Question about Bicolored Dottyback?

Just picked up one of these beautiful fish yesterday and he is doing fantastic! I had been looking to get a royal gramma for the longest time but they are expensive and my female clown who is being hosted by my frogspawns is very aggressive about protecting them. I went into the LFS and there were 3 dottybacks. One all purple, one yellow with a purple stripe and the half purple and half yellow (the one I have) that resembles a royal gramma, but three times cheaper. I didn't know too much about them so I asked the LFS how he will fare against my aggressive female clown fish, and he said that he can definately hold his own because they are naturally aggressive which, believe it or not, I was glad to hear. My clown tried chasing him a little when I fist put him in but he wasn't budging and he really did hold his own. Now this morning, everyone seems to be getting along. The dottyback goes chase my red spotted trimma if he gets too close to his spot, but the trimma is VERY fast and small and he slips away to the other side of the tank and all is well!
What are your experiences with these bicolored dottybacks? What should I look out for? Any stories about these guys? I did do a bunch of reading last night but the more I know the better! And my tank is a 20gal Thanks guys!

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the trimma gets killed. I had a really aggressive clown and a dottyback almost killed him in three days too. With a 10 gallon tank like yours there aren't that many places to hide.

Anyway, you a in a good spot. If it works out AWESOME! If not you are transferring everything in a bit to the 20g and then it will be easy to remove the dotty is its an issue.

 

Agreed. These fish are highly aggresive and in a small tank a nightmare.
That Trimma doesn't stand a chance IME.

 

Dotty backs are more aggressive then a gramma but a gramma can hold their own. Although, I have an orchid dottyback and he is the most timid fish in my tank

 

My tank ISN'T a 10gal anymore. It's a 20gal. I said that at the end of the post. I even picked up a few extra pounds of LR yesterday, which is when I saw and purchased the dottyback. I wouldn't put a dottyback in a 10gal! Lol. The clowfish doesn't care about the trimma, they get along great. It was other free swimming fish that she is aggressive to, not goby type fish that usually stick to sitting on the sides of the rocks. I have only seen the dottyback chase the trimmer once so far, and it wass only a few inches away from the spot he chose which is on the far left of the tank. I think the trimma MAY be ok if he sticks to the right side of the tank BUT I will keep an eye on everything... It hasn't even been a day since having him yet. Not going to make too many assumptions quite yet lol. The trimma is really staying right out in the open ever since I upgraded from the 10 gallon! In the 10gal he was always hiding... So I'm happy about that I find that the dottyback has some personality which is cool And he doesn't dart and hide when I come up to the tank, which is great because the tank is right in the main living room where people are always walking by.

 

Slow down girl! May be that Dotty was an impulse buy? You've got 2 potentially aggressive fishes in a 20g tank. Both capable of reaching 3" max. I'm a little worried

 

Sorry Holly,but i'm in agreement with the others.I owned a bicolor pseudochomis in a 28g that I used to have and it was a holy terror,went after any and all fish,shredded snails and shrimp,I believe just for fun.The bicolor will want to own that tank i'm afraid,mine was ok for a bit until he got good and settled in,then I couldn't have been any more sorry that I added him.It is an extremely beautiful fish and was a bad learning experience for me.It took removing all my rock/coral to get satan himself out of my tank.

 

No, he wasn't an impulse buy actually. I knew about these fish to an extent. I had been wanting a royal gramma for the longest time! But they are so expensive around here, I decided I was going to get a bicolored dottyback instead. I had read about these fish a little and knew they could be quite aggressive. My female clown is just as aggressive as he is. And I wanted something that could defend himself against her. The red spotted trimma is getting chased just a little, but it isn't too aggressive (so far). I am actually really enjoying him so far! I like the idea of having an "aggressive" reef Kindda cool. He is settling in quite fast! Ever since having him my clowfish actually comes out from hiding in the frogspawns lol She has even hung out around him for a couple minutes then goes back to her frogspawn. She does still charge him often when he gets close to the frogspawns though.