Engineer goby aggressive?

[cgthebeast]

So I picked up a tang a few weeks ago and after trying everything under the sun to get it eat, I had no luck and it passed. My fish store gave me a refund on it and I picked up a Juvie engineer goby in the account I had done reading about them and seemed it would be a good fit for my 75g. Then I got to digging and found out some actually attack fish when they get older? Is this a common thing? Should I get it out now while it's still small.

 

[Sniperhank]

Cramped space in a 75 would easily lead to aggression.


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[cgthebeast]

See I was wondering about that but most places suggested a 55g min for it. It's the only sand critter I have. The rest of my stock is two clowns and a six line. I left it plenty of room to burrow and my rocks are stacked well also.

*edit*
I think I misunderstood you the first time. If you where talking about cramped being issues with having to much rocks covering the surface area of the sand bed, then I avoided that problem. Most of my tank sand bed is wide open

 

[Sniperhank]

So it is limited hiding places?
The point here is that fish establish territories and big fish need big spots as their own. Limited place to hide can increase bullying as there is no escape from territory defense or establishing a spot of their own.


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[cgthebeast]

No, that came out wrong. Like I have at least 80lbs of Rock in my 75 but it's stacked in a wast where it's stable and leaves open the sand bed . I would post a picture but I've reached my limit. But it has plenty of caves and spots to choose from for territory

 

[Mebbid]

Engineer gobies are huge diggers.

Firstly, they need a sizable area in which to dig and set up a burrow so lots of open sand bed is not optimal for them.

Secondly, there are a lot of issues with them digging if your rocks aren't super secure. They can and will cause collapses of rock work that doesn't have a stable base.

Based on your description I would say your aggression issues are caused by issues with your rock work and not enough burrow space for them.

 

[cgthebeast]

I don't have aggression issues with him. I just wanted to know if they could get aggressive as they get older as I did some digging and found out about one that was a little crazy and would attack. He's been a little Saint so far and he's about 8-9in. He just hangs around with my six line and such. He will even swim out and "display" for me when I set down to watch the tank. It's really hard to explain my scape but I've cemented all my rocks together in order up prevent collapses as I know how strong they get.

Like I just don't have a 150+ pounds of rock just taking up all the room. I have sorta of a two island thing going on and he's picked the back set of rocks where the sand bed is deepest to dig under. And started to collect shells and such to move into his burrow.

 

[Stripes04]

As mentioned as long as it has a few different places where it can hide in, should be fine. It might be a good idea to place some piping around under the live rock, just make sure all the rocks are safe and secure. This way he might not even dig much as he has a nice long pipe to live in. I had one around 7-9" and he was very active in the tank swimming around in circles and through the rock work. He never attacked any fish, even when my watchman goby was quite threatened by him. The watchman goby did lash out at him a few times but the engineer goby just swam away as if it didn't affect him.

 

[54seaweed]

I have my engineer goby almost 6 years he is almost 20inchs long . he is one of the most docile gentle critters in the tank , the only reason they would get aggressive is if it's hungry ,

 

[cgthebeast]

Glad to hear all of this, mine has been awesome so far and has moved into a pvc pipes that I placed into the tank like suggested. I just read that one report and started to worry about it, odd that I worry about it and not my six line haha

 

[54seaweed]

make a hollow space in the first level of rock , he will turn it into his cave he will burrow all over in search for shells corals what ever he can find to decorate his cave , if I could get a good pict of the inside of his cave you would be amazed on how he has a nice neat decorated cave , if he takes something and places it but don't like it he will throw it out of his cave, he is very social yet at the same time can be shy . the only critter in my tank he don't like is my lobster , now the lobster stays in his own hole on the other side of the tank he is about 8 inch ,