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Dottyback


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Does anyone have any experience with the dottyback, particularly the purple one. My LFS has some and I am thinkning about purchasing one soon. Are they jumpers? Good with other fish? Good with corals?

 

Thanks

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altolamprologus

"Purple dottyback" could mean either an orchid or a strawberry, but both have somewhat similar husbandry. They are less aggressive than some other dottybacks, but they are still considered semi-aggressive. Typically they'll find a cave to claim as their own and hang out near it. They will chase away any fish that comes near their territory so you want to make sure you have plenty of room (at least a 30 gallon tank) and it is the last fish added. They will jump at any chance they get so you need a very tight fitting lid. They are completely safe with corals, but as said before, will harass fish

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Ya I've read up on them a little bit, thanks for the help tho! I'll have to make a lid I guess! What's the best way to make a good lid so that light can still penetrate and help with evap.?

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dallasprstn

i had a strawberry dottyback in my 65 gallon aquarium and i have to say it was one of the meanest fish I've ever owned. It harassed anything and everything in the tank, including the Lemonpeel Angelfish that was much larger than it. I've never owned any other dottybacks but I might try one of the smaller ones like the orchids or indigos later on. I have to say though, that thing was the devil, it was up there with my sixline wrasse which had a tendency to gouge at other fish's eyes. Both of them went back to the lfs.

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altolamprologus
Ya I've read up on them a little bit, thanks for the help tho! I'll have to make a lid I guess! What's the best way to make a good lid so that light can still penetrate and help with evap.?

Glass? Idk I've never made a lid. But I've seen people who have made lids out of a plastic or metal frame with mesh netting. If you got a small clear mesh, you could still allow light in while keeping the dotty in.

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altolamprologus
Oh no! Will it pick on Pom poms? Cuz I was planning on getting some of those too!

Yeah it could. Dottys are one of those fish that for some people are nice and for others are the devil. It's a coin toss what personality you get

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Here's my experience with my orchid dottyback. Originally purchased it for my 10gal.. along with a dwarf cherub angel and they got along fine for about 2 months and then the cherub was pecking the dottyback's tail, so the angel went back to the LFS. After that I kept the dottyback alone in the 10 gal until it got put into my frag system which is two 30 breeders side by side. It's been on it's own in one of the 30 breeders for about a year now as I've been hesitant to put anything else with it. I've had it for about 3 years total and never had a cover on the 10 gal or the 30 breeder. Recently I've wanted to get a sixline, so I moved my clowns over to the opposite 30 breeder so I could use their tank as a quarantine and instantly the dottyback starts bumping and pacing the glass. So it seems he has an attitude. I'm pretty sure mrs. occelaris would woop up on it, but I don't want any trouble.

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dallasprstn
Oh no! Will it pick on Pom poms? Cuz I was planning on getting some of those too!

 

i'm not really sure...it didn't pick on my fire shrimp but i guess thats a whole different invert. He was not very nice though, he liked to flash around the tank and scare all the other fish lol. he was a bully. an ironically girly looking pink bully.

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I have an orchid dottyback in my nano 15 gallons and it's alone because it is way too agressive to put anything in there with it. So aggressive he would make any fish jump out from harrasment.

 

And as another minus, they often hide and it's hard to see them so my tank looks empty.

 

If I had knew, I would have skipped the dottyback and got a clownfish and a dartfish, much more pleasant and enjoyable to watch and much more live in the tank.

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altolamprologus
I have an orchid dottyback in my nano 15 gallons and it's alone because it is way too agressive to put anything in there with it. So aggressive he would make any fish jump out from harrasment.

 

And as another minus, they often hide and it's hard to see them so my tank looks empty.

 

If I had knew, I would have skipped the dottyback and got a clownfish and a dartfish, much more pleasant and enjoyable to watch and much more live in the tank.

Perfect example of why dottybacks need a lot of space. In a 55 gallon tank a dotty may claim a square foot of space, which leaves room for other fish. But in a 15 gallon tank, that same territory is the entire tank. They really do need tanks that are quite big for their size.

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i have a purple dottyback in my 30breeder and I hate the fish..its a total #######. It wont bother the clowns as they been in there the longest and are the ruler of the tank but it will chase my green chromis I just got a few weeks back and I bought a peppermint shrimp few weeks ago and as soon as I dropped the shrimp in the dottyback attacked it and ripped off a leg and kept on it and killed it...That fish will be going bye bye very soon.

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That would be fine but they tend to hide a lot so even though they are gorgious, you don't see much of them. Mine attack my nasarius snails and ripped one if its entenna off.

 

They are cute but nasty little buggers :)

 

I might keep mine or I might sell it and get a clownfish instead, not sure at this point. I think they do much better in a large tank where they can get enough room to call home.

 

Alone in a small tank should be ok as long as there are no other fish, ever.

 

What if it's the only fish
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