Yellow Clown Goby -- BEWARE!

[Brian Goldstein]

Hello Reefers-

I recently purchased a yellow clown goby from my LFS. Initially, I loved this fish.. had a great personality, loved hosting my euphyllia, and got a long with all my other fish

The owner told me they were completely reef safe. WRONG.. After about a week, not only was it perching all over my acros and causing them to retract their polyps, but it would constantly nip at coral tissue and polyps.

I was finally able to set up a trap and net him. Took me forever -_-

It is not a rumor; Clown gobies DO eat SPS.


-BG

 

[JaimeAdams]

I think that they more mouth them or eat the mucus. However yes, you are correct in the fact that they do not belong in an Acropora tank. I too made that mistake for about a day.

 

[Brian Goldstein]

I think that they more mouth them or eat the mucus. However yes, you are correct in the fact that they do not belong in an Acropora tank. I too made that mistake for about a day.

I've heard that as well.. either way, both cases are bad for the corals health..

There were several times I caught the fish literally trying to pull chunks of tissue off the acro... That drew the line for me lol

-BG

 

[K. Steven]

They're not too good for an LPS tank either. My clown goby would sit on all my fleshy LPS and keep them closed.

 

[Ley3198]

The perching goby claims another victim.

Why do they have to be so adorable and so destructive at the same time. Mine almost wiped out my favorite acro colony.

 

[ihavecrabs]

So glad I'm reading this before I made my purchase! They claim reef safe on LA and that local tissue loss is expected when they lay eggs, but community reports much more significant impact.

Anyone have an alternative experience?

 

[inletfish]

i didnt have acros but mine used to ride my urchin daily, they were pals. ill see if i can find a pic

 

[inletfish]

you could say he was a hitchhiker

 

[Saltyanimals]

What!?!? I’ve been working hard trying to acquire trio of citrons that are now out of QT. Just went into observation before heading into a 180g mixed reef leaning to SPS.

All you folks on this thread seem to have similar destructive goby experience killing SPS.

Now I’m wondering if I should put them in. Was not expecting this nor read about it anywhere before this thread.

 

[tharbin]

I've had yellow clown gobies that were model citizens and others that constantly nipped at SPS. I think the latter is more common. Either way, if you have sticks, they will perch in them and the sticks will not appreciate it. Too bad because they really do have adorable personalities. Can't say I ever saw one bother an LPS other than perching on a shroom but others have said they do.

 

[Saltyanimals]

I know fish may have different personalities which explains why you had a model citizen. I wonder if there’s a pattern to yellows vs citrons vs greens in this SPS killing behavior.

I have 3 citrons in QT and I imagine it’ll be a PIA to try and remove 3 out of a 180g system. Decisions decisions. Am I a gambler!? Lol

 

[Ghost25]

I've had two and don't regret them. Yes they perch on corals, and I have seen them nip corals occasionally. But they don't do real damage and I keep him well fed. I love the color and the perching behavior so I don't mind that he irritates the corals slightly.

 

[Ef4life]

I have a green clown goby that never bothers any corals, he lives in either my euphyllia colony or the large montipora spongodes colony so you rarely see him except when he darts out for food.

the yellow clown goby I had was an acro polyp eater - he would munch and perch in the acros all day long. When perched on lps corals they didn’t seem to mind too much, the blennies I’ve had tend to perch on my lps too with no I’ll effects, and they are much larger typically than ycg.

 

[melonheadorion]

i have a green clown goby, but i never see him messing with anything specific. he mostly hosts the hammer coral i have. mostly perched underneath it, within its branches, and will sometimes sit on top. when its feeding time, he will come to the from where i have a frag rack of zoas and mushrooms, and sit within them, but i have never seen him nip, or bother any coral, other than sitting within them.

 

[Adolfo]

Thanks for sharing

 

[305]

Nother lil cutie is the tail spot blenny.. two days after intro.. all the encrusting new growth on sps looked like someone dragged a brillo pad on em.. luccky enough to catch em and get em out quick

 

[Brandon3000]

Welp. Has me second guessing doing acros in the tank with my watchmen.

 

[Seymo44]

Welp. Has me second guessing doing acros in the tank with my watchmen.

Watchmen gobies don’t nip corals in my experience. These behave totally differently from clown gobies. I have watchmen gobies in all my tanks, no coral issues what so ever.
The biggest issue with watchmen gobies is when their shrimp buddy builds castles with your new frags and/or buries your plate corals haha.

 

[blaxsun]

I'm still looking for mine months later.. (he disappeared into the sump). I spotted him once when I shone a flashlight into the bio media and saw a beady pair of eyes staring back at me.

 

[52728299]

My stock list for my mixed reef will make clown gobies look good. Dwarf angels, puffer, butterfly...