Green clown goby SPS safe?

Tnops · Jul 30, 2023

Hello, I have heard that the green variety is the most unlikely to nip on SPS and other corals. I am wondering whether I should get one to put into my tank. I see a lot of people with clown gobies in their mixed reefs but also a lot of people saying that they will cause SPS tissue to die out and rip LPS polyps. Anyone have any experience with this?

blaxsun · Jul 30, 2023

Yes, they may nip at SPS polyps.

DeniseAndy · Jul 30, 2023

They will nip as they clean an area to lay eggs. My yellow pair had a spot about 1" long on my staghorn years back. It was a healthy coral, so I did not mind.

Tnops · Jul 30, 2023

DeniseAndy said:
They will nip as they clean an area to lay eggs. My yellow pair had a spot about 1" long on my staghorn years back. It was a healthy coral, so I did not mind.

hmm but if it is just an individual, you think they will do the same with the egg laying thing?

DeniseAndy · Jul 30, 2023

Well, when my female died due to being egg bound, the male went nuts and literally tore apart all the acros in the tank. He was difficult to catch.
I have had others that did not do this though. Single ones. You never really know until it starts. All fish are a bit different. My green one stayed in the leathers with no issues, except I did not have acros then.

areefer01 · Jul 30, 2023

To be perfectly blunt clown or coral gobies, genus gobiodon, live among acropora. Live. So eat, sleep, love, etc. Also I believe the genus are hermaphrodites. Don't hold me to that as I could be incorrect but females will turn into a male based on how they form pairs to mate.

ISpeakForTheSeas · Jul 31, 2023

areefer01 said:
To be perfectly blunt clown or coral gobies, genus gobiodon, live among acropora. Live. So eat, sleep, love, etc. Also I believe the genus are hermaphrodites. Don't hold me to that as I could be incorrect but females will turn into a male based on how they form pairs to mate.

Yeah, they’re hermaphrodites - they can change from female to male and from male to female (though this is much less common).

Bi-directional sex change in a coral-dwelling goby - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Bi-directional sex change has recently been reported among obligate coral-dwelling gobies of the genus Gobiodon. However, neither the functional role of this pattern of sex change nor the frequency of sex change in either direction in natural populations is known. We investigated the social...

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