Clown gobies and sps don't mix well

[mattj206]

These little innocent fish are... evil...

All day long they rub and nip at all my SPS

A couple of my frags seem to be dammaged by this constant bother

Plus pylop extension is not what it was before.

They don't eat food - they just aggitate slime from sps and nip it off.

Anyone else want to ban clown gobies from sps tanks!!!!!!!!?????

Another pesky reef creature is loose in my tank.. Frustration mounts...

Other problem pets... Coral Banded Shrimp (killer)... bi-colored blenny(coral niper)... cleaner shrimp (food theif)... too mad to think of any others

 

[MtnDewMan]

I have found that clown gobies are great in tanks with larger SPS colonies. The damage they may do is much more minimal. I had six pair in my tank at one time in the past. A pair of yellow, a pair of black and a pair of green. All three pair were laying eggs in different colonies. Of course that damages the SPS when they do that. But all of the SPS were extremely healthy and the damage done to the coral was minimal.

I did find the yellow ones were much more aggressive and nippy than the black or green ones.

Here is one of my green ones laying eggs in the colony ...

Here is a closeup where you can actually see the eggs that it laid and is protecting.

 

[randythereefer]

I have a citreon goby that seems to bother my sps as well however I'm hoping that there will be a happy medium at some point where the little bugger is happy with the way things are.

 

[reedman]

Chuck hit it on the nose. You need some larger colonies so that the damage is relatively small as compared to the overall colony. If all they have to choose from is frags, they will still clean off a spot, it'll just be large relative to the frag size.

 

[dgasmd]

I personally think these things should be grouped with the red bugs, the flat worms, and the montipora and zoanthid eating nudibranchs as the worst maladies a reef tank can get. I used to have a pair of the black ones and they are very nice looking fish. They would actually nip at the polyps of my SPS. People kept telling me the polyps were not out because the fish was irritating the coral and not because it was eating it until I sat in front of the tank for well over an hour observing them. They were actually biting the polyps!!! Needless to say, getting those 2 little bastards out of the tank was a gigantic undertaking requiring to almost tear down the tank.

A buddy has 2 that lay eggs and all in one gigantic table acro he has. That coral has lost considerable color since the fish and does look like kaka (the only SPS in the tank that looks like that). Never see any polyps and lots of other corals in the tank had no polyp either. He actually syphon them out at night while they were sleeping.

 

[EvilMel]

I have had no problems with the three I have harming my SPS.

I suppose it's a risk that you take when you purchase these fish, but to equate them with red bugs is a bit on the overly negative side.