Do Engineer Goby's eat clownfish?

[cphelps]

I got 6 clownfish for my tank and slowly but surely they started disappearing. I never witnessed them fighting each other. Water is fine and all of my other fish don't eat meat so I was wondering about my engineer Goby. He's about 1 1/2 feet long and I don't know if he's carnivorous or not.

 

[Ninong]

Apparently "large individuals will eat ornamental shrimps and tiny fishes."

Were your clownfish "tiny?"

 

[cphelps]

I would say that they were ordinary size.

 

[cphelps]

Oh wow! I just read that article. Thank you! The interesting thing is that my Goby is at least 7 years old. I put him in my tank 5 1/2 years ago and my buddy had him for a couple of year before that. The article specifies that the average lifespan is 3 years. I wonder how he's doubled that and some. Hmmmmm. It must be all of those radioactive gamma rays

 

[Ninong]

Maybe it's your lighting? :eek1:

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Pholidichthys

Pholidichthys

I'd definitely question some of the info found in the link.
Maybe the 3 year average lifespan cited is for wild individuals- most aquarium specimens live far longer than 3 years IME.

I've noticed most Amphiprion and Pholidichthys don't particularly appreciate one another's presence.
I've seen carpet anemones eat Pholidichthys and I've seen Pholidichthys eat larval Amphiprion.

 

[rkelman]

6 clowns in the same tank... They likely picked each other to death.

 

[L98-Z]

I could see an engineering goby do that. Mine is only 5-6" and I've seen him try to eat anything that moves. He ate some krill the other day that was bigger than my current clownfish.