Clown Goby and SPS Corals

marinelife · Nov 12, 2012

Which Clown Goby is the best for housing in a tank with all SPS corals?
Could more than one be kept in a 375 Gallon Tank without issue?

Hyprviperx · Nov 12, 2012

you can keep many together they havent been aggressive in my tank at all and i had a black, yellow, and warpaint. the warpaint was the best looking and Never bothered the SPS, the black ( i believe is in the same family as the yellow, War paint is a dif species im pretty sure) picked at the polyps on every single SPS i had until the polyps would no longer extend and then theyd bleach and die. it happened on every SPS he perched on and NO others and he also pecked at the fleshy edges of my acans. the war paint was by far the best behaved and the prettiest. but thats just my experience, however i will never own another clown goby while owning high end corals.

mainereefer · Nov 12, 2012

+1 for the warpaint,

my black one nips all the sps

jgraz · Nov 12, 2012

I had a yellow and it pretty much picked at all of my acros. I finally got rid if it. And was happier for it.

chort55 · Nov 12, 2012

The clown gobys in the same family as yellow/black/green etc will all nip, "hop on"/ perch and destroy SPS. They are especially harmful to smaller frags/mini colonies that cannot handle the beating. Also, if you do some research before buying a "cool little fish" you would quickly find out that they do this naturally because it is part of their breeding habit. They clear out spots on sps (particularly under branches) to lay their eggs, so if you thought one or two were bad wait til they start spawning lol

Shiftygirl · Nov 12, 2012

Is the war paint the same as the green on livesquaria.com? I added a black one back in July and have never seen it. The lfs had to practically shake him out of the underside of the rock. So I figured the were just real secretive. My hubby says the clown goby is long gone, but I still hope he'll show up one day.

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mainereefer · Nov 13, 2012

no not the same as the green

glass was very dirty but here is a pic of the male

Shiftygirl · Nov 13, 2012

Thank you. Very cool looking.

Hyprviperx · Nov 13, 2012

mainereefer said:
no not the same as the green

glass was very dirty but here is a pic of the male

That's a Citron goby not the yellow right? My yellow had no markings at all and were tiny

jeffblly · Nov 13, 2012

Hyprviperx said:
That's a Citron goby not the yellow right? My yellow had no markings at all and were tiny

That is not a Citron. They have blue around the eyes. I just got rid of citron for almost killing my sps. Now that he is gone they are coming back.

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marinelife · Nov 13, 2012

This is part of my research and I know they do nesting but have heard other reports that they will kill the coral. I have also hear others say they had no issues

chort55 · Nov 13, 2012

If they have had no issues they haven't had them long enough or are in denial lol

I have a friend who's sps don't all die, but they don't color up and have poor PE all the time.... but it has nothing to do with his yellow clown goby, just can't figure out what it is lol

marinelife · Nov 13, 2012

The LFS I am talking to can get Orange/Warpaint Gobies. I may try 2 of them. Seems to be the best ones.

chort55 · Nov 13, 2012

Hope it works out, I wouldn't want to break down a 375g to get em out if it dont lol

mainereefer · Nov 15, 2012

Hyprviperx said:
That's a Citron goby not the yellow right? My yellow had no markings at all and were tiny

neither its a warpaint goby

Dsdaley77 · Nov 15, 2012

All the citrons I have seen are more if a pinkish yellow and have the same markings as a green clown. I have 3 greens in my tank and love them. They like perching on my powerheads and mag float lol. Great personality once they open up and get comfy

I believe also that the citrons are the largest of the gobies we are currently discussing.

STL · Nov 15, 2012

I've had a citron goby for many, many years and SPS for just about a year.

He likes to perch on the montipora caps, but doesn't seem to harm them or the other montipora colonies in the tank. I've never seen him nip at any coral. I'm seeing great growth and polyp extension from all the SPS, and the only harm comes from run-ins with neighboring torch corals (viscous corals, those).

I do not have acropora, so that may be a different story.

He's (well, maybe she) is a very cool fish with a great personality.

mainereefer · Nov 17, 2012

clown gobies wont eat sps! they irritate the sps polyp till it slimes and they eat that. if you have a small piece it may not be able to recover fast enough to let the gobie eat.
but I have also noticed that if I keep my black gobie well fed he dosnt bother the coral as much. just the occasional slime snack but not as the main source of food.

Acrokeeper3729 · Nov 17, 2012

I know a guy with a 220 sps tank that put 30 or so citrons in there and they started to whipe out all the colonies. He syphoned out as many as he could then had to throw a lionfish in to finish the job before they took out everything he spent years growing.

marinelife · Nov 17, 2012

30 is alot, I would not see why you would add so many.
I added 2 orange clown Gobies(warpaint)
So far I have not seem them. They are small and the tank is big

I will be watching the tank closely.