Why you should NEVER take advice from your friendly LFS

Bob I · #1 01-20-2004, 04:24 PM

Last week I moved all the contents of my 15 gallon nano into a reacquired 20H tank. It became a nice looking tank with lots of light. I decided to keep what few SPS corals I have into that tank (M digitata and Staghorn). Along with a large number of zoanthids. All was going well, but the tank looked like it needed something moving. So I trudged off to my "friendly" LFS for a fish. He had a few Yellow Clown Gobies in stock, and to make a long story longer, I decided to purchase one. I had a vague recollection of reading that YCG liked to snack on SPS corals. So I asked my "friendly" salesman if he had ever heard of that. He looked at me aghast, and assured me he never had heard of such a thing.
Well I took it home and introduced it into the tank. It immediately moved onto my digitata, and I noticed it took little nips from the coral. Yesterday I came home and noticed one side of the largest piece of digitata was all bare, and the staghorn was all retracted. So now all the bits of SPS are back in the 50 where I don't want them, and I am contemplating taking the 20 all apart to catch the miscreant. I could then catch the little puke and find a spot for it. Hmmm maybe he could go in the 10 gallon nano I am working on setting up

Quinn · #2 01-20-2004, 05:08 PM

I was saying something about talking with your wallet... that guy is not to be trusted. On another note, I love those little gobies, but there's no way I'm going to risk all my beautiful SPS.

MitchM · #3 01-20-2004, 11:43 PM

Not exactly what I would call "researching" a fish prior to purchase...

I did a quick google search on "yellow clown goby" and came up with this page:
http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/z.../Gokinawae.htm

It mentions that the goby resides in acroporas, but no mention of eating them.

Are you sure that the goby is to blame?
I'm sure that your LFS would normally take back a purchase that you're not happy with. (as long as you're on good terms with them)

Mitch

Aquattro · #4 01-20-2004, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carpentersreef

It mentions that the goby resides in acroporas, but no mention of eating them.

Are you sure that the goby is to blame?

Mitch, these little yellow terrors are well documented sps nibblers. They do this to clear a nesting site, apparently.

MitchM · #5 01-20-2004, 11:57 PM

Really? I wonder why the site I posted wouldn't mention that..

I should probably just stick to corals.

Mitch

MitchM · #6 01-21-2004, 12:26 AM

Actually, scratch that...I've been looking for 25 minutes now, and every site lists them as reef-safe.

Mitch <shrug>

mark · #7 01-21-2004, 12:31 AM

Interesting, the link mentions 'one or two feedings per day' and 'in a reef tank with sps corals, feeding can be reduced to once every other day'.

Quinn · #8 01-21-2004, 12:37 AM

I am fairly certain Bev in Edmonton has kept them without problems but I have heard about many others who have been demons. I bet a search on RC for terms like yellow, clown, goby, eating, polyps, SPS, etc. would yield a large number of results.