Dottyback fans, can you help me decide?

velvetelvis

velvetelvis

Active member
I'm trying to settle on a dottyback species for my Solana 34G. Current inhabitants include a green clown goby (who can go to another home if he needs to for his own safety) and a pair of skunk cleaner shrimp (ditto). Since my LR is from Jakarta and my corals' parent colonies originated in Bali, I'm going with an Indonesian biotope theme and have narrowed my choices down to two species:

ORA Pseudochromis elongatus (elongate or redheaded dottyback)

ORA Manonichthys splendens (splendid dottyback)

Like I said, this is going to be a species tank, so I'm not overly concerned about their compatibility with other fish. I just want something different from the usual small clownfish or cardinalfish (though I'm fond of them, too) and am mainly looking for beauty and interesting behavior. Since the tank is pretty packed with rock and corals, I'm also looking for a species that will stay small enough to be comfortable in fairly close quarters. Not being bad to jump would also be a good thing.

I'm really undecided. The elongatus are beautifully colored and stay small. I love the look of the splendens but they seem to get a good bit larger (I read conflicting reports for maximum size--some sources say 3", others say 5".)

Which would you choose? Why?
 
Splendid dottyback is more agressive than elongatus and will be hard to accomodate in 34G tank. I tried in 40 G tank and only 1 live in there now ...
Don´t have experience with elongatus, but according to books seems to be more peacefull. Maybe you must re-consider and try to set up fridmani species tank ... more attractive and more easy to set up.
 
Thanks for the feedback, rachenbrazil. I had thought of fridmani, too, but I really wanted to do an Indonesian-themed tank; so after a lot of deliberation (aka obsessing), I decided to go with the elongatus than the splendens. I think it's a better fit for my system. Now we'll just have to see... :)
 
Yeah, I've seen a full-grown Splendid Dottyback a few months ago. It was pretty large ( almost 5 inches long). Beautiful, but I bet deadly.
I think you made the right choice here.

Matthew
 
All dottybacks have the potential to be very aggresive. The smaller the better!
I had a red dottyback that was almost eight inches long and had witnessed it catching a sixline wrasse and bashing it in to pieces against a rock before eating it. That is when I decided to trade it in for something new.
<a href="http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/Kingfish62/?action=view&current=smdbk_001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/Kingfish62/smdbk_001.jpg" border="0" alt="akacavefish"></a>
 
Wow. Spectacular fish, but look at that jaw! I kind of have a soft spot for aggressive fish--not the tankbuster variety, but I used to keep African cichlids and dwarf pike cichlids (which can still be little S.O.B.s in spite of their size). I always thought it was sort of funny when the maroon clownfish I used to have would go after me (she was small enough for it not to hurt when she bit).

Their nature does severely curtail the kinds of tankmates you can keep with them, though. Even as small as the elongatus is, I'm planning on making this a species tank and focusing on corals, rather than fish, for visual variety. I'm a little nervous for my clown goby; I've seen footage of trimma gobies and P. elongatus sharing territory in the wild without any apparent conflict, but in a small space, who knows. I just might find him another home before the dottyback gets here.
 
Sheol said:
Yeah, I've seen a full-grown Splendid Dottyback a few months ago. It was pretty large ( almost 5 inches long). Beautiful, but I bet deadly.
I think you made the right choice here.

Matthew
Click to expand...

Actually, while I was doing my research I found a few very short film clips of both splendid and elongate dottybacks sharing (more or less) the same patch of reef in the wild. Their paths crossed briefly in a couple of the clips, and I noticed two things: (a) the splendid absolutely dwarfed the elongate; and (b) the elongate got out of the splendid's way in a hurry!
 
I'll definitly go with the elongated!:-) I own one for few weeks and it's such a beautiful and peacefull fish. Mine is very shy and never go in the open, except at feeding time. It's my little surprise fish, it's always a pleasure to see it going out of is cave!lol He had never bother any fish in my reef(and I own a lot of small fish). Probably one of the peacefull dotty you can add to your tank (especially in a such small volume).
 
This is going to be a species tank, so whats with all the peaceful suggestions???? If it is the only fish in the tank who cares how aggressive it is?!

