Citron Gobies...good or bad?

[Guest JFish]

I have 5 citron gobies that I have had for about a month now.  I have 3 sps that aren't the fuzzier polyped type.  I have a green acro, a blue tipped teal stag, and a green slimer.  Ever since the addition of the gobies I haven't seen polyp extension on either of these corals and was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience with them.  I have a pocilipora (sp?) and a purple monti that both have tons of fuzzy polyps open every day as well as my gorgonian that has it's polyps extended everyday as well.  Do the gobies not like the other corals polyps enough to pick at them or is there something else wrong that I should be looking for as to why my corals don't show their polyps?  For a week before I added them I was getting amzingly extended polyps on my green acro and now nothing at all...not even at night.  I was just wondering what everyone here thought...I am wondering if I should be trying to get rid of them or not now....man..and they were expensive little buggers too.

 

Thanks for anything you can say to help out

[Guest Scott324]

Check out the other forum in a post about red bugs, not the flatworms post.  It was in one of the discussions, not name red bugs now that I think of it, but anyway, George and some of the others talk about citron gobies affecting the acros.  I think the consensus was BAD.  I wanted to get some too, not anymore!!!!   :D

[Guest Scott324]

It is this thread

 

<http://www.wamas.org/cgi-bin/wamas/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=9;t=2>

 

If that didn't work it is the meeting forum, thread on top.

[geofloors]

I would definitely get them out. The green slimer should have some of the largest polyps seen on an acro. I'm still working on getting my citrons and green clown gobies out. How much did you pay for your fish if they were expensive? I think I paid $6.00 each for them, but it might have been $7.00

Here's the link scott pointed out.

http://www.wamas.org/cgi-bin/wamas/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=9;t=2

 

 

George

[dgasmd]

I think these fish should be up there with satan and the ebola virus. I added a pair to my 125 with SPS and all the acropora polyps dissappeared within 3 days. I truely believe they actually ate then because I used to see them picking at it. All the acroporas went completely bald! Since I did not put them in my new tank, all the polyps have cgrown back slowly and now I have corals that look like chia pets! I would highly discourage anyone from getting these damm fish unless you ahve no acroporas in your tank. Geofloors have the same problem I did and he will tell you the missery these fish have put him through as well.

[Guest JFish]

What should I do with them if I get them out of the tank?  I paid Marine Scene prices (about 15 each) for these guys cause I thought they were really neat...little did I know they'd attack my corals.  I will see if the Marine Scene will take them back but I doubt they will...and I want some money back for them for how much I paid...hmmm

 

Oh well...I guess something has to go wrong with every new tank...dumb mistake on my part for the purchase :(

[dgasmd]

put them in your refugium.

[pez]

If you explain your situation to the MS, they will probably take them back.  Maybe only for store credit, but that's just like cash in this hobby.

 

Good luck trying to catch all of them.

 

-T

[Guest JFish]

UPDATE:

 

I have caught all of my citron gobies...Very easily too.

 

Here is the trick if anyone is having trouble catching theirs:

 

After the lights have turned out wait atleast 2 hours (2 hours of pitch darkness that is) then turn a light on in the room just enough so you can see in the tank.  The gobies are often just sitting out in the open or in some SPS branches.  All I did was get a net (about 4"x5") and bring it very close to them...they don't run away if they're sleepy .  I just slid the frame of the net under their head and gently touched them under the chin.  They usually do a little jerky movement and end up in an easier spot to catch them...then just get the net right next to them and SWOOP them up...they may get away but I can tell you they're 1000 times easier to catch at night....I caught 2 a couple days ago and the last 3 all last night...

 

they're in my refugium now...  What I didn't expect was them to escape from my refugium [its an overflow to the tank design (CPR aquafuge)]  so I had to catch them 7 times total but still very easy if done at night.  Now I have made a blockade so they can't escape and will be getting store credit at the MS on tuesday.

 

Just thought you might want to know if you haven't tried this method and are having a hard time catching them.

[geofloors]

Great, Thanks for the info! I have not tried the nighttime method. I'll give it a whorl.

 

 

George