TSB and Rainford Goby aggression

[sapling]

hey guys so I kind of mentioned this in my tank thread, but I have noticed starting since this morning, my TSB harasses my Rainford goby in a way I feel is detrimental to its health. Specifically I seen them mouth open and lunging. the Rainford goby will hide in its hole, and be very defensive, while the TSB is the aggressor. I am a bit concerned about what to do since they never acted this way this past month I have had the rainford, but I know its causing stress to the goby since it will become discolored.

I am setting up a new 10 I hope to transfer the goby to, but should I move him in the meantime into my 2.5g I have available? there isnt sand or life for him to pick at so it would essentially just be an empty tank like QT, with an AQ 20, and heater.  Im worried he wont eat in QT, I dont think taking the TSB out will help the goby since I know my watchman goby harassed the rainford in the beginning.

the rainford is a biota CB one, which according to biota and diver den, accepts hikari pellets marine s at least, but It hasnt accepted prepared food in the DT, but Im not sure if its because the TSB and watchman goby i have are just too aggressive eaters that wont allow it to eat? I know at least now in the DT it eats on the algae, pods, and picks from the rocks and sand.

anyways I cant tell which is the better choice, to leave him there for the month or pull him out so he can not be stressed anymore

[sapling]

just an update,

 I went ahead and pulled the rainford goby, as I didnt want to chance any more injury. it was placed into my 2.5g available, and I added a Live rock from my DT as well as a cupful of sand from the tank.

well for the first week it was always hiding,it was getting a bit concave with its belly, and ignored all food given, from LBB, frozen mysis, hikari marine s and extreme seaweed. It was also being very cryptic hiding as SOON as i was anywhere within eyesight of the tank. after 6 days, I noticed it was at least started eating from when I've seen it excrete green which I assume to be algae from the LR.

After the first week however, it has started to stay out longer and longer periods of time. I finally started visually seeing it graze on the algae available and sift the sand. I started feeding clumps of GHA i could find in my DT. it was still totally ignoring all prepared food. I was starting to run out of GHA however and have been persistent on feeding it different foods.

The 2 days or so, I have started crushing the hikari extreme seaweed pellets with a plastic lid and dusting it out at my HOB aquaclear return, and I noticed it would suddenly start sifting, but I could not visually confirm it to be eating.

Well today I have visually seen it eat the crushed pellets 3 different feeding times today. I have even seen it take a few bits of the pellet that was floating in the water column, but mostly preferring the food that has hit the ground. I am very hopeful it will continue to do so, since the fish will be going into a newer tank in a month, that will not have much algae(which hopefully none to be honest), and because I am running out of GHA to give!
 

[Snow_Phoenix]

15 minutes ago, sapling said:

just an update,

 I went ahead and pulled the rainford goby, as I didnt want to chance any more injury. it was placed into my 2.5g available, and I added a Live rock from my DT as well as a cupful of sand from the tank.

well for the first week it was always hiding,it was getting a bit concave with its belly, and ignored all food given, from LBB, frozen mysis, hikari marine s and extreme seaweed. It was also being very cryptic hiding as SOON as i was anywhere within eyesight of the tank. after 6 days, I noticed it was at least started eating from when I've seen it excrete green which I assume to be algae from the LR.

After the first week however, it has started to stay out longer and longer periods of time. I finally started visually seeing it graze on the algae available and sift the sand. I started feeding clumps of GHA i could find in my DT. it was still totally ignoring all prepared food. I was starting to run out of GHA however and have been persistent on feeding it different foods.

The 2 days or so, I have started crushing the hikari extreme seaweed pellets with a plastic lid and dusting it out at my HOB aquaclear return, and I noticed it would suddenly start sifting, but I could not visually confirm it to be eating.

Well today I have visually seen it eat the crushed pellets 3 different feeding times today. I have even seen it take a few bits of the pellet that was floating in the water column, but mostly preferring the food that has hit the ground. I am very hopeful it will continue to do so, since the fish will be going into a newer tank in a month, that will not have much algae(which hopefully none to be honest), and because I am running out of GHA to give!
 

Have you tried to tie a small piece of seaweed to a rock and see if it bites that? I've always found Rainford's gobies very tricky to feed. I have only owned it once (a very long time before) and it refused to even touch algae. It's good that yours is eating something at least. 

As for the original tank with the TSB and yellow watchman - how big was that tank? In larger tanks, gobies tend to ignore each other if there's enough room for them to have their own spot/corner/territory. In smaller ones, they usually barely tolerate each other. The similarity in body shape/size could also be the cause of the aggression. Combtooth blennies are usually decent with other fish, but aggressive towards conspecifics or similar-looking fish.

[sapling]

1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Have you tried to tie a small piece of seaweed to a rock and see if it bites that? I've always found Rainford's gobies very tricky to feed. I have only owned it once (a very long time before) and it refused to even touch algae. It's good that yours is eating something at least. 

