tranceFusion Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 I added 2 small clowns and a yellow clown goby about 3-4 weeks ago. I then added a tailspot blenny about 2 days ago. The smaller clown had a little bit of tail damage when I got him that seemed to be from the tank full of clowns nipping at each other in the LFS. I noticed today that the larger clown now has damage to his rear dorsal and left pectoral fin. Looking at picture of the fish from a week or two ago, this was definitely not present then. Does this seem more likely to be disease or fighting? The larger clown nipped at the smaller one for a day or two when I got them but the smaller one was very passive and it quickly stopped. I have seen on two occasions the YCG chase the clownfish in a circle but since the YCG isn't a strong swimmer the clown just seems to shrug it off. So my bet would be on the TSB as it is a new addition. I saw it chase the larger clown across the tank twice so far, but never any nipping. In terms of size the largest is TSB > YCG > phantom clown > regular ocellaris. Am I safe to just wait and see what happens as the TSB gets settled? Or do I need to start splitting fish up? Is there any chance this is disease/pest and not fighting with each other? Thanks! Larger clown: Smaller clown: Quote Link to comment
tranceFusion Posted August 31, 2020 Author Share Posted August 31, 2020 So the dorsal fin is mostly healed up but the pectoral fins have gotten worse. Yesterday I checked him out thoroughly and today I saw a rip in the tail that wasn't there yesterday. At this point I think I can rule out diseases since some of the damaged spots have healed as others appeared. I think the culprit the Yellow Clown Goby. I haven't seen him bite, and I know they are supposed to be peaceful, but he does chase the clown around periodically. Unfortunately the smaller clown passed away and I took the TSB back to the shop so neither of them are offenders. The other tank inhabitants are an emerald crab, skunk cleaner shrimp, and a lot of larger brittle stars that came in my LR (probably more than a dozen in a 25G). Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 A "large" brittle star would be 12" across or so. You say you have a dozen of them??? Size claims aside, brittle stars and crabs are both opportunistic. Quote Link to comment
tranceFusion Posted September 2, 2020 Author Share Posted September 2, 2020 Ok, these are about 6" wide, if fully stretched out. There's a leg sticking out of every hole in my rock pretty much 🙂 Normally they stay in the rock or underneath the edge of it, so not fully stretched out. But once I saw one on top of the rock at night with part of his body and some of his legs outstretched into the water - I wondered if he was trying to catch something.. Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 4 hours ago, tranceFusion said: I wondered if he was trying to catch something.. Yes. Daytime "fishing". 4 hours ago, tranceFusion said: these are about 6" wide, if fully stretched out. That is big enough to catch and eat anything it wants at night. I had one catch and eat a porcelain crab the same size is was. It would try to catch fish at night while they were hiding too. Quote Link to comment
tranceFusion Posted September 4, 2020 Author Share Posted September 4, 2020 Well, my wife saw the Yellow Clown Goby go after and bite down on the clownfish, so it's definitely the culprit. I know these are supposed to be peaceful fish - is an occasional aggression expected? Will it stop when the clownfish gets bigger than the YCG? Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 I'll admit I'm a little surprised at your goby, but only a little. "Peaceful" is the wrong adjective for reef fish IMO. If you're peaceful on a reef, chances are you're a food item. 1 Quote Link to comment
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