Firefish Goby dying/murdered

[salazaar]

I finally started stocking my 65G this past weekend. It's been up for about 7 weeks and the parameters are all good and the cycle was finished several weeks ago and I added a cleanup crew.

I decided to add 3 banggai cardinalfish and 2 firefish gobies since they're both peaceful. When I woke up the next morning one of the firefish was already dead on the bottom of my tank getting eaten by the cleanup crew. I went back to the LFS and told them and they gave me a new firefish since it died so quickly while the other 4 fish seemed happy. So I added in the new goby and it seemed great all day, both gobies seemed happy to have a pal. But when I woke up the next morning one of the firefish was gone and this time I couldn't find it anywhere in the tank, it had already been cleaned up.

Any ideas what might be causing this. Here's some more details about what I have in my tank.
LR w/ 3-4" DSB
clean up crew:
5 Turbo Snails
10 Astrea Snails
5 Nassarius Snails
5 Bumble Bee Snails
15 Blue Hermit Crabs
5 Scarlet Hermit
2 Emerald Hermit
1 Arrow Crab
1 Cleaner Shrimp
2 Serpent StarFish

3 Banggai Cardinalfish
2-1+1-1 = 1 Firefish Goby

 

[Guy W]

What kind and where did you get the live rock. You could have some kind of assasin hitch hiker on there?

 

[kreblak]

What are your current water parameters? Adding that many fish at once may have caused an ammonia spike, especially if the cycle finished three weeks ago.

 

[VoodooChild]

I had a fire goby pass away from unknown reasons as well, though I suspect it was due to starvation caused by intense competition from a royal gramma and a tomato clown. Just a thought. Three bangaii's would be quick to snatch up any food.

 

[MonoSebaelover]

Generally mroe than one firefish per tank will kill one another so I wouldn't try getting another. Like the other guys said check water quality. Adding 5 fish to a 65 is a lot for the bacteria to handel. Hope this helps.

 

[BrianH]

I second Monosebaelover.

Brian

 

[salazaar]

My water quality is good, it never really budged even after adding the fish - they're all pretty small.

salinity - 1.023
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 10-30
ph 8.3
temp - 80

I'm inclined to think it was just a bit of sibling rivalry considering that no one else has died since (so I think I can rule out the arrow crab which every once in a while I catch him aggressively protecting his cave) So I guess I won't have 2 firefish in my tank afterall.
What do you guys think of this for a stocking list

1 Yellow or Hippo Tang (not sure which)
2 Clownfish (probably True Perc)
1 Neon Dottyback
3 Banggai Cardinalfish
1 Firefish Goby

and maybe 1 or 2 more
Other than the cardinalfish and Goby I would love to hear as many suggestions as people would be willing to give me. Remember it's a 65G with inverts and LR so they have to be reef safe and fairly peaceful

 

[kreblak]

That actually sounds like a lot of fish for a 65 gallon tank. I would probably leave off the hippo tang, as the cardinals are going to get fairly large over time. Also, be careful with the dottyback. They can be quite agressive. Mine is a real jerk.

 

[salazaar]

Yeah I was originally thinking of the Yellow Tang, but the guys at the fish store said the Hippo was much more peaceful and recommended I get that instead. As for the dottyback I've heard similar complaints but I had also heard it's a great fish for controlling bristle worms, but with my arrow crab hopefully getting that under control I was still debating him, maybe an anthia or wrasse instead.?

 

[Guy W]

I like the 6 line wrasse alot, for anthias I like Sunburst or Christmas Island...

Guy