Dascyllus aruanus
| Common Names: | Three stripe damselfish White tail damselfish |
| Synonyms: | Chaetodon aruanus Dascyllus blochii Pomacentrus emamo Pomacentrus trifasciatus |
| Family: | Pomacentridae |
| Category: | Damselfish |
| Distribution: | Indo Pacific; Widely distributed, from the Red Sea and the edge of Africa to the Great Barrier Reef. |
| Main Ecosystem: | Reef; Found in branching stony coral heads. |
| Temperament: | Territorial; Just as they guard their coral heads in the wild, they will protect a favorite territory in the aquarium. Often this happens to be the entire aquarium, especially if the damsels were the first fish added. These creatures can be quite aggressive for their size, and should be added after any peaceful or shy tankmates. |
| Diet: | Ominvore; They normally feed on plankton or substrate-bound invertebrates, but should readily accept most aquarium foods. Frozen and live fare is of course relished, but freeze-dried animals, pellets, and flakes are normally taken. Offer a balanced diet featuring meaty foods and those which contain algae. |
| Care: | Fairly easy to care for. This species is often used to cycle new marine aquariums, and usually survives the process. As this indicates, the three stripe damsel is tolerant of poor water quality. It will thrive in a wide range of water parameters, though stability is important. Clean water with mild to moderate current is optimal. |
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| Potential Size: | Male: 10cm (3.9") Female: 10cm (3.9") |
| Water Region: | Middle, Bottom; Prefer to stay in or near their shelter, but will become bolder in the aquarium and roam around. |
| Activity: | Diurnal; Will take shelter at night. |
| Gender: | Males often are slightly larger, though mature females can be the same size. These fish can be sexed by the shape of the genital papillae. Males have a tube which is pointed at the tip, while the females have tubes which are crater-like and are larger in diameter. |
| Breeding: | Breeding has been accomplished in home aquaria. One or more females will mate with a male, and eggs will be deposited on the substrate near some form of cover. The male will care for the eggs until they hatch after several days, after which the larvae will enter the planktonic stage in the water column. |
| Variants: | No notable variants. |
| Comments: | One of the most commonly sold marine fish. Many beginning marine fishkeepers buy three striped or other damsels to cycle a tank, only to find that they become aggressive towards all fish introduced afterwards. Damsels also prove very difficult to catch and remove from their aquarium. Consideration of these annoying habits should be undertaken before adding damsels to an aquarium. Regardless of their faults, they can be very interesting and fun fish to keep. |
| Main Colours: | Black, White |
| Markings: | Striped Vertical |
| Mouth: | Normal |
| Tail: | Concave |
| Search: | Show similar species Find compatible species |
| Image Credit: | sirbooks |
| Submitted By: | sirbooks |
| Contributors: | sirbooks |
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