dottyback compatibility

[stanleyg1]

i have a 12gal nano cube and would ultimately want to have a clown fish and anemome plus corals, which of course i am patient enough to wait the appropriate time for... but i just couldnt wait to get one fish at least. i have a brilliant purple/pink dottyback. just wondering what are the compatibility issues with this type of fish, whether or not it will work with a clown and what other fish may or may not, in your experiences, work with this type. i am open to suggestions.
thanks again in advance!
stan

[Squawkbert]

As far as I vaguely recall reading, Dotty's are OK w/ pretty much all but other Dottys (eg - just 1 per tank).

[Dustin83]

I have a royal dottyback in my 30 gal reef tank.

Like Squawkbert says, they are extremely aggressive toward other dottybacks. They will fight til one dies. Another fact that's often overlooked by people but I can attest to based on my experience is that they are also extremely agressive to anything that looks close to dottyback specie. They will be very agressive toward grammas, gobies, and blennies. My dottyback actually stressed out my scooter blenny to death. Blenny was in the tank first for 8 months before dottyback was added. I saw the dottyback chasing around ONLY the goby and blenny. I thought they would get used to it eventually, but two days later, I found the scooter blenny dead.

To answer your question specifically, my dottyback and percula clown get along fine. Most of the time, dottybacks swim through cracks between rocks while clown likes to stay in the open area. Now, I'm not sure how the scenario would change if I added an anemone... since that would increase the aggression in the clown.

Hope that helps.

[stanleyg1]

i am planning to get a nice enough area for the clown to hang out, like a well established frogspawn or hammer, then introduce him. hoping that they will each have there own space to be, therein raising hopes of less confrontation.

[stanleyg1]

well, its only been two days but i got a hammer coral (quite a nice size, larger than a fist) and an Ocellaris clown... and the clown fish will not stop racing back and forth against the glass. initially the dottyback was into darting across the tank, 'snapping' at the clown fish in an attempt to assert his dominance. well, it has worked because the clown just will not settle down.
i have asked a friend and he says the two will calm down and figure it out. i just dont want to wait around too long and have a dead clown on my hands. how do i know that these two are indeed "figuring it out'? and how do i know if the clown's action are not of a 'stressed' fish on the path to a heart attack?
thanks for any replys!

[stanleyg1]

well, the saga continues... they have finally gotten used to each other, the clown has some 'bite' marks on his tail and one of his pectoral fins, and the clown is slowly becoming less frantic with his swimming behavior. i am supposing that the natural course of things have come to an equilibrium with regards to the dominance issue and territorialistic behavior of the dottyback. like sands through the hourglass...

[fish addict]

I kept a fridmani pseudo in a 20 gallon with a couple of clowns and it was very aggressive. The clowns were always nervous around the dottyback's corner of the tank. I wouldn't recomend keeping a dottyback in a 12 gallon with any other fish. Just my 2 cents, based on what I experienced.

[Germanman]

they shouldnt really be kept in a smaller tank due to there sever aggression to anything in there area. some are worse than others and the type u picked out isnt to bad but they all can be aggressive. i would recommend an ere of caution and watch closely if u can.

[stanleyg1]

whoa. you guys are right indeed. the dottyback still is taking severe measures to maintain his dominance, just today taking a nice bite out of the clown's pec fin. his new name is '*******'. i'm thinking that i cannot teach an old fish new tricks... is it time to trade him out? (i'd rather a peaceful tank, not one of darting aggression) my thinking is this behavior will not stop until only one remains, your experience?

[Germanman]

if its like that it will most likely not stop. we had one that would challenge any fish we put it with and it killed them all except the hawkfish that ate him....

[stanleyg1]

i appreciate all the help man. what would you suggest in place of the dottyback, once i get him out, to join the Ocellaris clown in a 12 gal nano cube? i dont want a repeat of this, so i'm doing the research and not going to rely on the LFS duders (who gave me some bad info so far). can like kind clown's do well in a 12 gal? can you mix clown species in a tank this size? and also, will the 'bites' on the fins heal? and anyone want a dottyback?
cheers!

[Germanman]

maybe a royal gramma they look nice and are pretty peaceful.
sry for the blurry pic it wont come out right its clear on my comp

[Dustin83]

You should be careful when mixing more than one clowns in a small tank as they can be quite aggressive toward each other, unless they can pair up. I agree with Germanman. My suggestion is royal gramma. Their fins are little longer than dottyback, but they look very similar, even the colors. These are much more peaceful than dottybacks.