Citron clown goby aggressive towards clownfish

[QuentinSaltwater]

My new ocellaris clownfish is being bullied by my citron clown goby. I noticed that my clown goby would swim quickly from his perch and attack my clownfish, my clownfish wouldn't really fight back and just nipped the clown goby once or just ran away. I'm not sure why the clown goby is aggressive, they are supposed to be peaceful. I suspect this could be because of my watchman goby who flares at the clown goby when he came to close to the burrow, making the clown goby territorial. The clownfish was added last along with a fire shrimp. My two currently does not have any coral. My current inhabitants are 3 scarlet leg hermit crabs, 2 trochus snails, one tuxedo urchin, one citron clown goby, ocellaris clownfish, yellow watchman goby and candy striped pistol shrimp. The fish are all about 2 inches big. Total tank size is 12 gallons. Salinity is 1.025. I feed pellets most of the time but mysis shrimp maybe once or twice a week. My new clownfish is very healthy, he ate during acclimation and at my lfs. I have a breeder box that I could put the clown goby in too. Pls let me know how to get rid of this problem, thx.

 

[QuentinSaltwater]

meant to say tank instead of two

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Try adding a few more rocks, so there are more hiding spaces. Each fish needs his own little territory, and its a small tank for 3 fishes and only one rock. They need more space to hide and feel secure IMO

 

[QuentinSaltwater]

Ok thanks .

 

[Sharkbait19]

I agree. Small tank with not a lot of territory. Adding some hiding spaces and letting the clownfish get more comfortable in there should help calm things down. Clownfish are far more aggressive than clown gobies once settled.

 

[i cant think]

I agree. Small tank with not a lot of territory. Adding some hiding spaces and letting the clownfish get more comfortable in there should help calm things down. Clownfish are far more aggressive than clown gobies once settled.

+1 to this, Gobiodon citrinis can be slightly more boisterous than say G. okinawae but this is increased with very Little Rock and hiding spaces.

also, 3 fish and one piece of rock won’t work anyway as it is very little territory. Maybe enough for one or two but definitely not all three.