Who's the aggressor? Foxface or Engineer goby

john.m.cole3 · Apr 4, 2016

My flame hawkfish died 2 days after putting him in last week. Got home from vacation and my bicolor blenny was dead. My foxface has been swimming back and forth a lot lately. Both the hawkfish and blenny took up residence in the rock the engineer goby lived underneath. Foxface has been in the tank 8 months w/ no problems. Engineer goby was in the DT until he moved so much sand he made some rocks shift, so he went to the sump. On my new build I put all the rocks on the bottom before I added sand and then added all fish (including engineer goby) to DT

Who dunnit?

rbraunberger · Apr 4, 2016

Man, my foxface was such a bully I had to trade him away!

Greatreefer · Apr 4, 2016

I'm going to ask the usual boring questions:

Size of tank?
How long have you had it?
water parameters?
How long have you had your fish?
Who was the first to get added to the aquarium?
oh, the size of the fish matters too. How big is the foxface in comparison to the other tank inhabitants?

Other thoughts.
There could be a possibility that the Foxface is super aggressive and is taking out the fish one by one.
Did you happen to notice any odd behaviors before the other fish passed away like shyness or, bullying?

john.m.cole3 · Apr 4, 2016

72 gallon, 3 weeks (tank transfer from a 1 year old tank), Amm - 0, trite - 0, trate - 25, alk - 8.6, calc 420, mag 1400, Po4 .11, read the above post for about how long ive had the fish, both got added at the same time, all fish including foxface have been on the opposite side of the tank the engineer was on.

Greatreefer · Apr 4, 2016

yeah, I read your 1st post and just so I understand it, what you meant when you said " Both the hawkfish and blenny took up residence in the rock the engineer goby lived underneath. Foxface has been in the tank 8 months"
is that 8 months prior to adding the other fish? so, the fox face was already there and then you added the other fish OR, does that mean that the fish were transferred over to the new tank and have been living together fine for 8 months?
What i was getting at was IF there was only one fish that had been transferred to the 75 and the other smaller fish were added 2nd
then there could be a territorial issue and that could explain the death of both the hawk and the Blenny.

Duke4Life · Apr 4, 2016

Sounds like possible disease. Hawk was new? Was it quarantined?

Greatreefer · Apr 4, 2016

That could also be a possibility. It can be hard to observe their behavior when the fish just dart into crevices.
Hey, John.m .cole3 do you know if the hawk and the blenny where actively eating?

john.m.cole3 · Apr 4, 2016

Ok my bad. Lemme try this again.

Blenny, foxfsce, and engineer were all getting along in my old 46. The engineer started digging too much so I moved him to the sump.

Setting up new tank. After cycle i added all fish to the new 72 including the engineer. My local guy got me a hawkish and he quarantines them before selling. After adding the hawk he moved in the rock my engineer lived underneath. The hawk was found dead with nip marks on his fin. The blenny lived in that same rock and was found dead when I came back from vacation. All the while my foxface had been pacing the tank but taking up residence with my pair of clowns, firefish, and mccoskers wrasse in a rock opposite the tank the engineer lives in.

john.m.cole3 · Apr 4, 2016

Both fish were sparsely bc they were hiding a lot

caity · Apr 4, 2016

I've had my engineer for a year and it has never been very aggressive. It may swim near my lawnmower to move it away but has never tried to bite it or kill it. He also got along with my pink spot goby just fine too. Mine could very well be an exception

sanchoy · Apr 4, 2016

Had my foxface for 8+ years, never showed signs of aggression at all. Will put up defensive posture with spines when tangs get close, but was never the aggressor. Very friendly, constant piggy.

john.m.cole3 · Apr 4, 2016

Foxface swimming funny tonight and after a closer look I think I know what the problem is... ICH!

Kershaw · Apr 4, 2016

Sorry to see you got a bigger problem. I love fox face all the ones I have ever had where supper nice. Ate from my hand. Never picked on anyone. Set up a QT and read @Humblefish threads on Ich and velvate

joshkirkland83 · Apr 5, 2016

john.m.cole3 said:
Foxface swimming funny tonight and after a closer look I think I know what the problem is... ICH!

LFS says feed garlic and no need to QT, just add copper to your DT. Youll be 100% ich free.

Kershaw · Apr 5, 2016

Do you have live rock? Do you have coral? Do you have sand? If you have any of those do not add copper. Garlic will only help immune system. And it has to be fresh garlic not that stuff you buy to get fish to eat. And long yearn use of garlic has been said to cause liver problems in fish. Oh and do you have any inverts? Shrimp, star fish ? They will all die with copper

joshkirkland83 · Apr 5, 2016

Kershaw said:
Do you have live rock? Do you have coral? Do you have sand? If you have any of those do not add copper. Garlic will only help immune system. And it has to be fresh garlic not that stuff you buy to get fish to eat. And long yearn use of garlic has been said to cause liver problems in fish. Oh and do you have any inverts? Shrimp, star fish ? They will all die with copper

Its a running joke between us bud. He knows better.