Any Dottybacks that are Friendly?

Shep · Jan 18, 2015

Really love the color of the dottybacks but have always heard that they are bullies, are there any that are actually peaceful?

eatbreakfast · Jan 18, 2015

P. elongatus and springeri are pretty peaceful.

saltyhog · Jan 18, 2015

eatbreakfast, how about P. fridmani? I've always thought those looked good and have considered giving one a try.

eatbreakfast · Jan 18, 2015

saltyhog said:
eatbreakfast, how about P. fridmani? I've always thought those looked good and have considered giving one a try.

Yes, fridmani is peaceful too.

Shep · Jan 18, 2015

Would they still be friendly towards a fish that had a similar body shape (Gold Assessor)?

eatbreakfast · Jan 18, 2015

Make sure the assessor is in there first. I have a yellow assessor with an elongatus in a 60g for the past yr and a half without issue.

Shep · Jan 18, 2015

He has been there for awhile now but the tank is only a 30g

Bad Company · Jan 19, 2015

I just added a Neon Dottyback to my tank. Afraid of nobody, yet hassles nobody either. Great personality!

jolt · Jan 19, 2015

My orchid (fridmani) is pretty good. Gives newcomers a tiny hard time for a while then gets over it within a week.

jmarcink91 · Jan 19, 2015

my fridmani is a bully

Junglebredcambofed · Jan 20, 2015

I have a orchid dotty he's not really a bully, he hides in my rock work a lot, when it comes to feeding he can be stingy but once he gets something bhe ack to hiding, have him in a 20L with a female anthia

nautical_nathaniel · Jan 20, 2015

I think a little of their rumored aggression resides in who they are housed with. I have a purple basslet (Pseudochromis porphyreus) and Bi-color Blenny together in my nano. For some reason the basslet and blenny like to have little skirmishes where they flare up to each other. Fortunately they never actually fight, I think its sort of a game of chicken or something to them.

Sometimes my basslet reminds me of a cat, he's really curious and likes to act like he is big and bad, even to my gold-stripe maroon clown. He even chases lasers like a cat! Overall I definitely recommend having at least one at some point in your fishkeeping career!

Gopi · Jan 20, 2015

My indigo (P. fridmani x P. sankeyi hybrid) is awesome. Bothers no one but still has personality. I added two diagonal bar gobies well after he'd been established and had no issues. Sometimes they even hang out.

v1ol3nt · Jan 20, 2015

My diadema had a couple scuffles with a pygmy angel but other than that was great for almost 8 months then got to big for its britches and started to harass the angel again tearing her fins and my tailspot and wouldn't let him come out to graze. No one harasses benny the blenny(favoritism) and it was bottle trap time. :tongue1:

billamwelli · Dec 30, 2020

eatbreakfast said:
Yes, fridmani is peaceful too.

Are the splendens peaceful?

MONTANTK · Dec 30, 2020

Red Elongated dottyback. Pictures look very ugly but when you get one and feed it well it’s a beautiful fish

Rickybobby · Dec 30, 2020

I have an orchid dottyback. Been super friendly with his tank mates. Now he has his spot. A small cave but no one goes near it and everyone gets along just fine. I think if they have a place to call theirs it helps.

tricky_tran · Dec 30, 2020

I added an Orchid Dottyback mid December and its been cool, then i added a Neon Dottyback Xmas eve and that one has been cool too. no issues thus far with them. Only problem I see sometimes are my 2 clowns. current stock:

4 x Blue/Green Chromis
1 x Yellow Tang
1 x Hoeven's Wrasse
2 x Maroon Clowns
1 x Orange Spotted Blenny
1 x Aiptasia FileFish
1 x Orchid Dottyback
1 x Neon Dottyback
1 x Fiji Devil Damsel
2 x Engineer Goby
4 x Peppermint Shrimp
3 x Emerald Crabs
1 x Derasa Clam
1 x Condylacti Anemone
bunch of clean up crew

billamwelli · Jan 2, 2021

tricky_tran said:
I added an Orchid Dottyback mid December and its been cool, then i added a Neon Dottyback Xmas eve and that one has been cool too. no issues thus far with them. Only problem I see sometimes are my 2 clowns. current stock:

4 x Blue/Green Chromis
1 x Yellow Tang
1 x Hoeven's Wrasse
2 x Maroon Clowns
1 x Orange Spotted Blenny
1 x Aiptasia FileFish
1 x Orchid Dottyback
1 x Neon Dottyback
1 x Fiji Devil Damsel
2 x Engineer Goby
4 x Peppermint Shrimp
3 x Emerald Crabs
1 x Derasa Clam
1 x Condylacti Anemone
bunch of clean up crew

Minus the blenny and filefish you’ve got a decently aggressive tank that’s probably why the dottyback is doing just fine, I usually recommend dottybacks to go into species specific nano tanks or in damsel tanks.