Red Bugs vs. Clown Gobies?

[Sean Irwin]

Bear with me now please, it's early...So I've observed that my clown Gobies and Tangora Goby are very sensitive to the color red (as in, they usually dart for cover when I wear a red colored shirt at feeding time). Also, one of my clown Gobies very meticulously inspects my Pocillipora on a daily basis (though it sometimes looks as though she's gone into a K-hole). It would seem, based on my observations, that Clown Gobies might act as natural predators on the dreaded red copepods. Has anyone with a severe infestation of red bugs also had Clown Gobies?

 

[NateHanson]

Clown gobies often clear flesh off a section of SPS Skeleton, to make a place for them to lay their eggs. They don't do large-scale damage, but they will strip an area of their chosen coral. So that's more likely what you're seeing your gobies doing, not hunting for red-bugs.

 

[skyedolphan]

I can say honestly that when I had clown gobies 2 things happened
1 I never had extension on any of my SPS

2had seen first hand my yellow and my green clown munching on the red bugs
mind you this was way back when the red bugs started making their existence known to the reef community.thought it was a freak thing but 2 others from the club were over 1 night and we watched them eating the bugs .

I have since adopted my clowns out (realized if I was going to stay with some SPS I wanted polyp extension ) and have treated the tank and been bug free for 8 months again

 

[maurod]

Citron Clown gobies are on the known natural predator list for redbugs. You can do a search on google for more info.
M.