syndar
Member
We bought a yellow coral goby this past weekend and he seems not to eat. We tried all the frozen food. He goes after all the food but spits it out. What can I try to feed him before he starves. Thanks
Yellow Coral Goby
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This Goby is a peaceful fish and expects a peaceful environment. It is however a carnivore and needs whole meaty marine foods.
It's a bit easier to get them eating if they are in a quarantine tank.
"all the frozen food" doesn't help in understanding the foods you've tried. Have you tried frozen marine krill and frozen marine plankton? What frozen foods have you tried?
Get a shucked large scallop. Freeze it solid for 36+ hours. Take it out of the freezer and before it thaws, cut it up into small chunks that would easily fit the Goby's mouth. Let the chunks thaw and try that.
Lastly, a live food of sorts is living marine clams. Get a couple of living ones and open it up. Place near the Goby's territory and see if he has any interest in that.
Do you have any live fish foods available to you? Even if they are not technically marine fish foods, just to get the fish eating anything is acceptable.
Good luck!
This Goby is a peaceful fish and expects a peaceful environment. It is however a carnivore and needs whole meaty marine foods.
It's a bit easier to get them eating if they are in a quarantine tank.
"all the frozen food" doesn't help in understanding the foods you've tried. Have you tried frozen marine krill and frozen marine plankton? What frozen foods have you tried?
Get a shucked large scallop. Freeze it solid for 36+ hours. Take it out of the freezer and before it thaws, cut it up into small chunks that would easily fit the Goby's mouth. Let the chunks thaw and try that.
Lastly, a live food of sorts is living marine clams. Get a couple of living ones and open it up. Place near the Goby's territory and see if he has any interest in that.
Do you have any live fish foods available to you? Even if they are not technically marine fish foods, just to get the fish eating anything is acceptable.
Good luck!
steve-s
Well-known member
What's species? There are a few that go by that name, more commonly Gobiodon okinawae. These guys are usually sold while still increadibley small. The biggest issue with these types of fish is, food size vs fish size.syndar said:
I agree with Lee that you should try different foods as well as identify here what foods you have already tried. The goal should be to get the food particle size down to a managable mouthful for this goby. I would actually suggest a round or two in the blender.
How well the fish adapts will depend on how persitant you are and how well established/large the tank is. They are zooplankton consumers and pretty good hunters. In an established larger system there will be enough natural foods to keep them going while you wein the fish over to prepared foods. If a smaller newer tank, it's important you keep trying toi find the right food/combination of foods to get the goby eating as soon as possible. If the goby has aggressive/competitive tankmates, you really shouold consider a QT training period. Much easier on the both of you.
Willingness to eat doesn't seem to be the problem, food size does. That and tank mates will be your main obstacle.
Cheers
Steve
syndar
Member
Today I feed him some daphina and he went for them and seemed to eat them. Where would I get a shucked scallop from? The local food store that sells seafood? We live in a small town and need to travel to pick up variety of food and fish. As for the species of bogy I'm not sure. He tends to sit on the ornaments, heater or on the glass. Not shy at all compared to the watchman goby. Sorry But we are new fall of 05. The water levels are all in range. Thanks
Daphnia isn't bad to start the fish eating. Remember though it's not a preferred food. It is natural but artificial. Huh?
Daphnia are natural foods, but they are not food for marine fish. They are freshwater organisms that saltwater fishes find 'artificial.' So, keep trying to get it to eat other foods.
The above should show you though the size of food it might prefer. Aim for that size.
If you have to get frozen raw scallops, that is okay too. Call the supermarket before you travel there (with today's gasoline prices!) and ask if they carry raw scallops (frozen or fresh or thawed from frozen). They will be shucked (without their shell and other things).
Daphnia are natural foods, but they are not food for marine fish. They are freshwater organisms that saltwater fishes find 'artificial.' So, keep trying to get it to eat other foods.
The above should show you though the size of food it might prefer. Aim for that size.
