Stocking

[Liam101010101010010101010]

Will a pair of golden domino damselfish be ok in a 32 gal biocube? I have a big pile of live rock in the middle with nooks and caves to hide in. There is about 2-3 inches of sand and currently a red serpent starfish. Future inhabitants will include 5 snails, and 3 scarlet reef hermit crabs. I am mostly concerned about the damsels killing one another and/or eating the snails and hermits.

front view

 

[Jesterrace]

Domino Damsels are extremely aggressive and terrible community fish in general. If they were the only fish going in that tank they would probably be okay, but if not then I wouldn't add them or any damsel to a tank of that size.

 

[Liam101010101010010101010]

Domino Damsels are extremely aggressive and terrible community fish in general. If they were the only fish going in that tank they would probably be okay, but if not then I wouldn't add them or any damsel to a tank of that size.

Yeh it would just be a pair of them, do u think they would fight eachother?

 

[Jesterrace]

Yeh it would just be a pair of them, do u think they would fight eachother?

Tough to say as it can go either way with Damsels. They may just squabble periodically or they could really go after eachother. Just my opinion but they are pretty drab by saltwater standards. Lots of other fish I would go with first, but each person does have different taste in what they like.

 

[Deberber]

I personally would not be a fan of them. They are not the most exciting to look at and really limit what else you could do with this later on. You could try this, but like you said, one will likely become dominant and stress the other to death, and will happen with even supposed peaceful damsels like blue/green chromis (personal experience).

You seem to be going for something different than the standard clownfish. I would suggest adding a flame/longnose hawkfish and a royal gramma and a sleeper goby.

If you really like damsels, get a yellowtail or talbot's damsels. They do tend to be less aggressive and my yellowtail actually became very personable. Royal gramma would still work great with either of these options. You can add a shrimp goby as it will find a nice home in the sand and will be territorial enough around its hole to keep it unstressed.

Obviously you can still add more fish if you'd like, but it seems like you would only want a few.

 

[Jesterrace]

So many other fish I could think of that would be more fun for a 32 gallon biocube that aren't clowns or damsels. Among them:

Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish (IMHO a better fit than the Flame and the Longnose):

live aquaria

Possum or Pink Streaked Wrasse

Clown Goby (not to be confused with clownfish)

Royal Gramma Basslet or Black Cap Basslet

Harptail Blenny

Forktail Blenny

Midas Blenny

Striped Blenny

Rainsford Goby

Yellow Watchman Goby