Aggressive watchman goby

hopperjl16 · Feb 11, 2016

I have a biocube 29 with a watchman goby, two clown fish, and a very recently added firefish. My watchman goby is out to kill this poor firefish. Is this normal? I thought they were both peaceful fish with other species? Part of the problem may be my set up, but I'm not sure how to fix it. Here are pics:

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So the goby lives under the rock on the left and the firefish wants to live in a cave in the rock on the right with my fire shrimp. I think they may be just too close to each other but with my tank (biocube29) I'm not sure how to fix it? Any ideas? Or do I just need to take the firefish back to the lfs?

duncangweller · Feb 11, 2016

From my experience, this is normal. My watchman has never hurt anything but he's very defensive over his cave and will chase anything out of there.

The only fish that hasn't figured this out is my sailfin tang who frequents his cave and then puffs himself up when the goby has a go at him. It's quite fun to watch and nobody ever gets hurt.

eatbreakfast · Feb 11, 2016

IME this is not normal. Firefish will utilize a watchman goby burrow regularly. In quite a few cases I have had this happen and the watchman pays no attention to the firefish sharing it's burrow.

That being said each fish has it's own personality.

hopperjl16 · Feb 11, 2016

I expected an initial battle over territories, but once the firefish took up residence in the rock on the right (which the goby had never paid attention to before) I thought we were good. But he's acting like he owns the whole floor of the tank now and he will attack her if he sees her tail peeking out from her cave. She isn't eating well bc I think she's scared to come out of the cave. Once she's out and stays mid-level in the tank he leaves her alone. But I think the cave she's in is just too close to the bottom of the tank which my goby thinks is "his".

eatbreakfast · Feb 11, 2016

Is there a pistol shrimp in the tank?

hopperjl16 · Feb 11, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
Is there a pistol shrimp in the tank?

Not yet. I had considered getting one for the goby but just hadn't done it yet. And I wasn't sure how it would get along with my fire shrimp?

eatbreakfast · Feb 11, 2016

hopperjl16 said:
Not yet. I had considered getting one for the goby but just hadn't done it yet. And I wasn't sure how it would get along with my fire shrimp?

The pistol will ignore the blood and may keep the watchman to just the one burrow.

hopperjl16 · Feb 11, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
The pistol will ignore the blood and may keep the watchman to just the one burrow.

Ok good to know. We had thought about adding a pistol shrimp so sounds like might be a good time for it! Thanks

hopperjl16 · Feb 11, 2016

Ok I may have solved the issue temporarily.....I feel like I'm referring kids! I put a small rock blocking the side of the firefish's cave that faces the goby's cave. She can still exit via the side away from the goby. Now he can no longer see her and get ticked off about her near him and she sticks to the right side of the tank since that's her entry side. Let's hope this keeps the peace! Still think I'll get a pistol shrimp soon though [emoji6]

Mark Zaffrann · Nov 10, 2019

I have reason to believe that my Watchman ate two pistol shrimp and a cleaner! One pistol was a bonded pair with smaller red stripe.

BuddyBonButt · Sep 25, 2022

Mark Zaffrann said:
I have reason to believe that my Watchman ate two pistol shrimp and a cleaner! One pistol was a bonded pair with smaller red stripe.

This made me chuckle, I was not ready for that

Miguel.PT · Oct 21, 2023

Mark Zaffrann said:
I have reason to believe that my Watchman ate two pistol shrimp and a cleaner! One pistol was a bonded pair with smaller red stripe.

Wait a second…. Is he… eating a red stripe? got a lot to chew…