Clown Gobies

[Samw]

Here's a couple of threads on RC about clown gobies eating SPS to lay eggs.

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99810

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83710&highl ight=yellow+clown+gobies (http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83710&highlight=yellow+clown+gobies)

Mine definitely cleared off several areas of the table acro until those areas turned white. Wish I had taken a photo. The Acro just couldn't handle it and completely died overnight one day from RTN I guess. Perhaps if I separate the 2 gobies into 2 different tanks, I'll have better luck.

Nice article on clown gobies this month on ReefKeeping.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/hcs3/index.htm

[Acro]

Sam,

Are you talking about yellow gobies? If so did you get the from j&l? Those ones are for sure acro eating. I have one and thats all it eats. I havn't noticed alot of damage as it does have a few to pick from. If I could I'd catch mine and get rid of it but the darn things fast. I'm not to sure if these ones would live with out the acro's or not as it does not eat from the water column. But it's sure fat and full or polyps.

[Samw]

Jamie, yes, I got the yellow clown gobies from J&L. So, you have just one and it still eats Acros even when not spawning. Good to know. At least your mother colonies can grow back faster than the fish can eat them I'd imagine. I only have small Acro frags. :(

http://www.hyperdream.com/~samw/reef/200210/120-2026_IMG.jpg

http://www.hyperdream.com/~samw/reef/200210/120-2024_IMG.jpg

[Acro]

Sam,

Yeah their polyp pigs. If you can take them out and bring them back to j&l. Tell them their not acro friendly. I told them, perhaps you got yours before. I know they had a wack of them and last time I went their they never. So I'm curious were they went. If any one bought them that do not house acro's. I like to know how long they lived or if their still alive.

[Acro]

Sam,

Just so happens that www.reefkeeping.com has an article on gobies this month. I read it and was some confused about the mention of the yellow goby. So I asked the author for his thoughts here http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=47ceaaf64cf73fdd570747848b2770a1&threadid=118715
I'm just waiting for a reply.

[Samw]

Jamie, yes, I read that article. I think those are the same yellow clown gobies as ours.

[One_Divided]

Hey guys, I have the same type of goby as well and I have seen him nip polyps on many occations.. He is always fat, so I am sure he's chomping down more then I'd like to know about. I personally have whitnessed him eating food out of the water column, but not much. I have noticed several of my acro colonies showing a lot less polyp extension then usual during the day.. Night time they are normal.. I have seen him mostly bugging my pink a. milepora collony. My frist thoughts on this were to let nature run it's course and just have the corals recover on their own.. But now it appears he is doing more damage then I'd bargained for.. Hope I can catch 'em..



-Adam

[StirCrazy]

do thease guys just eat acros? or will they pic another coral type in absence of a acro?

Steve

[Acro]

I havn't noticed him pick at anything else in my tank. Although he has his share of acro's to pick from. I've never seen him pick at any other sps in the system. I'm still intrested to here from someone that doesn't house sps to share their experiences.

[kris]

I will step up and give my two cents (really that's all I have).

I have a yellow clown gobie in my tank. My little guy loves to sit on my candy cane coral, green open brain, and a finger leather. On the first day the candy cane really did not like its new friend, but shortly after was back to normal. The gobie other 2 favoret corals have never minded thier friend hang out.


so far the little clown has been just that, i really enjoy its all around personality. i think they're a great adition. Oh and my tank is mainly LPS and softies

[Acro]

Hi Kris,

How long have you had the yellow for and have you seen it eating?

[kris]

Hey Jamie, i have had mine for around a month. He seems to like Mysis and mega marine alge from Hikari.

[Acro]

Hmmm, Thats intresting. Glad he's eating for you. I wonder whats the story with the polyp eating then. Hopefully the author of the reefkeeping.com article will shed some light.

[kris]

oh some information to pass on... there are two types that commonly are called clown gobies. There is the Gobiodon citrinus "citron/clown gobie" and the Gobiodon okinawae "yellow coral gobie" ***** to correct me from my last post I do not have the clown I have the yellow coral I is the one that J&L calls the yellow clown *****. At the bottom there are two links to images of the two types. I have searched to find out if one of the two types will tend to eat acros more then the other. But I have not found any article with that kind of information. I do know that they both like meaty foods. Could it be possible that they nip at acros to make the nest?


Yellow coral (http://uri.sakura.ne.jp/~dd/g/eg-159.htm)
Citron (http://uri.sakura.ne.jp/~dd/g/eg-136.htm)

[vwguy26]

Damn... i have one of these in my tank.I was wondering why i had a few white patches.Anyone want a yellow clown gobie free u pick up :roll:

[Acro]

Kris, I beleive the one we are refering to is the Gobiodon okinawae from j&l. I do understand they will remove the polyps from an acro head were it plans to nest. My experience though is the goby picking at any polyps it wants. I do only have one of these particular gobies so their also would be no reason for it to make a nesting area. Perhaps it's a fish that would be better off trained or to make sure it's eating prepared food prior to welcoming them into a sps dominated system. I geuss we should be happy their small though 8)

[vwguy26]

I dont believe it.I spent 2hrs last night trying to catch my clown gobie and finally got it.I felt bad for the cute little guy and didnt know what to do so i put him in my sump.I get home from work today and the little !@#$ is back in the same coral.Must have gotten sucked up my return pump :twisted:

[Acro]

Thats funny. I bet you couldn't beleive your eyes. I have a goby that would go in the over flow and end up in the sump. I would take it out then put it back in the main tank. Then a couple days later it was back in the sump. I got tired of bringing him back up,so I left him. Again a couple days later he was back in the main tank. I couldn't beleive it. That was right around the time I felt all the talk about pumps not being plankton freindly was bs. 8) On a side note though he never went back to the sump. The impeller must have gave him one hell of a smack in the tail fin. :o

[ldzielak]

Now I'm really woried! So I have a yellow Coral goby, purchased from J&L little over 1 month ago. He is still in my QT tank with a Black clown goby and a Sixline Wrasse and a Gold Rim Tang. Tang has ick and I'm not sure if he is gona make it.

