Orchid Dottyback compatibile with Midas Blenny

njudson

New member
I've got a 40g breeder mixed reef and I got a midas blenny a week ago who is quickly becoming my favorite fish. My planned stock list also includes an Orchid Dottyback but not I am starting to question having 2 rock dwellers in a smaller tank. What do you think?
 
I don't think you will have a lot of problems. P. fridmani is pretty pacifist ( for a Dottyback, anyway) & since its being added after, it shouldn't bother your resident blenny.

Matthew
 
IME and in the experience of nearly everyone I've come into contact with here in Knoxville, orchid dottybacks are incredibly aggressive. Having said that...lately I've heard a few people say that they're not aggressive, so I guess it's just specimen to specimen on their temperament.

Regardless, I think you'll be more than fine with those two. The midas will grow to be about 3x the size of the pseudo.

Are midas blennies fangtooth blennies? I can't ever remember.
 
I think they have the wrong ones, maybe purple dotty's which are highly aggressive. I've yet to find anyone describe their P. fridmani as aggressive, except to other dottybacks. i had a Sankey's Dotty, a close relative to the Orchid, but more aggressive. PLEASE, it was a pushover. very nice fish..

Matthew
 
I'm gonna try it in a few weeks. My LFS can get captive breed orchids and the ones I've seen there have been half the size of my blenny. I don't think the Midas is a fang tooth blenny. My rock has tons of little holes and places to hide I think it will work out.
 
In my opinion/experience, captive bred orchids are relatively mild mannered, but wild caught orchids are cut-throat savages ;) If you're going to get an orchid, make sure it's captive bred. Personally, I would swap the orchid on your fish list for something nearly guaranteed to be passive, especially since you have a smallish tank.
 
I can definitely tell the difference between an orchid dottyback and a purple dottyback. They don't look much alike except for coloration.

The ones I'm talking about are the orchids...Pseudochromis fridmani.

I swear up and down that I've known at least 4 people who put them in their tanks who COMPLETELY regretted it because of how aggressive they are. Having said that, we've got one in a small tank at the LFS store who is totally passive (captive bred by SA incidentally). The one at the store is in a 26 bowfront with a neon goby, percula clown, a pair of blue striped pipefish, and a few other small fish...with no issues whatsoever.

Weird. I have no idea why some are mean as the dickens and some are model citizens. I'm hoping you get a nice one!
 
I kept an orchid dottyback in a 34G with a coral goby and some threadfin cardinalfish. The dottyback totally ignored the coral goby, but began to harass the cardinalfish after a couple of weeks (after peacefully co-existing with them at first).

I wonder if this might not have been as much of a problem in a larger tank, with more hiding places for all of them. On the other hand, the coral goby is a cryptic species, too, and the dottyback never took notice of him, so I'm not sure.

I've heard of other people keeping orchid dottybacks with no problems at all. It really does seem to be the luck of the draw with these fish.
 
I have both in a 50 and they do fine. My orchard is from ORA and very easy going. Infact he gets chased around if anything.
 
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