In numerous fish species, males provide exclusive parental of the offspring, and females often use male or nest characteristics to discriminate among potential nests. Little attention, however, has focused on the possibility that once females have chosen a nest, they may also make choices regarding where in the nest to lay their eggs. In this paper, we describe within-nest clutch-laying patterns in three damselfish species, Stegastes partitus, S. leucostictus, and Hypsypops rubicundus. In all three species, females prefer to deposit clutches contiguous to early-stage clutches and noncontiguous to late-stage clutches, even when earlyand late-stage clutches are only a single day apart in age. This pattern holds true both in nests containing multiple clutches and in nests containing single clutches. Despite these within-nest spawning-site preferences of females, we were unable to detect an effect of clutch location on clutch survival in S. partitus. We examined several explanations for the female within-nest spawning site preferences. These were as follows: (1) the observed egg-laying patterns reduce the risk of egg predation through a dilution effect; (2) clutches of different ages have different metabolic requirements, and the observed egg-laying patterns reduce competition (e.g., for oxygen) between clutches; (3) the within-nest preferences are a consequence of a between-nest preference for early-stage clutches; and (4) the observed egg-laying patterns are a response to patterns of male parental (e.g., males may provide more to younger clutches). We conclude that this differential care hypothesis is the most likely explanation for the female within-nest spawning-site preferences.