If you have to get frozen raw scallops, that is okay too. Call the supermarket before you travel there (with today's gasoline prices!) and ask if they carry raw scallops (frozen or fresh or thawed from frozen). They will be shucked (without their shell and other things).
What about some live brine shrimp? it always helped me with the new or picky eaters. Not long ago I got a naso tang and for a weeks he did not eat anything.I have tried everything and was thinking I will lose him and than got the live brine...guess what...he's just fine now.Still won't eat the frozen food, spits it out, but he loves the sea veggies and the live brine.Good luck and be patient.Give him time to get used to the new surroundings and the new food.
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steve-s
Well-known member
True the live brine can help. If a fish is not accepting foods, nutritional value is secondary to getting the fish feeding. In this case though, it's not a lack of willingness to feed but rather finding the appropriately sized food that the goby can easily injest.
Cheers
Steve
Cheers
Steve
gloo
Well-known member
How is your green goby doing? I have recently run into a similar problem with a yellow clown goby.
I will probably get slapped for the following mistakes;
1. Totally spaced and didn't check the fish for sunken stomach when I chose him over other y.c. gobies.
2. This is the 2nd yellow crown goby, and the first goby ( we call him O.G., original goby) does harass it a little bit from time to time.
The reason I got the 2nd goby ( we call him N.G., ...New Goby, not 'no good'... although that's where this is headed), was to try and mate the NG with the OG.
I have read that gobies of different species will do alright, but same species will fight. But then again, the reefkeeping article also pointed out that its easy to mate since they go through a sex change if needed.
So... I hoped for the latter and got the 2nd goby, but its been 2 wks and have not gotten it to eat mysis shrimp, which the OG eats like mad.
I saw him eat one mysis shrimp, but he spit it out promptly. I have seen him picking at the LR from time to time, as my tank has copious amount of copepods.
I also heard that they eat the slime produced by sps, but I only have a couple of monti frags and I doubt he will eat shroom slime....
I have tried isolating him and feeding him in QT, but in the main tank, he at least gets to eat the pods.
Gonna try some scallops, but should I soak it in garlic or something else, to try to get a feeding response out of him?
I will probably get slapped for the following mistakes;
1. Totally spaced and didn't check the fish for sunken stomach when I chose him over other y.c. gobies.
2. This is the 2nd yellow crown goby, and the first goby ( we call him O.G., original goby) does harass it a little bit from time to time.
The reason I got the 2nd goby ( we call him N.G., ...New Goby, not 'no good'... although that's where this is headed), was to try and mate the NG with the OG.
I have read that gobies of different species will do alright, but same species will fight. But then again, the reefkeeping article also pointed out that its easy to mate since they go through a sex change if needed.
So... I hoped for the latter and got the 2nd goby, but its been 2 wks and have not gotten it to eat mysis shrimp, which the OG eats like mad.
I saw him eat one mysis shrimp, but he spit it out promptly. I have seen him picking at the LR from time to time, as my tank has copious amount of copepods.
I also heard that they eat the slime produced by sps, but I only have a couple of monti frags and I doubt he will eat shroom slime....
I have tried isolating him and feeding him in QT, but in the main tank, he at least gets to eat the pods.
Gonna try some scallops, but should I soak it in garlic or something else, to try to get a feeding response out of him?
syndar
Member
Our green goby never recovered. He stayed a yellow-orange color until he passed on. We were unable to find him in the tank for a few days then we found him and he wasn't doing to good. He ate all kinds of food (mysisi shrimp, shrimp brine, daphina all frozen) I don't know why he turned colored that like that or what caused the massive death in the tank (8 fish died in 3 days). But on the other hand the yellow goby is doing better than ever. He eats everything. He will swim onto my hand and sit on it as I clean the aquarium and when I come up to the aquarium he will swim out in front and follow me around the tank. Great little personsality. We decided that we will try another green clown goby. Maybe he was duned from when we got him, but he lasted 10 weeks in the tank. Our gobies never fought they had their own area in the tank. I also found that when you feed them at first put the food in the tank and walk away but watch from the distance to see if they are eating. Good luck and have lots of patience when getting them to try to eat.
