A silly pet experience with my daft fish

[luminarix]

Hi all,

I've got a couple of queries about my fish.

Firstly, my pair of clownfish seem to be hanging around my hammer a lot lately, so I'm assuming that's what they're currently hosting. However, over the past few days, I've noticed the female 'sucking' on some of the hammer's tentacles - she takes one into her mouth, 'sucks' on it for a bit, then lets go. Any ideas what's behind this behaviour, Fluxx?

Secondly, my yellow bean gobies have taken to sitting on the mouths of my catalaphylia. I'm worried they're in more danger than they realize - the cat's tentacles are pretty sticky and attach to me easily, so one wrong move from the goby and it could be curtains.

All views appreciated.

[felinxo]

I've come across instances of clownfish sucking anemone tentacles, so I suppose it's not entirely unusual.

Oh my, those gobies seem to be playing with fire. I share your concern, it's fascinating to think about whether anyone has had experiences with cats preying on gobies.

Seffie x

P.S. I just checked Bob Fenner's page and stumbled upon a story about a cat eating a watchman goby - quite alarming, and Bob didn't seem surprised either.

[luminarix]

Here's the little scamp.

[felinxo]

Blimey, that little goby's got a serious death wish, get out of there you daft thing!

[rileyon]

At least you'll be able to keep corals if the cat gets hungry. My cat eats quite large chunks of prawns, so it's definitely possible your goby could be in trouble - especially since yours is bigger than mine.

[zeno9]

That's mental, I'm stumped as to why the goby's doing that. Maybe it's got a identity crisis and thinks it's a clownfish now, trying to blend in. Hope the cat doesn't make a meal out of it.

[luminarix]

It's quite bizarre, to be honest. Only one of the gobies seems to be doing this. It hangs around on the edge of the tentacles, then makes a dash through a gap and sits on the flesh. I'm surprised it's not getting caught, considering my cat eats big chunks of prawn, squid, and mussel - a goby would be no problem. The weird thing is, the cat doesn't seem to react at all to being sat on.

[rusticfox]

My female perc used to mouth and tug off a few tips on my ancora hammer... lost it in the end due to a die-off a few months back, bad water got in the tank and that was that!
Great pic, by the way, think your cat would see that goby as a tasty snack, heard of them eating shrimp and even clowns before now.

[luminarix]

The goby's now fully embracing the Cat as its host, effortlessly gliding between the tentacles like it's no big deal. My Cat's tentacles are notoriously sticky, I mean I've lost count of how many times I've gotten stuck to them, but this little goby seems immune.

I'm curious, has anyone else out there had a goby host a catalaphylia before?