So is the Yellow Coral the one that will eat the acros? He has been eating in the QT tank, both brine shrimp and mysis. My wife loves these guys thats why we got another yellow one. Had one in my 33 last year, he lives for 8 months, before a pump got him.

What about the solid black ones? Got one from J&L and got one from Darren. Are they just as bad?

Maybe the Yellow Coral will not make it to the 120g.

Lee

[Acro]

ldzielak,
I don't have the black. So I'm not sure. I've seen them in others tanks and have never heard anything bad about them but I could be wrong anyone? For the yellow is their enough light on the QT for a couple of acro's for a test? Even for a day it would be ok for the coral and I'm sure you'd see what characteristics the goby had. Oh I geuss if it's a QT there's a good chance theirs meds in it. There goes that idea. Did you have acro's in the 33?

[ldzielak]

No Acros in the old 33g, My QT (33g resurected) has only a few rocks. It's not medicated, except for Garlic Extrem soaked food. I only have 5 Acros from Darren, maybe I will have to frag one, later before I move him over to the main tank.

I have not medicated the QT since some reading said copper does more damage than good on Gold Rims.

Darren had the Balck Clown in his system, so I assume it was ok.? I have not seen him picking at the Acros, but he sure hangs out in them all the time.

Lee

[Acro]

Here's what the author of the article on gobies in the latest reefkeeping.com article had to say about the gobies in question.
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=f644c7be9f46edb645a8ea048ddbab56&postid=822909#post822909
I beleive you'll need to be logged into rc to read it.
Sure would have been nice if he said that in the article. I wonder how many people are or have gone out and bought the yellows after reading the article? I don't know the long term effect on a fully stocked acro tank but I would geuss the goby would be alot harder on a mixed or lower stocked system with acros in it. With some of the responces here, I'm not to sure even if the authors answer is all that good of one. As it's clear some of our experiences reveal that they do indeed eat food. That of coarse is not my own personal experience but others state this. Sounds like it could be the angel of the goby family. Some do some don't kind of answer. Is their anyone else that has not responded to this thread with experience with these gobies. Also has anyones experience changed to date?

[One_Divided]

Jamie, thanks for the info!

Mine does seem to get excited when I feed the other fish. He'll nip at food floating by, but won't leave the acro. I don't feed a whole lot, yet he seems to be fat as can be, every day..

I also lost one of my nicest acro colonies lately and I suspect the goby might be partially blame. This colony had grown from a frag I got back in january and was always a healthy, fast grower. Right after adding the goby, it's polyp extension seemed to get very infrequent. Even to the point where I saw none at all. About a week ago, I noticed the colony was slowly starting to receed from the base.. I checked all my params.. all the same as usual.. did a water change.. added more current in the acro's direction... tried gluing over the reccession line.. Nothing worked. My suspician is that the colony was getting bugged to death by the goby. By not extending it's polyps, it slowly starved. I did give some frags out of the colony, in hopes that they will recover.

[jb1974]

I guess I am lucky I came across this thread now, as I was going to put in an order for some yellow clown gobies from J&L. I have 2 green clown gobies (G.histrio ?) that have been a great addition to my reef. They stay in one acropora millepora have nested many many times and always do their deed in the same spot they cleared away each time so the acro is unaffected. They don't nip at polyps and I take a turkey baster and blow in some shredded mysis 3 times a week which they eagerly eat. I guess I will just stick with the gobies I have, or add more of the green ones only...darn...as I really wanted some of those yellow ones :( I wouldn't want to think about how hard they would be to catch!

[One_Divided]

Just an update. It's been two weeks since my tank transfer and removal of the goby. The sps that were being harrassed before the move are now doing great. Some of my acros had shown no polyp extension in the day becuase of that damned goby. Now I am seeing full extension 24/7.

Transfer went great by the way, I will have pics as soon as my camera is done being repaired (for the second time).

[Samw]

Finally got rid of my 2 yellow "Acorpora Eating" gobies yesterday. Thanks Tigger for taking them off my hands. :) My Acroporas are extending again after months of being closed.

Definitely not recommended for Acropora and SPS tanks. They don't need to be nesting to eat polyps. Mine had been eating my Acropora and Millepora. I believe both of mine were males. Too bad, they were cute little guys.

[Acro]

Sam,

That's good news. How did you manage to get them? I still havn't got my one out. I try every so often with no luck. Very agressive little buggers.

[Samw]

I have a small tank and small Acroporas. During night time, they like to sleep in the small acroporas. So they were easy to catch then. I just left the lights off, put a net in front of them, and use my hand to coax them out of the Acropora and into the net. One time, after I caught one, I put it in a breeding trap and it jumped out of the trap back into the tank the day after.

Most recently, I had to catch them during early evening while they were awake and they were much harder as they hide among the corals. Luckily, I had a large Cactus coral unattached to the rockwork. I turned off the lights and went after them. One at a time, they darted into the cactus corals for safety and I just lift the cactus coral into a net and scooped them out along with the coral. It did take me about an hr of frustration before I figured out that trick though (scaring them towards the Cactus).

[Acro]

Thanks Sam, you da man. I'll give it a try.