Damselfish are known to be very aggressive, territorial, and intolerant of other fish and even among themselves, that’s why they could hardly be kept in a community tank. Apart from being hard to keep in a community tank, finding other fish that could live with them peacefully is hard too, that’s why they are normally kept alone or along with their specie. Many people do wonder if they could peacefully be kept with Clownfish, well, you will find out in this article and many more.
Can Damselfish live with Clownfish? Yes, Damselfish and Clownfish are compatible tank mates.
As I mentioned earlier, Damsels are aggressive and territorial too, they hardly ever tolerate other fish instead they prefer being left all alone.
Clownfish are in the family of Damsels. Although the smaller species could be a little tolerant but the larger species of clownfish are as aggressive as Damselfish.
Knowing that both Damsels and Clownfish could be aggressive, the question you might be willing to ask is, how then could they be kept together, and will they live in peace?
Well, the fact is, aggressive fish like the Damsels require other aggressive fish too, again Clownfish and Damsels are almost the same fish.
Despite that they could live together, it doesn’t mean there won’t be aggression and fighting in the tank.
Being too aggressive and territorial fish, they will fight each other but will later understand each other and begin to mind their individual territories.
The truth is, if you keep 1 Clownfish and 1 Damselfish, they will fight and later avoid each other and that’s what made them compatible to be kept together, but I don’t in any way recommended keeping more than one of these fish in the same tank with the other fish.
Again before thinking of keeping these two fish, make sure they will be kept in a sizeable tank because they might kill each other in a small tank.
Lastly, make sure that they have all their requirements such as caves, substrates, heater, filter, and good food for them to be happy and make sure that both the clownfish and the Damsel are almost the same size.
Conclusion
Clownfish and Damselfish could tolerate each other but the beginning will not be very peaceful but if you are patient, they will later tolerate each other.