Neon Dottyback KILLED my Watchman Goby!

WhiskeyCoffee · Jan 28, 2017

About 6 months ago I bought a Neon Dottyback who has been one of the more beautiful additions to my reef tank. I never knew how aggressive they were until I added a Watchman Goby and the Dottyback started bullying the Goby until he died. I was at work while this happened and my daughter happened to catch a little bit of it on tape. I feel so terrible for killing this beautiful Goby and of course it's so frustrating to waste money.

Fish stores will tell you whatever you want to hear so you'll buy their stuff - NEVER buy fish or corals on impulse and always do your own research or it could cost you your fish, corals, or tank!

Delta1389 · Jan 28, 2017

My neon also indirectly killed my ywg. He bullied him so that he stayed on the intake for my HOB skimmer. He ended up getting sucked into that intake and it of course killed him.

Joel Franco · Jan 28, 2017

I learned this the hard way as well. I made the mistake of putting in a purple fire fish in the same tank as the dottyback and the fire fish lasted less than 2 hours before I found half of its body floating around and the other half was in the mouth of my rock anemone still alive.

Valkyrie · Jan 28, 2017

Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry this happened! I've heard awful things about dottybacks. Poor little watchman.

Deinonych · Jan 29, 2017

Dottybacks can pack a wallop for their size. Many do not coexist well with peaceful inhabitants. Sorry for your loss. That said, are you certain the goby was healthy prior to introduction? I don't see any serious aggression in the video, but the goby does not look good.

Rick.45cal · Jan 29, 2017

Oh man! Poor little watchman! Sorry your daughter had to witness that, and sorry you had to go through it too. Interspecies competition is no joke on the reef! Marine fish don't play! I really like neon dottybacks but they aren't nice guys. They also like going inside tunze powerheads while they are off, and then when they come on, they don't make it if they are still inside. (I decided they weren't for me after that).

Sure are cool fish, I personally like the yellow watchman's personality more though.

Good luck! Sorry about your yellow watchman

4FordFamily · Jan 29, 2017

Neon are perhaps the most aggressive dottyback, in my experience at least. Sorry for your loss

WhiskeyCoffee · Jan 29, 2017

Deinonych said:
Dottybacks can pack a wallop for their size. Many do not coexist well with peaceful inhabitants. Sorry for your loss. That said, are you certain the goby was healthy prior to introduction? I don't see any serious aggression in the video, but the goby does not look good.

Yeah he was acclimated and was doing fine when I left. My daughter said the Dottyback would not leave him alone and was "bumping in to him" a lot.

Chanjad385 · Jan 29, 2017

Valkyrie said:
Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry this happened! I've heard awful things about dottybacks. Poor little watchman.

badstorm48 · Jan 31, 2017

That's why I don't trust pseudochromis and dottybacks. I had a pseudochromis and he killed my watchman goby. Ripped all of his fins off to where you could see bone. All this happened while I was at work. Next morning he was dead. I will never own another one. Better suited for a semi aggressive to aggressive tank where it's the smallest fish in the tank. Even tried to go after my Christmas wrasse but as the wrasse was 3 times bigger it just turned around and smacked the chromis down.

Bdog4u2 · Feb 1, 2017

My 10 year old son put a ywg with a pistol shrimp in his nano tank that had a blue damsel in it and the damsel kept trying to bully the goby and the pistol shrimp wacked the heck out of the damsel and now it stalks from a distance

Bdog4u2 · Feb 1, 2017

After watching the video i'm not sold that the dottyback killed it, im sure he probably helped the matter with stress but i see aggression way worse daily in my tank. choosing fish and tankmates can be a daunting task.