Three-band Damselfish

Geographic Origin and Biotope: Western Pacific: Indonesia to the Marshall Islands, Samoa, north to southern Japan, south to Australia. Found on outer reef slopes and lagoons.

Taxonomy and Morphology: Member of the family Pomacentridae. Grows up to 6 cm. Body is deep and compressed with round fins.

Social Behavior: Semi-aggressive. Establishes small territories near rock crevices or branching corals and defends them against intruders.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: Bright white body color divided by three broad, vertical black bands. Sexes are monomorphic and look identical.

Aquarium Setup: Provide a tank of at least 110 liters with plenty of live rock to create caves and territories. This helps focus its aggression and provides security.

Diet and Feeding: Omnivore. Primarily an algae eater in the wild. In the aquarium, it readily consumes flake food, pellets, spirulina, and frozen foods like mysis and brine shrimp.

Water Quality: Keep temperature at 22-26°C, pH 8.1-8.4, and salinity at 1.020-1.025 SG. Good filtration is necessary.

Compatibility and Tankmates: Best housed with active, robust reef species. Territorial towards other damselfishes; keep only one per tank unless the aquarium is very large.

Aquarium Reproduction: Benthic egg-layers. Spawns in crevices. Male guards eggs. Rearing planktonic larvae is extremely difficult.

Risks and Diseases: Very hardy. The main risk is stress-induced aggression affecting other passive tankmates.