As for the original tank with the TSB and yellow watchman - how big was that tank? In larger tanks, gobies tend to ignore each other if there's enough room for them to have their own spot/corner/territory. In smaller ones, they usually barely tolerate each other. The similarity in body shape/size could also be the cause of the aggression. Combtooth blennies are usually decent with other fish, but aggressive towards conspecifics or similar-looking fish.

yeah it seems weird theres alot of debate from articles about what it eats specifically the copepods or the algae. and I've seen both sides on different forums, I just know personally the tank has a very healthy copepod population and I only seen it pick the glass a few times. I havent gotten any nori yet and actually dont know which would be recommended, but I was actually thinking of that today, what would you recommend for that?

it is a 25g rimless DIY I made equivalent to a IM fusion 20 iirc. that's what I thought, but the TSB blenny was always peaceful with its yellow watchman goby and clownfish buddy. when I added the rainford it was the right side, near the watchman gobies hole, and I saw the aggression from that, and encouraged the rainford after rescaping to go for the open area in the middle of the tank. it was after a few days in the middle, he looked more comfortable. I saw during lights on a little while later, the TSB acted aggressively, which was crazy for me since the TSB was never interested in the area the rainford goby sifted or slept in. in fact my blenny is usually near the top, or resting on the glass during the day, and sleeping in one of his few holes around the tank, not even the small hole under the rock the goby slept in.

It's been a bit stressful these last couple weeks dealing with the situation in general, but i am really hoping its looking better, especially with the goby eating. besides trying to research the topic, I was looking at all the information I could find on feeding/training dragonets as well, since there isn’t any information training a rainford. I was even reaching out to vendors of the fish asking for information.



 

[Snow_Phoenix]

15 minutes ago, sapling said:

yeah it seems weird theres alot of debate from articles about what it eats specifically the copepods or the algae. and I've seen both sides on different forums, I just know personally the tank has a very healthy copepod population and I only seen it pick the glass a few times. I havent gotten any nori yet and actually dont know which would be recommended, but I was actually thinking of that today, what would you recommend for that?

it is a 25g rimless DIY I made equivalent to a IM fusion 20 iirc. that's what I thought, but the TSB blenny was always peaceful with its yellow watchman goby and clownfish buddy. when I added the rainford it was the right side, near the watchman gobies hole, and I saw the aggression from that, and encouraged the rainford after rescaping to go for the open area in the middle of the tank. it was after a few days in the middle, he looked more comfortable. I saw during lights on a little while later, the TSB acted aggressively, which was crazy for me since the TSB was never interested in the area the rainford goby sifted or slept in. in fact my blenny is usually near the top, or resting on the glass during the day, and sleeping in one of his few holes around the tank, not even the small hole under the rock the goby slept in.

It's been a bit stressful these last couple weeks dealing with the situation in general, but i am really hoping its looking better, especially with the goby eating. besides trying to research the topic, I was looking at all the information I could find on feeding/training dragonets as well, since there isn’t any information training a rainford. I was even reaching out to vendors of the fish asking for information.



 

Yeah, get the nori and try that. If you have Hikari Marine S pellets, also try that (since the vendor claims that's what their goby was trained to eat). Right now you need to concentrate on getting it to eat anything and everything. Concave bellies aren't a good sign. You've already isolated him so he has no competitors in his new tank. 

25G is plenty of room - if you have enough rockcover and hiding spots, they *should technically coexist. The TSB's aggression is most likely a stakeout on the new territory - you've rescaped, so each fish is left to claim a new 'spot' as its own. TSBs are usually peaceful, but I remember someone on NR mentioning how troublesome his TSB was. Aggression issues too. It's a hit-or-miss, I guess.

 

Not many people own rainford's in general because of the difficulty in getting them to feed on frozen or pellets. I personally find a Rainford's more challenging than a dragonet. You can look up the dragonet feeding threads on NR and adjust the practices to your Rainford's own feeding habits, but personally, it's difficult and you *might come off unsuccessful. I'm sorry - not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but some fish just won't eat, and others don't/can't adapt to aquarium life, even if they're supposedly captive-bred. 

Try finely chopped mysis and prawn/crab roe too, if you can. It's more nutritious and in the case of the roe, the particles are small enough that he *might just eat it. I hope he pulls through. 

[A Little Blue]

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/3/fish

 

TSB aren’t aggressive but they aren’t b#tches either. Invade their space and you can expect a headbutt. 

 

[sapling]

On 6/6/2018 at 11:25 PM, A Little Blue said:

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/3/fish

 

TSB aren’t aggressive but they aren’t b#tches either. Invade their space and you can expect a headbutt. 

 

very coincidental, but this past 2 days, I've seen the tail spot blenny become very territorial towards my clown.

my clown likes to swim close to the other fish usually, and just follow them swimming idly. Well the blenny, nor my gobies never minded this before and would never act aggressively towards it.

But today specifically I saw the blenny act very aggressive towards the clown when it was near it, with open mouth and charging at my clown now. I've seen the clown react by posturing, and circling the blenny, which usually results in my clown doing the seizing thing I believe is submission? it is odd because my clown is the oldest in the tank, and larger than the TSB.

I am fairly sure this blenny has become very aggressive this past few weeks because of something, but dont understand why it suddenly has. it makes me a bit upset to see it.

 

 

 

[A Little Blue]

My Firefish and TSB go through a few rounds every now and then. No clear winner between these 2 but I am confident that TSB is the instigator %99 of the time. I don’t think you need to worry too much. However, without a doubt, some of these guys have surplus of gangster genes in them. Even Jaws, the female Clownfish won’t dare to play tag with TSB. 😎

[sapling]

just An update about my rainford, it eats like a champ, and it’s tail fin is healing from the nips the tsb put on it

 

It has finally accepted whole pellet instead of crushed pellet, and goes for them pretty quickly once added. It does not accidentally sift it either or sift them but actively targets them  and picks them out when added, vs in the tank with the tsb only sifting a few areas ignoring prepared food

 

its belly is no longer concave but streamlined or rounded, which is a huge relief for me. 

 

I decided it would be better off permanently separated from the blenny than chance it again