Banggai Cardinals fins nipped, could it be neon goby??

[xyberelite]

I have a 25g setup with 1 ocellaris clown, 1 diadem pseudo (purple stripe pseudo), 1 neon goby and 2 banggai cardinals. All parameters are in check Ph 8.3, temp 78, nitrates 5ppm. I've been feeding them frozen mysis every other day.

I put the banggai cardinals in the tank a few days ago. Initially, my pseudo immediately chased them around for a good hour, I assume he was just marking his territory. But after an hour the cardinals seemed to stay away from the pseudo and vice versa. However, since then I've seen my neon goby go after the cardinals almost every time i look in the tank. I thought maybe he was trying to clean them but neither of the cardinals present themselves to the goby for cleaning and they seem to be afraid of him. Now both of my cardinals have nipped fins on the bottom front two fins. Their swimming fins seem to be okay and I don't see any scales missing either. But the front two fins on the underbelly of each cardinal are nipped almost halfway off.

I'm just concerned that the neon goby may be nipping at them since he's the one I always see chasing them. I know neon gobys aren't supposed to be aggressive but I thought it might be that they're supposed to be fed everyday instead of every two days.

Any tips or ideas? I'm hoping the cardinals will both regrow those fins in the next two weeks but I don't want this to be a continual problem.

 

[NatureNerd]

I would be surprised if it was the Neon Goby. I have never seen them damage a fish. Mine often pester larger fish, trying to clean them. They can be annoying to even my larger tang, but fin damage, no, not in my tank anyway. Of course, each fish and each tank is different.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

[welcome]

The psuedochromis. They are very territorial and aggressive once they have staked out their territory. I had one that killed a six line wrasse. I'd suggest removing it before it kills your docile cardinal and your other tank inhabitants.

 

[xyberelite]

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

The psuedochromis. They are very territorial and aggressive once they have staked out their territory. I had one that killed a six line wrasse. I'd suggest removing it before it kills your docile cardinal and your other tank inhabitants.

I was hoping no one would say that but I had a feeling. The pseduo was very aggressive the moment I put the cardinals in there. Since I posted this in the past 24 hours, the cardinals and pseudo have seemed to leave each other alone though. I didn't realize that purchasing the pseduo would most likely be my last fish purchase for this tank since he's already got his territory.

Thanks for the update, I will probably end up moving the pseudo to another tank after all.

 

[Wolverine]

pseudochromis is far and away the most likely, with the clown as a distant second, followed by the BC doing it to each other. Neon goby is the least likely in this case.

In that size tank, you're probably going to have to move the pseudochromis anyway unless you intend on it being a single fish tank in the long term.

 

[snorvich]

pseudochromis is far and away the most likely, with the clown as a distant second, followed by the BC doing it to each other. Neon goby is the least likely in this case.

In that size tank, you're probably going to have to move the pseudochromis anyway unless you intend on it being a single fish tank in the long term.

I agree with the pseudochromis. They can be terrors. The neon goby is totally non aggressive.