Neon dottyback = evil

[kahnsell]

I'm not quite sure why people say that the neon dottyback is good for a reef tank. I have personally observed mine picking through blue and red leg hermit crabs. I also watched mine eat one of my new emerald crabs!!! Perhaps mine is just evil, but I would strongly discourage anyone from buying one of these suckers. Just my two cents...

 

[cprdnick]

I have actually heard that dottybacks are bad additions to a home reef.

 

[krishj39]

The problem is that "reef safe" just means it won't eat your corals. This doesn't not mean a "reef safe" animal is a good addition to the reef tank. For example, some reef safe animals will eat everything BUT the coral, making them a poor choice. For the dottyback, I agree, they are "reef safe" but not a good choice for the reef tank.

 

[kahnsell]

I agree, "reef safe" obviously does not mean that it is necessarily safe to be in a reef tank. However, I would bet that 90% of reef tanks have some sort of crabs or shrimp in them. Thus, when people buy things that say "reef safe", they are being mislead, in a way...
How do you go about coining a new phrase???
I would like to copyright the terms:
"kinda reef safe"
"reef safe unless you have any creatures besides corals"
"coral safe"
"reef safe, but crustacean deadly"; and finally,
"reef safe, but not really"

 

[kreach]

Kahnsell - If you want to get your dottyback out of your tank, here's some instructions on how to make a homemade fish trap. We used it to get a nasty pseudochromis out of ours as well as several other fish. Bottle Fish Trap
Good luck!

 

[kahnsell]

Thanks for the idea, kreach. I was going to catch him last night, but I didn't have anywhere to put the fish. It would've been a shame to feed such a pretty fish to my grouper in the other tank...
I will try to catch him soon and bring him to one the lfs, so they can mark up the price 200% and sell them to another reef sucker. After all, it is "reef safe"!
What should I use as bait? One of my small emeralds? (ha)

 

[kreach]

Originally posted by Kahnsell
What should I use as bait?
Just some of whatever you normally feed your fish, or perhaps a couple pieces of krill soaked in garlic.

 

[xtant]

I have a springeri dottyback, and never noticed it picking on anything. the springeri and the damsels get chased by my false percula every once in a while, but thats it.