yellow clown goby and sps

[tgoeujon]

i picked up a mated pair of yellow clown gobies on the weekend and im not sure but it looks like they may be going after the polyps on my millipora. does this make sense to anyone or am i worrying for nothing.

[Diana]

Clown gobies are perchers that live on colonies of SPS in the wild. They snuggle in and nuzzle up. I have never seen one do any damage to SPS. Then again, I had a blenny that ended up eating my clams. :question: So you never know. They are actually nipping the polyps?

[Keri]

Is there any possibility of pods or parasites on the SPS that they are going after?
They are usually compatible but nothing is ever set in stone :)

[marie]

If they are a mated pair they could be clearing a space to lay eggs.

On the other hand they could be like my yellow clown goby and will be just having a light lunch... saving room for a big dinner of acropora tissue :twised:

[tgoeujon]

if they start to be to much of an issue im going fishing

[Aquattro]

I've always heard of them doing this.

[tgoeujon]

would people advise that i try and remove them or should it be alright?

[JDigital]

I lost a colony in my 20G that my CG perched on all the time, but I NEVER saw him nipping at it... So I don't think the loss of the colony had anything to do with the CG... but I could be wrong.. I think it was just a case of STN.

[Aquattro]

would people advise that i try and remove them or should it be alright?

I'd watch them. They may just clear a small area and leave it at that. If the coral is big enough, it should be fine.

[tgoeujon]

thanks for the advise. ill just watch and see and if need be move them to a ifferent tank. (if i can catch them lol)

[untamed]

I wish I could loan you my Lookdown. He solved my coral goby "problem" in about 1 week. I had 6 of them...briefly.

If they would just STAY in the coral heads they would be fine...but nooo...they have swim around from coral to coral to...oops.

[wickedfrags]

I had a yellow one before that liked to nip at SPS polyps - had to go. Easy thing was catching him, just pick up the coral. No more of these guys for my tank...

i picked up a mated pair of yellow clown gobies on the weekend and im not sure but it looks like they may be going after the polyps on my millipora. does this make sense to anyone or am i worrying for nothing.

[WhoPoopWrasse]

I have a mated pair and they never did anything to the coral, probably they are just munching on crap/pods on the coral. Are the polyps still extended? If so no damage done. I love my little guys, they lay eggs every week or so and yesterday the eggs actually hatched in the morning so I got to see the little ones for about an hour before they disappeared :redface:

On a side not what does it take to rear these little guys?

[Whatigot]

quattros right IME...
These guys are bad, as a matter of fact, sps polyps are the only thing I have seen mine eat...lol
and I'm pretty sure he stressed out one of my JL 70 dollar frags to the point point of death....
not 100% on this but it was his favourite perch and none of the other 15 or so sps were affected and params are bang on.
Fortunately for him, clown gobies are one of my favourite fish and essential to my 'scape.

[Whatigot]

sorry, further to this...
the realbigal and I have witnessed a clown goby in his tank take a few polyps off a milli....
it was a vicous attack and earned himself a home in my tank where he lives in my hailmeda and hides from my other clown goby...lol

[Canadian]

Polyp eating is a common behavior with these guys. I'm surprised by the number of people here who say they've never heard of this. Search the SPS forum on RC and you'll see that the majority of SPS keepers refuse to keep clown gobies in their SPS tanks for this very reason.

There are a few people with rather large tanks that put up with the polyp eating behavior because they have many, large, healthy, fast growing colonies in large tanks that grow faster than the gobies can destroy. This is similar to some SPS keepers housing species of angels and file fish that are known to eat SPS polyps - these hobbyists put up with some coral eating to keep a diverse array of fish they enjoy.

Personally I wouldn't chance it in a small tank.

[jasond]

Interesting, I did not know this either. I have one, and he perches on the small amount of SPS that I have in my 60 gallon. He actually loves the birds nest, and goes right into the middle. Havent caught him nipping, but pretty cool little fish if he is not eating expensive coral :biggrin:

[Diana]

I have a 4 year old pair of green clowns and have had yellow and brown clowns in the past and never saw them nipping SPS. That being said, I only have Monti caps, digitata, and have had birdsnest in the past as well. No millis or acros. I'm not suprised that they nip SPS, but it would be suprising to me if they killed the colony they host in.


-Diana

[Whatigot]

green and yellows are almost different species in their behaviour IMO...
The yellows are bold and aggressive, the greens are meek and usually the victim of aggression.

I have tried both, even together in my early days of reefing and admittably, tried a few of the 7 dollar fishes and always found the greens were dominated by the yellows.

I have never seen a green nip at polyps, but again, my current yellow one has never been seen eating anything BUT sps polyps.

Only my observations, no labratory scientist here....:wink:

[Whatigot]

I have a 4 year old pair of green clowns and have had yellow and brown clowns in the past and never saw them nipping SPS. That being said, I only have Monti caps, digitata, and have had birdsnest in the past as well. No millis or acros. I'm not suprised that they nip SPS, but it would be suprising to me if they killed the colony they host in.


-Diana

come to think of it, it's only been acros and millis that I have seen them nip at...
hmmmmm

[Diana]

Interesting too, because my two green clowns have always dominated over any yellow I put in the tank. The yellows for me never seemed to last very long, with the greens being very bold and aggressive (especially with each other). Very strange!

[Drock169]

SPS polyp nipping is common. Diana, havent you noticed in the display tank where the clown goby pair cleared off an area to lay eggs

[Diana]

Noooo I did not! No one informed me of such coolness. Any eggs yet? I guess I will have to pay more attention to that tank hehe. :redface:

[Whatigot]

Interesting too, because my two green clowns have always dominated over any yellow I put in the tank. The yellows for me never seemed to last very long, with the greens being very bold and aggressive (especially with each other). Very strange!

The yellows are known for being bolder but not as hardy.
The green are known as being hardy, but shy.
aggression is probably up to the individual fish and what it feels like it's territory is.
at least in my reading and experience.

I have spent a lot of time watching these guys in several tanks over the years, but i can only attest to the individuals I kept.
Never seen them in nature...

[untamed]

The yellows are known for being bolder but not as hardy.
The green are known as being hardy, but shy.
aggression is probably up to the individual fish and what it feels like it's territory is.
at least in my reading and experience.

I have spent a lot of time watching these guys in several tanks over the years, but i can only attest to the individuals I kept.
Never seen them in nature...

That explains something to me.

Sing with me, the Lookdown smarties song........"when you eat your gobies do you eat the yellow one's first....?!"

[Chaloupa]

Sing with me, the Lookdown smarties song........"when you eat your gobies do you eat the yellow one's first....?!"

LMAO:lol:

[tgoeujon]

theyve been relocated to the 55 gallon. its kinda wierd, in the 10 gallon they picked at the sps and in the larger tank with more sps they dont cause any problems. they just chill in the sun polyps or candy canes.