Yellow watchman goby cannot get territory

[Rey "deep sea" Manta]

Hi reefers,

I have a 30G DT, with 2 Clownfishs, 1 orchid dottyback and 1 stripped blenny.

I just added a small ORA yellow watchman goby yesterday, and it cannot get any territory so far. It tried to hide under the rock, but the orchid dottyback kick it out immediately. I have many caves in my tank, I thought the goby could at least get one of them, but the orchid dottyback is just not a sharing fish.

The YWG stays at the corner of the DT all day, without any cover. The dottyback does not attack the goby, if the goby is not in the territory. The goby still looks fine so far, but I am kind of worry this is not a good thing. And it seems too stressed to eat anything. (but new fish normally take few days to adjust before eating anyway.)

I also tried to put some more rocks in, but it did not help. This YWG is not big enough to burrow its own cave. I also tried to catch the dottyback and move it to the sump, but the dottyback is too agile to catch.


I know I made a mistake that I should not introduce the dottyback before a goby. Is this situation fine? Any other suggestion I should try? Thanks a lot!

 

[dhanking]

If I were you, I would turn off the lights, shift the rockwork, cover up the territory of the dottyback, and turn the lights back on the next day. That should have solved the problem.

 

[Rey "deep sea" Manta]

If I were you, I would turn off the lights, shift the rockwork, cover up the territory of the dottyback, and turn the lights back on the next day. That should have solved the problem.

Thanks for the reply. What do you mean "cover up the territory of the dottyback"? Do you mean cover them with rocks?

 

[Andresnyc93]

Moving the rockwork helps so everyone claims new territory. If it was up to me I’d catch the dottyback and put them in an isolation box for a couple of days and move around rockwork.