Russian Roulette: Fish Edition!

AmaleeC · May 2, 2020

Hey guys! I made some new additions to my tank today and have been monitoring everything to see how everyone does. Definitely nervous about some of these combos, but we shall see..
First up is the new addition of a yellow coris wrasse, after having a female melanarus wrasse in the tank for about a month now. Second would be my neon dottyback, who’s hiding in the rockwork right now but I’ve heard they’ve got a nasty rep! Also added are a fire fish and a green clown goby. But my tank does have some rather aggressive fish, so I’m less worried about them causing trouble and more worried about them getting bullied. Pre new additions stock list: blue damsel, (2) lyretails, melanarus wrasse, maroon clown (

) and lawnmower blenny. Fingers crossed, everyone makes it!

Have you ever had a new addition you later regretted in your tank due to fish/coral aggression?

hyprc · May 2, 2020

Big time. Six-line murdered about 5 or 6 before I could net him out. Dottybacks are equally vicious but not even half as smart and agile (trivial to catch as opposed to the six-line which many resort to pulling literally everything out and dropping water level to catch). I'd be very watchful over the lawnmower blenny, clown goby, anthias and fire fish for the next few weeks if it was me. The others can defend themselves.

AmaleeC · May 2, 2020

hyprc said:
Big time. Six-line murdered about 5 or 6 before I could net him out. Dottybacks are equally vicious but not even half as smart and agile. I'd be very watchful over the lawnmower blenny.

Yikes! I bought my melanarus thinking it was a six line. Today I’m grateful for the employees who didn’t know what they were doing. Btw the lawnmower blenny is a jerk. I put the fish in there for my dad; now I am always torn between loving him and hating him. Killed my neon blue goby in my 20g, and I have every reason to believe he killed an engineer goby in the new 75. RIP. The clown goby is itty bitty, and has decided to stay in this one small spot too small for the lawnmower, let’s see how that works.

hyprc · May 2, 2020

First I've ever heard of a lawnmower being aggressive with anything other than algae lol. The melanurus was orders of magnitude a better choice vs the six-line (they do need a bit more room though)

AmaleeC · May 3, 2020

hyprc said:
First I've ever heard of a lawnmower being aggressive with anything other than algae lol. The melanurus was orders of magnitude a better choice vs the six-line (they do need a bit more room though)

LOL man, I’d love to see mine terrorize the small bits of GHA my tank actually does have! Yeah, she steals reef roids from my corals but I love that fish :,)

mort · May 3, 2020

Neons can be reasonably nasty when they mature but the only fish I think might be in trouble is the firefish. These are very timid by nature and you have a few fish that could potentially bully it. You might be ok as I've seen them do fine in tanks I wouldn't dream of adding them to but you might not see much of it or it might make a dart for freedom.
The yellow wrasse should be fine and the green goby is probably to cryptic to be annoyed by anything.

AmaleeC · May 4, 2020

mort said:
Neons can be reasonably nasty when they mature but the only fish I think might be in trouble is the firefish. These are very timid by nature and you have a few fish that could potentially bully it. You might be ok as I've seen them do fine in tanks I wouldn't dream of adding them to but you might not see much of it or it might make a dart for freedom.
The yellow wrasse should be fine and the green goby is probably to cryptic to be annoyed by anything.

As an update, the yellow coris and melanarus are no longer chasing one another. Today everyone was very well behaved. Hopefully things remain this way as id hate to have to catch and remove any bodies

You hit the nail on the head with the clown goby! He found a very small cave when he got put into the tank and hasn’t strayed from it. No one even notices him. I loveeee my neon dottyback, I’m hoping he remains a model citizen! He reminds me of an eel, watching his flexible body swim in and out of the rockwork has proven to be very interesting.