Aggressive yellow clown goby

[Rilelen]

Yes, I know that sounds like an oxymoron.

I have a mated pair of yellow clown gobies; in the past six months, the male has gotten increasingly aggressive and is (I am not joking) the terror of the tank. He bullies the percula clowns, and regularly chases my female clown out of her patch of xenia she's hosting.

I am obviously not worried about him physically harming the other fish; every other fish in the tank is at least twice his size. But although it's kinda funny to watch a tiny little one-inch terror chasing my poor foxface across the tank, I do worry that it's stressing out all the other fish. Aside from him, it's a chill tank; the rest of the fish are all very peaceful (including the chromis, who have definitely not picked each other off).

My main question: I'm curious how unusual this is, and whether anyone else has had a similar experience, either with clown gobies or other fish not usually thought of as aggressive. I know it all comes down to the personality of the fish, and by golly, this little yellow fish is crammed full of personality.

 

[ginpang]

Same here both are super territorial. Though they don't mess with the female clown as she is 4" + and quite the terror herself.

Here's the one in charge of the nest .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I wonder if it's because of spawning.

 

[ginpang]

Aggressive yellow clown goby

I wonder if it's because of spawning.

Probably !
But at one point I had g. Citrinus, g okinawae and g. Ceramensis spawning in the same aquarium along with 2 non-paired g. Histrio and the Okinawas were still the most rambunctious ones.

Seems like their pimped out colour make them feel invincible [emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fish4udog]

You would think it was a pitbull instead of a goby

Sent from my SM-G928P using Tapatalk

 

[Rilelen]

Haha, love the pics (and the eggs & zoas for scale!). I am amused (and surprised!) to hear I don't have the only yellow clown goby punching above his weight.