Oldest Citron Goby?!

[DeputyDog95]

I guess I'm in the minority here...

I've rarely wish a fish wouldn't make it, but this is one of them. Had never seen one before, my LFS had one, said it was reef safe, the one time I didn't google it, only to find out they love SPS corals.... After I put him in a tank that only has SPS corals in it.

Now he is harassing SPS colonies to literal death.

I wish I could get him out, but it's a largish tank with a complicated scape and lots of corals.

Not sure what to do now... He's so fast and relatively small (1.5"), it would be impossible to catch. I tried to see if I could stun him with a flashlight after the tank lights went out and snag him, but the little jerk immediately swam off and disappeared.

Totally my fault for not doing my homework, but I did purchase him at an established "reef store" so I thought I was getting good advice.

I have a fish trap, but he's way too skittish to fall for that and I'm clueless as what would even bait him that I could keep in the trap. Something tells me I would catch every other fish in there (probably 20), but him.

He apparently loves that sweet sweet coral slime, but that isn't something I can harvest and use as bait unfortunately.

 

[homer1475]

They typically suck the coral slime as you have noticed. They rarely do damage, but can stress the coral into dying.

Never noticed any damage to my SPS colonies, but again I have large colonies, and small damage I probably wouldn't even notice.

A small barbless hook works too.

 

[DeputyDog95]

They typically suck the coral slime as you have noticed. They rarely do damage, but can stress the coral into dying.

Never noticed any damage to my SPS colonies, but again I have large colonies, and small damage I probably wouldn't even notice.

A small barbless hook works too.

Yeah, he's literally sucking the tissue off of two particular corals. At first I thought they were sick, then I saw him passing by from time to time and taking shots at them. You can literally see little round patches where he's attacking them. And it's only those two I've seen him pick at.

I thought about trying to hook him, but I have so many fish in there, I'm convinced I couldn't get close enough to him to take the bait without something else pouncing on it first.

 

[JayFish4004]

Yeah, he's literally sucking the tissue off of two particular corals. At first I thought they were sick, then I saw him passing by from time to time and taking shots at them. You can literally see little round patches where he's attacking them. And it's only those two I've seen him pick at.

I thought about trying to hook him, but I have so many fish in there, I'm convinced I couldn't get close enough to him to take the bait without something else pouncing on it first.

Sorry been gone awhile and randomly wanted to come into this thread to pop an update. I am happy to report that my current citron Solly that I purchased from Seahorse Savvy is now coming up on 2 years old. I think I have found the trick and the trick is x-small TDO pellets. Mysis shrimp alone does not provide enough nutrition for fish longevity.

As far as picking SPS - I can confirm no acropora you try will make it with a citron or clown goby. They can’t help but to eat the polyps. You might have luck with a colony but forget about trying a frag it’ll be gone in a few weeks.

Personally I prefer coral with less maintenance - I dont want to spend my life worrying about keeping nutrients down I want my fish and coral thriving equally. In my opinion keeping SPS and fish is counterintuitive.

 

[JayFish4004]

I guess I'm in the minority here...

I've rarely wish a fish wouldn't make it, but this is one of them. Had never seen one before, my LFS had one, said it was reef safe, the one time I didn't google it, only to find out they love SPS corals.... After I put him in a tank that only has SPS corals in it.

Now he is harassing SPS colonies to literal death.

I wish I could get him out, but it's a largish tank with a complicated scape and lots of corals.

Not sure what to do now... He's so fast and relatively small (1.5"), it would be impossible to catch. I tried to see if I could stun him with a flashlight after the tank lights went out and snag him, but the little jerk immediately swam off and disappeared.

Totally my fault for not doing my homework, but I did purchase him at an established "reef store" so I thought I was getting good advice.

I have a fish trap, but he's way too skittish to fall for that and I'm clueless as what would even bait him that I could keep in the trap. Something tells me I would catch every other fish in there (probably 20), but him.

He apparently loves that sweet sweet coral slime, but that isn't something I can harvest and use as bait unfortunately.

If I had a dollar for every time an LFS gave me crap fish advice Id be rich. Yellowtail damsels are peaceful they said. Never again - always always always research fish before introducing so as not to introduce aggression or undesired consequences like polyp eating. Happens to us all - good learning experience.

 

[DeputyDog95]

Sorry been gone awhile and randomly wanted to come into this thread to pop an update. I am happy to report that my current citron Solly that I purchased from Seahorse Savvy is now coming up on 2 years old. I think I have found the trick and the trick is x-small TDO pellets. Mysis shrimp alone does not provide enough nutrition for fish longevity.

As far as picking SPS - I can confirm no acropora you try will make it with a citron or clown goby. They can’t help but to eat the polyps. You might have luck with a colony but forget about trying a frag it’ll be gone in a few weeks.

Personally I prefer coral with less maintenance - I dont want to spend my life worrying about keeping nutrients down I want my fish and coral thriving equally. In my opinion keeping SPS and fish is counterintuitive.

What do you mean about having to keep nutrients down to maintain SPS? Many of us are targeting .1ppm these days and using fish/feeding to keep that number up since the skimmers and rollermats have gotten so efficient.