Yellow Watchman goby being a jerk..

Schulks · Jul 5, 2024

I have a IM nuvo 50 EXT with 2 clowns, a flame angel, a royal gramma, a shark nose goby and YWG+ pistol shrimp. The YWG is the only jerk in the tank. Gramma gets mad if you get close to her hole which makes sense and she doesn't ever hit other fish. The YWG is running halfway across the tank to hit fish sometimes. Everyone else is being good. The YWG is probably the biggest fish in the tank, it is really close between all of them. I had the YWG and the clowns in a 13.5g for a couple years and would only see him be aggressive once a week in that tank and he wasn't hitting the clowns. Sadly he seems to really not like the flame angel who could use all 50 gallons.

Should I just wait it out? remove him? Maybe I remove the shrimp and he will calm down? I could replace him with a Yasha goby + candy cane pistol I have but they are about half the size of every fish in the nuvo 50 so I would worry about them but I'd love the smaller shrimp so he isn't moving as much sand..

paragrouper · Jul 5, 2024

My opinion would be yes, if you think that will the peace.

Schulks · Jul 5, 2024

paragrouper said:
My opinion would be yes, if you think that will the peace.

Thanks. The ywg was fine until I added the flameangel last week. I get fed up with him and then he calms down for a day and we repeat the process.
If I add the yasha goby I'd also want to add my 2 green band gobies so I can empty out his tank. I think I'd need to remove the neon goby from the IM50 too or he might start fighting with the 3 new gobies. Any opinion on that? It'd be nice to not have to remove the neon.

Idech · Jul 5, 2024

Schulks said:
Maybe I remove the shrimp and he will calm down?

I wouldn’t remove the shrimp. Some become lost without a shrimp and really don’t do well at all.

Schulks · Jul 6, 2024

yeah Im done with this butt. He isn't going to be fun to catch though... I'm going to try and grab a rock when he is sitting outside of it. He will dart back under but hopefully it collapses the tunnel and he can't make it farther into the tunnels.

Schulks · Jul 6, 2024

Well that didn't work. I guess I'll be tearing up half the aquascape :/

KrisReef · Jul 6, 2024

This is a great time to consider upgrading to a larger space to make peace among the fish in your home.

If you’re concerned about aggressive behavior then consider catching the Flame angel. They are also very aggressive.

Ziggy17 · Jul 6, 2024

Give the Flame Angel a few weeks to establish itself. It will become king of the castle quite easily. They are huge jerks for their smaller size, and will easily put the YWG in its place. I’d also watch the Angel with the other fish, it may hate everyone in the tank….

Schulks · Jul 6, 2024

KrisReef said:
This is a great time to consider upgrading to a larger space to make peace among the fish in your home.

If you’re concerned about aggressive behavior then consider catching the Flame angel. They are also very aggressive.

Sadly, I have no space to go bigger. I thought the Flame Angel was the only thing I was pushing my limits with but he was the last addition and I have seen no aggression from him. I've seen more from the gramma.. I am afraid if I let this continue he will start being aggressive. But tearing up half the tank is also a bad option..

Ziggy17 said:
Give the Flame Angel a few weeks to establish itself. It will become king of the castle quite easily. They are huge jerks for their smaller size, and will easily put the YWG in its place. I’d also watch the Angel with the other fish, it may hate everyone in the tank….

I was aware of Flame Angels history with aggression but I was not prepared for the YWG to be the one egging him on :( Currently the angel just runs but I worry that will change and he will become the terror everyone says they can be.

You are right. I should probably just ride it out at least another week. No one is hurt. yet...