damsels wont stop spawning

[justinl]

two things i see wrong with this picture: a) you don't mention eggs. all damselfish (clowns are damsels too) are egg layers. b) damselfish larvae are planktonic. that is, they spend some time in the water column before settling down and staying near the rockwork... at this time they are very easy to kill and would more than likely just be fish food. they would not hatch out of eggs and go live in the rocks right away.

are you sure these aren't invertebrates like amphipods? or copepods? mysis even?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by justinl

two things i see wrong with this picture: a) you don't mention eggs. all damselfish (clowns are damsels too) are egg layers. b) damselfish larvae are planktonic. that is, they spend some time in the water column before settling down and staying near the rockwork... at this time they are very easy to kill and would more than likely just be fish food. they would not hatch out of eggs and go live in the rocks right away.

are you sure these aren't invertebrates like amphipods? or copepods? mysis even?

Maybe its different in tanks?

I had breeding damsels in my last tank and the larvae acted very much the same as what this poster is saying. Straight to the rockwork. Actually I never even saw them in the open water. They used to get eaten by all my predators right away, so none actually lived but the parents were still quite busy every few months

Oh and they were certainly little fish...not some kind of inverts. It wasn't too hard to tell.

[BlueAbyss]

If you did want to try rearing the fry, I would siphon them off and put them into their own tank.

On that note, I wouldn't worry about it if you don't want to try rearing them... few if any will make it to adult hood... most will become food for the other organisms in the tank (fish, filter feeders etc.)