I wouldn't have picked such a small, peaceful dotty for a species tank. There are so many more cool ones out there! Like Psuedochromis steenei. Now that is a cool fish for a species tank, or the red dottyback king fisher poster earlier (Labracinus cyclopthalmus), or Cypho purpurascens which is probably the most common out of the ones I mentioned. Liveaquaria's Diver's Den has these quite often. There are others too, but IMO the elongate is a weak choice for a species tank.
 
Thing is, I don't have room for the species you mention--the tank is only 34G and packed with live rock. I also try to buy captive-bred or tank-raised fish whenever possible, which limited my choices. C. purpurascens is small enough, but I've never seen captive-raised ones for sale.

But you must have read my mind...I've kind of wanted a steenei ever since reading Scott Michael's comments about them--a pair, actually--if ORA or SA or some other breeder ever comes out with them. I figure I could always get gloves for when I work in the tank. :p
 
LOL! If it was going to be the only fish, I'd go with the Splendid after all! Or maybe one of the Pictochromis Dotty (genus or Sub-genus) all beautiful terrors!

Matthew
 
Humm...you underestimated the real beauty of the red elongated...there is no pics available on the web who reflect is true beauty, it's really a stunning little fish with vivid color. And trust me, I've seen a lot of dotty (and other fish for that matter!lol), in my life, I'm working at partial time(for fun) many days a week at my best friend's reef shop for years...and the red elongated was the only one dotty who made me really fall in love.

But yes, if it's the only one fish in your tank, that's maybe a poor choice since this fish is really shy and reclusive...as the splendid do, anyway...the have the same behavior...maybe you should go with a less shy fish if you want to see it more than twice a week!lol
 
Well shoot, now y'all are making me doubt myself. :p

They are really beautiful little fish. This is the one I bought. A little pale now, but I expect the colors will really pop with some growth and a "reef" environment:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/itemdisplay.cfm?c=2733+3&ddid=88438&ref=4282&subref=AI&cmpid=E-_-TR-_-DDN-_-PRDCT

I'll see how she does (dottybacks are protogynous hermaphrodites, according to Michael Scott, so I'll just say "she"). They look like very engaging little fish in the film footage I've seen (which, like I said, was very brief), and I wanted a slinky little fish that could make the most of the rockwork. I also like the fact that I might be able to keep my cleaner shrimp and clown goby with her. Hopefully the fact that she'll have lots of hiding places and no threatening bigger fish will mean that she comes out more.
 
I do not know if all of the larger dottybacks are like this but mine loved to dig and excavate. Mine would move about 8 pounds of substrate in a day. I would come home from work and find a huge pile of crushed coral on one side of the tank and and a huge crater on his side under his cave. Make sure you have a stable rock structure to avoid rock slides.
 
Humm...as I said, the pics don't really show the color of this fish as it's best...Mine is flash fushia with yellow (flash too!) in the tail. Humm...let me check in the store's pics, I think we've a great pics who reflect the truth colors of this little beauty.

@Kingfisher: The red elongated is more like the fridmani...he stay in the rockwork but never dig in the substrate as other dotty can do. Anyway, he stay smaller too...even if he dig, at this size, it's really not a threat for the landscape IMO.
 
I got the pic!!!:rollface:

This shot have been take by the_rider (who work at partial time with me at the store...you can find im on RC too, like all other reef addicted!lol He made such wonderfull shot of our new arrivals each weeks!:thumbsup:). I finally bought it, this little fellow have stunning me since the first time I saw him(or her!lol)!:love2:

redelongateddotty.jpg
 
Cath, that's a great picture. Thanks for posting it.

Well, the dotty arrived today from DD, along with a cultured coral I'd also ordered. The coral was fine, but the dottyback was in bad shape--breathing hard and lying on its side. I cut off the tank lights to reduce stress and started acclimation, but by the time I left to go back to work, 45 minutes later, the fish still looked to be at death's door. I don't expect it to be alive by the time I get home this afternoon. :(

I'm surprised and disappointed, since I've always gotten great livestock from LA and DD. I've ordered from them many times before without any problems. I'll contact them about the guarantee. I hadn't heard of P. elongatus being particularly delicate or a bad shipper, so maybe this was a fluke. We'll see...
 
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