Thinking about adding a new fish

[Roy 9121]

I have a 65 gallon tank, and right now I have 1 Onxy Clownfish, 2 PJ Cardinals, and 1 Yellow Eyed Tang. I was thinking about adding some kind of Goby or Blenny. Any suggestions?

 

[ChiCity]

Orange spotted blenny

 

[Roy 9121]

Orange spotted blenny

That's a good pick. Thanks. Are they hard to acclimate?

 

[Highgrade]

Midas Blenny

 

[K&AReeFers!]

watchman goby, pretty easy to acclimate too

 

[Roy 9121]

A lot of good suggestions gang, thanks. Think I'm going to go shopping this weekend, I'll let you know what i wind up with. I saw a really cool amber blenny today, anyone know about them?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Ember blennies are an interesting fish. Only dominant males develop the red markings. They can be aggressive toward any similarly shaped fish.

Suggestions from me would include, orange spotted, midas, stigmatura, or starry blenny.

 

[jp_75]

my goby hides all the time(orange spotted) when it's out really cool to watch

 

[Roy 9121]

Ember blennies are an interesting fish. Only dominant males develop the red markings. They can be aggressive toward any similarly shaped fish.

Suggestions from me would include, orange spotted, midas, stigmatura, or starry blenny.

Thanks, I'm thinking i may go with a Midas Blenny. My tank needs more bright color.

 

[malacoda]

What about a fang blenny? Active throughout water column, peaceful toward pretty much all other fish (except other fang blennies), brave and curious without being obnoxious. Depending on variety can be quite colorful. About as reef safe as you can get. Wonderful, very underrated fish IMHO.

 

[Roy 9121]

What about a fang blenny? Active throughout water column, peaceful toward pretty much all other fish (except other fang blennies), brave and curious without being obnoxious. Depending on variety can be quite colorful. About as reef safe as you can get. Wonderful, very underrated fish IMHO.

I'll check it out.

 

[Roy 9121]

watchman goby, pretty easy to acclimate too

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I had an engineer goby for years, he finally died a few months ago. They get a little to big for my tank, i only have a 55 gallon. I know the engineer was a little destructive at times. I don't know if all gobies do that.

 

[Reef Ryder]

You'll need copepods but Manderin gobys are really cool. Try not to have a blenny and a goby though, depending on the species, a blenny can eat a goby out of a house and home... literally.

 

[Roy 9121]

You'll need copepods but Manderin gobys are really cool. Try not to have a blenny and a goby though, depending on the species, a blenny can eat a goby out of a house and home... literally.

I thought about a Manderin, but just not sure my tank is ready for one. I wouldn't put a gobie and a blenny. They wouldn't get along would they?

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

If you want your sand bed clean, go for a diamond spotted sand sifting goby. They can make a bit of a mess but well worth a bit of sand on the base of your rocks. I have a pair and I could watch them all day. It's especially funny when a hermit crab is the way. They literally pick them up with their mouth and move them. We had a tailspot blenny in the tank with the gobies, no issues at all. They're all in quarantine right now and of course I have a cyano outbreak. First time it's ever been on the sand. Can't wait till I can get them back in my tank.

 

[eatbreakfast]

You'll need copepods but Manderin gobys are really cool. Try not to have a blenny and a goby though, depending on the species, a blenny can eat a goby out of a house and home... literally.

I thought about a Manderin, but just not sure my tank is ready for one. I wouldn't put a gobie and a blenny. They wouldn't get along would they?

Blennies and gobies make excellent tankmates in most cases. Though they both are usually site-oriented, they each occupy different ecological niches, so most often ignore each other.

 

[Reef Ryder]

They'll get along but depending on the species of each, the blenny will eat much faster then the gobie causing the gobie to starve to death.

I thought about a Manderin, but just not sure my tank is ready for one. I wouldn't put a gobie and a blenny. They wouldn't get along would they?

 

[eatbreakfast]

They'll get along but depending on the species of each, the blenny will eat much faster then the gobie causing the gobie to starve to death.

What kind of goby is being outcompeted? Every goby I've ever owned came out and ate food provided. If you are having a fish being outcompeted for food adding a little more food solves that issue. It doesn't even need to be much as their stomachs are only about as large as their eyeball, so one or two bites is fine, if it gets more, even better.

 

[Reef Ryder]

There are many articles online as well as many forums where people have heard of or personally seen gobies and blennys not being able to live together due to aggression or outcompeting. Not in all cases but some. Especially if the blenny is a lawnmower.

 

[eatbreakfast]

In that case, I am casting doubt on whether they are first hand experiences or not. Algae blennies can indeed be territorial, but that is toward rock dwelling fish or other algaevores. However, since any of the watchman species are sand dwelling, there is no issue there, clown gobies are left alone for their slime coat, trimma and eviotas are ignored for their small size, sand sifters are sand dwellers and ignored. Neon gobies are recognized as cleaners, so even though they never see each other in the wild they are still recognized, jawfish are ignored, as are all the Microdesmids.

So again I ask, which blenny did you keep with a goby that there was a problem.

Far too often inaccurate info gets passed on without first hand experience. Or outliers are considered the norm. There may be a handful of issues where it occurred, but quite frankly I have seen blennies behave aggressively much more toward tangs than to gobies.