watchman goby vs. clown goby

[HammerLover]

My stocking was supposed to be this:
1 pajama cardinal
1 firefish
1 occelaris
1 shrimp
5 snails

My mom liked the ocellaris because of the movie Nemo. But as we went last morning to our LFS she asked me if we can have the yellow clown goby. She liked the puffy cheeks and the chubby yellow body. When she saw a watchman goby she liked the sad cute grumpy face of it ^^ she was so noisy and funny looking at the fishes.

My mom and I agreed to remove the clown I'm the list since it's to "mainstream" according to her. She said I can choose either one of the fishes.

Ive always loved clown gobies but I can't afford to have mysis and brine regularly so I usually stick to pellets. However its been years since I've seen this fish available so I'm really thinking.

The yellow watchman is also good and Ive never kept one before. It also has a lot of personality so I may go for it as well.

Please help me decide ^^
I'll be buying one of them tommorow because my tank has been 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, but a bit of nitrates and phosphates is showing. My tank went in a mini cycle since it crashed due to a power head failure.

[peasofme]

3 fish is too much bioload for 10g and your fish will die. you can probably do 2 if they are small fish. clown goby are a lot of work and will eventually starve in a small tank. ywg are nice but watchmens hide most of the time. you will be lucky to see it once a day or every other day when it's feeding time. sometimes longer. firefish is fine. cardinal is probably fine, never kept one. occelaris is easy but i've heard maybe too big for a 10g when it grows up. gold coral banded shrimp is cool as is the skunk cleaner shrimp.

[HammerLover]

Originally Posted by peasofme

3 fish is too much bioload for 10g and your fish will die. you can probably do 2 if they are small fish. clown goby are a lot of work and will eventually starve in a small tank. ywg are nice but watchmens hide most of the time. you will be lucky to see it once a day or every other day when it's feeding time. sometimes longer. firefish is fine. cardinal is probably fine, never kept one. occelaris is easy but i've heard maybe too big for a 10g when it grows up. gold coral banded shrimp is cool as is the skunk cleaner shrimp.

How come clown gobies are listed in nano tanks?

[HammerLover]

And Ive kept 3 fishes in a 10 gal with no issues. I had a pair of clowns and pistol hi fin goby pair

[peasofme]

cause they are small. i had one by itself in a 10g. fed it multiple times a day. it still was always skinny and eventually starved to death. these things feed 24/7 on pods which a small tank doesn't have. think of them like mandarins. with a lot of work you can probably keep him alive but it's not worth it or good for the fish.

[HammerLover]

Based on my research clown gobies feed on mysis, rotifiers, pods, flakes and pellets. The key is to help them accept food, because they are very finicky. A lot had success with garlic so I may try that. Clown gobies aren't as sensitive as mandarin dragonet's or scooter blennies. They don't have that really fast metabolism.

Plus the fishes I had were very very timid so they can work well. Ive found a site and it states that pajamas can do well with clown gobies.

[Mark426]

Hammerlover,
Try posting your question in the Nano section of this forum. You will get more responses from experienced nano tank lovers there.

[HammerLover]

Originally Posted by Mark426

Hammerlover,
Try posting your question in the Nano section of this forum. You will get more responses from experienced nano tank lovers there.

OK will post there and thanks!

[ReefWreak]

In a 10 gallon tank I wouldn't add more than 2 fishes. It's all about maintenance and aggression. If you will actually diligently do water changes weekly, then maybe it's potentially doable, but you still may get aggression with the clown, since clowns get more and more territorial the smaller the tank you have them in. They're not as docile as people think they are, particularly as they get older.

I think you would be fine with a clown goby and YWG in the same tank, as they have very different locations they live in, and very different body types (even though they both perch, the YWG is in or near the sand, and the clown goby will be towards the top in the rocks and/or corals, which has it's own issues, that the clown goby can kill corals from sitting on them all the time.

Both should accept readily available foods, frozen or pellets, but it may be up to the individual and whether they are accepting them already at the LFS. Next time you're there, or before you buy them, double check with the store that they are eating pellets.

I think peasofme is thinking of a scooter blenny or something similar to the mandarin fish? Clown gobies aren't picky eaters and aren't pod eaters, they're planktivores so they'll just pick stuff out of the water column, similarly to an amphiprion clown (which might cause some issues there too).

Honestly, I would keep the fish count under 2, especially if one of them is a clown.

[mpderksen]

I think it's more of a territory issue than bio-load. Clowns will eventually want 25g to themselves. I had a 10g for years and changed 2gallon each and every week. Zero issues. The upside to clowns is that they are so dang hardy. The only one I have lost was do to jumping. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1455208359.348297.jpg

[Ejazzle]

Originally Posted by peasofme

3 fish is too much bioload for 10g and your fish will die. you can probably do 2 if they are small fish. clown goby are a lot of work and will eventually starve in a small tank. ywg are nice but watchmens hide most of the time. you will be lucky to see it once a day or every other day when it's feeding time. sometimes longer. firefish is fine. cardinal is probably fine, never kept one. occelaris is easy but i've heard maybe too big for a 10g when it grows up. gold coral banded shrimp is cool as is the skunk cleaner shrimp.

don't listen to this guy... 3 fish will be fine. I've been running a 10 gallon for a few years now with upwards of 7 small fish in it at a time with 0 issues. I've had 2 small ocel. clowns in there and they have shown no signs of aggression toward other fish or eachother. Clown gobies eat mysis and live brine. My yellow watchmen has his hole front and center in the tank so anytime I look at the tank I see him.

[A.Astore]

Sounds like your mom is coming around! Glad to hear she went with you and seemed to enjoy herself. I think either choice will end up making an interesting tank to watch so I don't think you will go wrong in terms of entertainment. I like both of them so I don't know that I could pick one over the other and a good suggestion is asking to see them eat/what they eat already in the store.

[HammerLover]

I will omit the clown from the list and replace it with a clown goby. I'll try first with a pajama and a clown goby. If everything goes well I'll add a firefish and that's my final stocking.


I really like the clown goby in the LFS because it's always in the open swimming around. I've made my mind and will go for the clown goby

[peasofme]

what 7 fish did you have? what was maintenance like?

[HammerLover]

Originally Posted by peasofme

what 7 fish did you have? what was maintenance like?

BTW, 7 fish is pushing the limits of a 10 gal

I've kept 3 fishes before with no issues and my levels were fine, except for a bit of nitrates and phosphates.

I do a weekly 5 gallon water change.

And again, clown gobies aren't hard like mandarin dragonets or scooter blennies. They don't just dine on pods. They can be pigs soon if you enticed them to eat prepared food.

A lot of peeps used garlic to accept food and I may try it. I don't know why the clown goby didn't work for you.