Why do all my fish live on one side of the tank?

[LilNYCfish]

I have a 55gal FOWLR tank, stocked with inverts + 3 pajama cardinals, 1 yellow watchman goby, 1 royal gramma, 1 clown, 1 yellow tailed damsel and 2 dart fish.

The goby is fine, he lives under a rock with his pistol shrimp friend on the left-hand side of the tank. 1 cardinal lives in a cave on the left 2.

The damsel owns the tank and goes everywhere, as does the clown.

But everyone else is stuck in the right-hand side of the tank. They rarely go left!

Possible reasons:

The damsel is somewhat well behaved these days, but is it possible that he is responsible for herding everyone?? I have noticed that when gramma goes to the left side, damsel turns black. I think that means he is afraid and trying to blend in, so I'm not sure if he has the gumption to herd everyone else.

Position of fans, maybe they just like the waterflow on one side.

The food always blows to the right side of tank when I feed, maybe they are always waiting for food?

It doesn't seem to be a problem, this is just a curiosity and I wonder if this happens in other tanks.

Thanks

[leebca]

Marine fishes usually turn light or blotchy, when they try to 'blend in.' They turn dark when they are threatening or what we might equate to being angry.

A Damselfish is very much a bully. Not a particularly good community fish unless the other fishes are just as strong willed. I'd put this characteristic at the top of the answer list.

[Parrothead]

10-4 Lee,

I've had a damsel the bullied and harrassed a niger trigger 4 times his size

[LilNYCfish]

Thanks, that was my worry. Unfortunately the damsel was our starter fish and we have tried to catch him several times to return him to the store and have never been able to catch him! I thought he was better behaved because he isn't actively going after anyone, but if everyone is just staying far away this is a problem. I may have to buy a soda bottle to make a better trap.
Thanks

[Parrothead]

Good luck getting him out, been there, done that, own the rights to the T-Shirt,

If the bottle doesn't work you know what that means

[leebca]

You'll find some other suggestions on catching fish in this thread: How to Catch Fish -or- Goin' Fisin'

[LilNYCfish]

Success! (sort of) Blue damsel has been sent back to the pet store. In the end I had to take all of the live rock out to catch him! He looked so sad on the way back to the pet store that I almost put him back in my tank. I feel like one of those rotten people who get rid of their misbehaving dogs But it was for the greater good of the tank, hopefully the other guys will realize soon that they are allowed on the other side now!