Hey all! So my 24 gallon adventure into reef keeping is now into it's sixth month and things are going pretty well so far (knock on wood), but I wanted to get some advice. I currently have a percula clown, an orchid dottyback, a hi fin banded shrimp goby paired with a pistol shrimp, a pom pom crab and a fire shrimp (plus corals: xenia, zoos, green star polyps, mushrooms, a toadstool, a hammerhead, clove polyps, a candy cane and a sun coral).
In the first days of introducing fish I tried a green clown goby which I loved but it got tangled up with some of the corals and didn't make it. Up until about a week ago we had a purple firefish which seemed to be getting along with everyone - wasn't shy at all, didn't seem to get picked on at all and ate like a pig. But then about 10 days ago he had his fins shredded overnight by someone. He hovered around still eating but just hanging in a corner for a few days before he disappeared. I've been unable to find him anywhere in the tank and assume that he was eaten by the various cleanup crew critters (no spike in ammonia, nitrite or nitrate in the meantime). I know that dottybacks generally can be aggressive but was told (and learned from my research) that the orchid is the least aggressive and should have been fine with the fish I had. I never witnessed any aggression but it must have been either him or the clown. Who is the more likely culprit?
Now I'm looking to replace the firefish with something else. I don't want to get another shrimp goby but was thinking that another bottom dweller might work (like a blenny or something). Another thought was to try another green clown goby - part of the reason I went salty to begin with was for this fish but I don't know what coral it had a problem with and if it's likely to have the same problem I'd rather not do it. Would a different clown goby (like a citron) have better luck? Or would it have the same issues? Are there any water-column swimming fish that would work and not get picked on? Any other ideas? Thanks!
In the first days of introducing fish I tried a green clown goby which I loved but it got tangled up with some of the corals and didn't make it. Up until about a week ago we had a purple firefish which seemed to be getting along with everyone - wasn't shy at all, didn't seem to get picked on at all and ate like a pig. But then about 10 days ago he had his fins shredded overnight by someone. He hovered around still eating but just hanging in a corner for a few days before he disappeared. I've been unable to find him anywhere in the tank and assume that he was eaten by the various cleanup crew critters (no spike in ammonia, nitrite or nitrate in the meantime). I know that dottybacks generally can be aggressive but was told (and learned from my research) that the orchid is the least aggressive and should have been fine with the fish I had. I never witnessed any aggression but it must have been either him or the clown. Who is the more likely culprit?
Now I'm looking to replace the firefish with something else. I don't want to get another shrimp goby but was thinking that another bottom dweller might work (like a blenny or something). Another thought was to try another green clown goby - part of the reason I went salty to begin with was for this fish but I don't know what coral it had a problem with and if it's likely to have the same problem I'd rather not do it. Would a different clown goby (like a citron) have better luck? Or would it have the same issues? Are there any water-column swimming fish that would work and not get picked on? Any other ideas? Thanks!
