New to this site, but hoping someone can help me out here. I have a 95 gallon established tank, over a year old. About 150 lbs of live rock, good 3 inches of sand at the bottom. Sailfish Tang, Clownfish, Yellow Tang, Coral Beauty, 2 Chromis, and a coral banded shrimp. They are all doing very well and are healthy. Water is good, changed regularly. I have been going through Goby's like crazy for the past year. About every other month I'm at the store buying a new Bullet Goby. The most recent one, which died this morning was eatin the food we would feed the fish and was sifting away for a good month and a half but over the past few days was ignoring the algae on the sand and died this morning. Not sure what the problem is. I have tried Diamond Goby's but they werent very good sifters, and the bullets seem to do often. Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions? I hate flushing $30 down the toilet every two months!
Bullet Goby Issue
- Thread starter scintodj
- Start date
I feel ya.
I can't seem to keep gobies alive. I tried 3 times, and each time it ended in a death. I gave up on trying. If you ever figure it out feel free to share!
I can't seem to keep gobies alive. I tried 3 times, and each time it ended in a death. I gave up on trying. If you ever figure it out feel free to share!
I have never heard or read a complaint about a diamond goby not sifting well. The complaints are pretty much always centered around covering corals with sand all the time. Since I don't have enough footprint to house a sand sifting goby, I have no personal experience with them. I know all the retail sites suggest these are basically nano fish but they need as much open sand as they can sift. The people that I know that do have them say that they really need to be fed often (like more than once per day). Reason being is part of the diet are pods, micro brittles and other crustaceans in the sand and it does not take them long to reduce the sand's population of these unless you have a large refugium. The algae in the sand is just part of their diet and likely doesn't sustain them full time. I know you have a lot of rock and there are likely plenty of pods hidden in there where the goby can't get them but just because they are small, pods aren't stupid and they will tend to stay where they won't be eaten 
. Plus if you have a lot of rock, there may not be much exposed sand to sift. It may be that your gobies have not been getting enough food, assuming there wasn't a parasite involved and you just haven't been lucky with your purchase.
. Plus if you have a lot of rock, there may not be much exposed sand to sift. It may be that your gobies have not been getting enough food, assuming there wasn't a parasite involved and you just haven't been lucky with your purchase.
Gobies usually take on a distinct shape when starving. Do yours seem to be starving when they die or do they look otherwise healthy?
Well, what is the distinct shape that they take when starving? I do not have any pods because I have no room for a refugium. I was feeding my tank 2 cubes, 1 mysis shrimp and 1 prime reef mix, a day but my local fish store said I may be overfeeding the tank and could risk water quality. They said it is very hard to starve fish. I figure the shrimp would be good because it falls down and lays on the sand, I've seen my recent casualty eat them before when sifting, but I am not sure how often. The goby sifts quite well for a while, although they are messy with the sand everywhere but that doesn't bother me, and then stops. The algae begins to show up again and he ignores it and ultimately dies within a week or so after that.
I have noticed that they do have a small indentation on their stomach when they pass, but a lot of the bullets I see in the store have that same indentation, although maybe my bullet's is a bit more noticeable. So any ideas to keep these guys healthy and alive without a refugium?
I have noticed that they do have a small indentation on their stomach when they pass, but a lot of the bullets I see in the store have that same indentation, although maybe my bullet's is a bit more noticeable. So any ideas to keep these guys healthy and alive without a refugium?
Usually the take on a big head/thin body look when starving. Although bullet gobies may hide it better. That behavior does sound possibly like a starving fish. They hit a point where their digestive tract simply shuts down, so they appear to stop eating and then starve when in fact they've been starving all along.
The feeding may be the key. A lot of fish are difficult to starve. There are a few exceptions though. Pod eaters (dragonets), sand-sifters and picky eaters (timid-eaters, live-only, etc.) are all rather easy to starve accidently.
I overfeed my tank (twice a day) and my Gold Head Sleeper is always one of the fish lined up for each meal, so I wouldn't be surprised if what Greech said is correct. Even with that he isn't as fat as his non-sand sifting cousins (some of the other gobies look like blimbs).
The feeding may be the key. A lot of fish are difficult to starve. There are a few exceptions though. Pod eaters (dragonets), sand-sifters and picky eaters (timid-eaters, live-only, etc.) are all rather easy to starve accidently.
I overfeed my tank (twice a day) and my Gold Head Sleeper is always one of the fish lined up for each meal, so I wouldn't be surprised if what Greech said is correct. Even with that he isn't as fat as his non-sand sifting cousins (some of the other gobies look like blimbs).
