wikipedia page publishes a lifespan. Five to six years matters more than it looks on a fish the same source calls nearly impossible to remove: that is half a decade of a stocking decision you cannot easily reverse.
What do damselfish eat?
Almost anything. Aquarium Store Depot types them omnivore and says they will eat just about anything you feed them. Fishkeeping World: the vast majority of Damselfish are omnivores. They will eat both live and frozen food, in addition to flake food. Wikipedia gives the wild diet as algae, plankton, and small bottom-dwelling crustaceans. Nothing here refuses prepared food, which is part of why the fish became a beginner recommendation.
Are damselfish reef safe?
Aquarium Store Depot answers yes with a condition: they have to be introduced in the correct manner, which means last. A damselfish does not eat coral, so the risk it brings to a reef tank is behavioral rather than dietary, and the stocking order is the only control over that. Wikipedia places most of the family on or near coral reefs in the Indo-West Pacific at 2 to 15 m depth.
Which damselfish is the least aggressive?
Aquarium Store Depot is the only source we hold that ranks them, and it clears exactly four: the azure, Starck’s, yellow-tail and Springer’s damsels, all Chrysiptera, rated tier 1, beginner-friendly. It does not clear the rest of the family, and it qualifies even those four: even Chrysiptera damsels are still damsels. They are territorial.
How many damselfish can live together?
One, in a normal tank. Fishkeeping World: more than one needs an aquarium over 50 gallons, and different species should not be mixed at all. Aquarium Store Depot clears them with semi-aggressive tank mates, naming tangs, clownfish, dottybacks and gobies, and not timid fish. Wikipedia gives the ecological reason: the family shows resource partitioning and habitat selection that are driven by aggressive and territorial behaviors, which in a tank means fighting over the rock.
How many species of damselfish are there?
About 385 in the family, in roughly 31 genera, on Wikipedia, and our sources publish figures for seven of them. That is the widest gap between a label and a care sheet on this site: our freshwater puffer fish guide covers thirteen species of a family, and our danios guide nine of thirty three. Here it is seven of three hundred and eighty five.
Is a chromis a damselfish?
Yes, and it is the largest genus of them. Wikipedia, on the genus Chromis: while the term damselfish describes a group of marine fish including more than one genus, Chromis is the largest genus of damselfishes, with around 100 recognized species. Its subfamily, Chrominae, appears on both of the subfamily lists our two reference pages give. So a shopper told to buy a chromis instead of a damsel is being told to buy a damselfish under a different shop name, and the advice is still sound: the trade name tracks temperament here even though it does not track taxonomy.
Do damselfish need live rock?
Every source describes a fish that needs something to defend, which amounts to the same thing. Aquarium Store Depot says a damsel will claim a cave or corner of the tank. Fishkeeping World ties more rock directly to keeping more than one. Wikipedia places the family on or near coral reefs at 2 to 15 m. Rock is territory here rather than decoration, and more corners is the only structural answer to a territorial fish.
What a damselfish needs that no other record here does
The first two are the reason this record sits in its own silo.
- A refractometer or hydrometerthe row this site fills with hardness carries specific gravity here, 1.020 to 1.025 across both sources, and it is measured with an instrument no freshwater record on this site asks for
- Live rock, and more of it than looks necessaryboth sources describe a fish that claims a cave or corner and defends it, so rock is territory rather than decoration, and Fishkeeping World ties more rock directly to keeping more than one
- A plan for catching it againAquarium Store Depot calls a damsel easy to add and nearly impossible to remove, and says to introduce them last for that reason, which is advice about the order of a stocking list rather than about equipment
Every item our records ask for is gathered on the tank setup topic.
Nothing here is a paid link. It is the shortfall between what this record asks for and what a boxed kit contains.
How this record was compiled
- By
- Verified
- Sources
Aquarium Store Depot, damselfish, Fishkeeping World, damselfish, Wikipedia, Pomacentridae and Wikipedia, damselfish
- Conflicts
Printed rather than resolved: Aquarium Store Depot says one should never cycle a tank with damselfish where Fishkeeping World praises their resilience to stalled nitrogen cycles; the lifespan runs from 5 to 6 years to up to 10; and our two reference pages treat the clownfish differently, one listing damselfish subfamilies that exclude them and the other nesting them inside Pomacentrinae, which is on both lists.
- Blanks
Growth rate stay empty until a source we trust states them
- Not recorded
A growth rate, because no source we hold publishes one; a general hardness figure, because general hardness is not the measurement a marine keeper takes and the salinity row carries specific gravity in its place; care figures for all but seven of the roughly 385 species in the family; and which species any fish sold simply as a blue damsel actually is, because the name covers more than one