Starcki Damsel

Overview

The Starcki Damsel is an attractive fish with a deep blue-purple body and a bright yellow tail, offering strong colour contrast for a moderately sized reef tank. It's a hardy, adaptable damselfish that tolerates a range of water conditions and adapts well to aquarium life.

Like many damselfish, it can become territorial as it matures, particularly in smaller tanks, and this is worth planning for before purchase rather than a surprise later on.

Its full reef safety and easy care make it a practical choice for reef keepers, though careful thought about tankmates and tank size pays off given its temperament.

Compatibility

Starcki Damsels can be semi-aggressive, especially as they mature, and may bully smaller or more passive tankmates introduced after them, particularly in tanks under 200 litres. They do best introduced early in a tank's stocking order, or kept with similarly robust tankmates.

They are fully reef safe and won't bother corals, clams, or invertebrates.

Health & quarantine

This is a hardy species with few chronic health issues, generally tolerating a wide range of conditions and acclimating quickly. A standard quarantine period of two to four weeks is still good practice, though this species rarely has acclimation issues.