Yellow-Tail Damselfish - Medium

Yellow Tail Blue Damselfish

This fish is a very popular Damselfish as it’s very active, very hardy and inexpensive. It’s a very colourful fish with its intense blue body and bright yellow tail. So even though they’re small growing to less than 3 inches they do bring a lot of life to your tank.

As adults, they are adults they either stay on their own or in pairs. They generally occupy the middle to lower areas of the tank and will guard their territory to protect their food resources.

These fish aren’t as aggressive as other Damselfish towards other fish.

These fish originate in the Western Pacific region. They are generally found in shallower waters like lagoons, sheltered bays, and coastal fringing reefs.

Tank Recommendations for Yellow Tail Blue Damselfish

These Damsels are happy in a reef or a fish only community tank. In the wild, they are targeted as prey, which is understandable with them being small and brightly coloured. In the aquarium, they need peaceful companions and a lot of places to hide in rock work or corals to feel safe.

Live rock and corals are not ideal for these fish to hide in, they will also eat the algae that grows on the live rock.

These Damsels are hardy, but still, need good quality water conditions like all marine fish.

They do also like gravel or sandy substrate as they do like to burrow and dig nests under rocks and dead corals.

If you are keeping one of these Damsels in a tank then we recommend a tank of at least 20 gallons. If you have more together then you should allow at least 15 gallons per fish and as always bigger is better.

Suitable Tank Buddies

Most Damselfish are small and peaceful but can be semi-aggressive when competing for food.

Usually Compatible

Yellow Tail Blue Damselfish mix well with Clownfish, Blennies, Boxfish, Crustaceans, Dragonets, Gobies, Hogfish, Tangs, Puffers, Wrasses and invertebrates. So creating an active and colourful tank is not a difficult task and why you will find Damselfish in many different aquarium setups.

Sometime Compatible

Other Damselfish can be problem tank mates if they are particularly aggressive like the Blue Devil Damselfish. If the aquarium is large enough in size with plenty of hiding places then usually there isn’t too much of a problem.

They can become territorial if there is a pair of them or with their own species as they grow older.

Watch how they go if you are keeping them with other aggressive fish like Angelfish, both large and dwarf varieties. These Damsels are relatively peaceful and so can get picked on.

You also need to watch these Yellow Tail Blue Damsels if you are mixing them with Frogfish, Cardinals, Filefish, Pufferfish or Triggerfish.

Rarely Compatible

Don’t mix these little guys with anything predatory with a mouth big enough to fit it in. Which will be most predators, so no Sharks, Groupers, Snappers, Scorpionfish or Eels.

Seahorses won’t do well with these guys in the tank as the Seahorses will be too slow able to eat.

Feeding Your Yellow Tail Blue Damselfish

These fish are omnivores and in the wild feed on plankton, algae, and small crustaceans. There is a wide range of foods you can feed them in the aquarium live foods including mysis shrimp and brine shrimp. They will also accept shredded frozen seafood, pellet and flake foods.

Feeding them several small meals during the day is the best thing to do with these fish. This will help to prevent them from becoming aggressive over food resources in their part of the tank.

Sinking pellets are good for these Damsels as they tend to feed near the bottom of the tank. It’s good to soak the pellets before you feed them to the fish, as this prevents air inside the pellets from getting trapped in their digestive tracts.