Starry Blenny..vs..pink spotted goby

[jmcbride]

I have had a starry blenny for a while. I have now added a pink spotted goby. Before I added the goby my blenny was very lazy laid back fish, its been about four days since I added the goby and last night things took a bad turn, The blenny is now attacking the goby and swimming the tank like a wild man. Will he give up or was this a huge mistake? I dont want him to hurt the new one! The goby has found a safe hole where the blenny cant get her for now.

 

[BigAl07]

Odds are he will not give up and the blenny will probably not survive unless you intervene in some way. I've had varied success with these methods:

A) Place the offender in a QT system for a few weeks to allow the goby to get settled and healthy

B) Rearrange the rockwork to break up territorial boundaries (may not work in smaller tanks especially if the SB is "patrolling" the whole tank)

C) Relocate the goby to another home while it's still healthy and has a chance to survive.

Good luck. For the record my SB behaves the same way and recently caused the demise of a beautiful Fang Blenny (venomous fish who could have defended itself if it weren't so stressed)

 

[jmcbride]

I moved the rock work around When I added the goby. Should I do it again and make more areas for her to hide. eventually I would like to have a Mandarin dragonet Maybe starry is a bad mix for my tank?

 

[estanoche]

hmmmm I'd go with suggestion #1 - put him in time-out for a month or so... give the other goby a chance to get fat and confident enough to defend himself!! As he sits now he will probably just die from stress since the blenny is so set of taking him out

I've kept many fish in my sump for time-out periods - it works!!

 

[user 2204]

Ditto on the time out, either in QT or in the sump for awhile. Or if you are fortunate to have more than one tanks, might be best to split them up.

 

[jmcbride]

I did a major Mix-up of the rock work and they seem to be able to avoid each other a lot better. I will for sure keep an eye on everyone to make sure its done the trick but as far as now it is working she is able to get herself in hiding and come out and feed with no problems seems happy about her new hiding hole to!