2 Questions

[Gildurath]

I have an agressive dottyback that keeps stalking my dia,ond watchman goby. My goby has a cave under my moon/brain coral(not sure which one it is yet). The dottyback sits and comes out of the other caves which he has controlled for like 4 years, I inherited the tank 4 months ago.

Is there another fish I can get to counter the dottyback's aggression? And take over part of the cave network safely, remember this fish has been in this tank for 4 years, and the new current setup for 4 months. My clown protects the goby sometimes, but not enough, and the goby cannot move around the tank without fearing for his fins.

The second question is that my goby is digging under the huge shell that has my moon coral on it. He has dug down to the glass on the bottom of the tank. I am worried the shell will become unstable in the sand and crush him. It should be safe for me to build some platform to bury in the sand and put the shell on to support it correct? and what type of material is safe? Is PVC piping safe after cutting, and should not leach or anything?

Thanks for any help.

[Nolapete]

PVC doesn't release anything and is safe. Just don't use pvc primer if you're going to glue it together. In fact, I'd suggest you just stick it together without any glue.

Are you able to rearrange the tank, so that the caves are different?

[Gildurath]

I have once in the last 4 weeks, it was after the goby was in the tank. It has not detered the dottyback from being a bully.

[Nolapete]

Not that you'd want to introduce aggression by any means, but something that would get the dottyback's attention might help. If it weren't for the shrimp, I'd be inclined to say some type of hawkfish. I'm trying to think of something just as tough, but not overtly belligerent.

[5xevy]

Can you remove the dottyback temporarily and then put it back at a later time?

[Gildurath]

He never comes out of his caves, and I would have to remove pretty much all the live rock to catch him I think. I do have a spare 10G, I would love to move him to that and leave him there, or give him away. He just does not suit the peaceful nature of my reef tank. I inherited him and the tank from another guy.