Lemon damsel

Care at a glance

Overview

The lemon damsel has a calmer reputation than most damsels, and it is easy to keep. It is often recommended as one of the better-behaved choices for a mixed reef community.

Caring for the lemon damsel

Give lemon damsels a tank of at least 29 gal (110 L), with live rock that has real gaps to shelter in. In a reef tank a lemon damsel will often shelter among Acropora branches, just as it would on a wild reef. It is completely safe around coral and invertebrates.

Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C), with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. Feed a diet built around algae and herbivore preparations, along with some frozen mysis or brine shrimp. Much of its bright yellow comes from carotenoid pigments picked up through its diet. A food-poor tank can leave captive fish looking washed out next to wild ones.

Once settled in, a lemon damsel can turn territorial, particularly toward other yellow or similarly shaped fish. It rarely goes out of its way to harass slow or peaceful tank mates the way a Dascyllus will.

Lemon damsels follow the standard damsel pattern of demersal eggs, which the male guards. Breeding them takes some experience.

Good to know

The lemon damsel, Pomacentrus moluccensis, belongs to the damselfish family Pomacentridae. It is also sold as the yellow damselfish or the golden damsel. Commercial marine fish farms now produce captive-bred stock regularly.

In the wild

The lemon damsel is found across the Western Pacific, from the Andaman Sea to Fiji and north to the Ryukyu Islands. It typically lives in clear lagoons and on reef slopes with plenty of branching coral to duck into. It forages during the day on algae and small planktonic invertebrates just above the reef, then retreats to cover at night.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Sapphire damsel

  Pomacentrus pavo

  3.3 in (8.5 cm) · 29 gal (110 L)

  3.3 in (8.5 cm)29 gal (110 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Allen's damsel

  Pomacentrus alleni

  2.4 in (6 cm) · 29 gal (110 L)

  2.4 in (6 cm)29 gal (110 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Neon damselfish

  Pomacentrus coelestis

  3.5 in (9 cm) · 29 gal (110 L)

  3.5 in (9 cm)29 gal (110 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Barberi clownfish

  Amphiprion barberi

  3.5 in (9 cm) · 30 gal (115 L)

  3.5 in (9 cm)30 gal (115 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Starck's damsel

  Chrysiptera starcki

  3.5 in (9 cm) · 29 gal (110 L)

  3.5 in (9 cm)29 gal (110 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Pink skunk clownfish

  Amphiprion perideraion

  3.9 in (10 cm) · 30 gal (115 L)

  3.9 in (10 cm)30 gal (115 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)