Sharing this in case it helps anyone else avoid a problem.
We recently added a sand sifting goby to our 125 gallon system. To our surprise our bicolored blenny became very aggressive towards the goby. The Blenny was a definite rock dweller so we did not anticipate he would be aggressive towards the sand sifter.
Unfortunately, after a few days of what we thought was peace (we stopped seeing the Blenny chase the goby) we came down in the morning to find the Blenny taking bites out of the goby's tail. Not nipping but taking chunks of flesh out with his tiny mouth. He must have been at it for a while because the goby was pretty unresponsive and had a large wound near his tail. The Blenny was smaller than the goby - actually one of the smallest fish in our system - but he was relentless.
We removed the goby to a QT with antibiotics and were able to trap the Blenny (took a few days to catch him) but on the 3rd day in QT the goby's tail literally fell off. He was still alive but wouldn't eat and now couldn't really swim. We had him in a container with sand but it didn't matter.
Not knowing what to do to end his suffering (he was clearly beyond recovery) we put him in a bucket of tank water with some methelyne blue to maybe sooth his stress some. We then added ice to the water hoping it would be an easier way to die than just rotting from his tail.
The goby had been strong and healthy. It was a huge surprise to see how much damage the Blenny was able to inflict. If we hadn't seen it first hand it would not have entered our minds as a possibility. The Blenny has always been bold (feeding right off the turkey baster and chasing other fish from time to time) but never did we see such aggression.
Maybe ours was an anomaly.
Hoping no one else goes through this.
We recently added a sand sifting goby to our 125 gallon system. To our surprise our bicolored blenny became very aggressive towards the goby. The Blenny was a definite rock dweller so we did not anticipate he would be aggressive towards the sand sifter.
Unfortunately, after a few days of what we thought was peace (we stopped seeing the Blenny chase the goby) we came down in the morning to find the Blenny taking bites out of the goby's tail. Not nipping but taking chunks of flesh out with his tiny mouth. He must have been at it for a while because the goby was pretty unresponsive and had a large wound near his tail. The Blenny was smaller than the goby - actually one of the smallest fish in our system - but he was relentless.
We removed the goby to a QT with antibiotics and were able to trap the Blenny (took a few days to catch him) but on the 3rd day in QT the goby's tail literally fell off. He was still alive but wouldn't eat and now couldn't really swim. We had him in a container with sand but it didn't matter.
Not knowing what to do to end his suffering (he was clearly beyond recovery) we put him in a bucket of tank water with some methelyne blue to maybe sooth his stress some. We then added ice to the water hoping it would be an easier way to die than just rotting from his tail.
The goby had been strong and healthy. It was a huge surprise to see how much damage the Blenny was able to inflict. If we hadn't seen it first hand it would not have entered our minds as a possibility. The Blenny has always been bold (feeding right off the turkey baster and chasing other fish from time to time) but never did we see such aggression.
Maybe ours was an anomaly.
Hoping no one else goes through this.
These kinds of things happen sadly. I had a 6 line wrasse (never again) that did this to some new wrasse, he took over a week to catch.
