knight goby food?

stingray4540

Hello, Hello, Helloooo!
Oct 18, 2005
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San Jose, CA
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I have a knight goby that I've had for about a week and he was coming up to the surface to try to get a bite of dried bloodworms or flakes from my dwarf gouramis. But this morning and this afternoon he didn't go to get any food at all or at least that I saw. He hangs out at the bottom a lot so I'm not sure if he's getting food from the bottom. He doesn't look like the bottom feeding type though. :confused: Right now I'm treating the tank for Ick, I don't think he has it though just my tetra, with salt. Other than that everythings fine. Can anybody help me? Is he eating and I just don't see it or should I try some different food? or is he sick?
thanks
 
Well, knight gobies are brackish, so its gonna need to be moved from your FW tank. They feed in the bottom and middle. They are omnivorous, and normally not picky. Try feeding frozen foods, and if that doesn't work, try live.
 
My knight gobies will eat virtually everything I throw at them. Flakes, squid, krill, mysis, crushed snails, algae wafers, silversides, bloodworms, daphnia, etc, etc. They are not too shy either and will take food from the surface or the bottom.

But.....they are true brackish fish and will not fare well in prolonged exposure to freshwater. I see you have bumble bee gobies. They are also brackish.
 
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reiverix said:
My knight gobies will eat virtually everything I throw at them. Flakes, squid, krill, mysis, crushed snails, algae wafers, silversides, bloodworms, daphnia, etc, etc. They are not too shy either and will take food from the surface or the bottom.

But.....they are true brackish fish and will not fare well in prolonged exposure to freshwater. I see you have bumble bee gobies. They are also brackish.
I know this, but the lfs that I got them from had them in fresh water for 4 months before I got them and they were doing fine. Also, every were I've read about them I'm told that they can adapt to fresh water with no problem and that it is done quite often. Also, wouldn't my tank kinda be brackish right now with all the salt thats in it?
 
stingray4540 said:
Also, wouldn't my tank kinda be brackish right now with all the salt thats in it?
Only if it's a marine salt mix. NaCl doesn't make brackish.

stingray4540 said:
Also, is it possible that he may be intimidated by the gouramis? They eat like pigs and try to control who gets food.
Could be, but there's one thing I've noticed about knight gobies and that is they are one of the most hyperactive fish I've seen. Although admitedly their speedy side only really shows at feeding time. I have mine in with a figure 8 puffer and they hold their own quite easy.

If there's any way you could set up a small brackish tank, say 15g, I believe you would see a big difference in the personality of all your gobies. They are fascinating but I wish LFS would stop keeping them in freshwater.
 
reiverix said:
Only if it's a marine salt mix. NaCl doesn't make brackish.


Could be, but there's one thing I've noticed about knight gobies and that is they are one of the most hyperactive fish I've seen. Although admitedly their speedy side only really shows at feeding time. I have mine in with a figure 8 puffer and they hold their own quite easy.

If there's any way you could set up a small brackish tank, say 15g, I believe you would see a big difference in the personality of all your gobies. They are fascinating but I wish LFS would stop keeping them in freshwater.
The salt thing makes sense. My bumble bee gobies are fine though. they swim around and try to eat my gorami''s if they get to close to "there" driftwood. And seem pretty happy and active. It's just the knight I'm worried about. I would set up another tank if I could but right now I can't aford to so for now I'm going to have to try and keep him happy were he is. My main concern is that he doesn't come to the top to eat. Will fish starve themselves or is he getting food from the bottom or something and isn't hungary when I feed the gouramis. The following behaviors could be do to the fact that he's not in a brackish tank, but he seems to like to hide at the base of two different plants. They are the only plants that offer shade so I thought that might be why, but don't know. Otherwise he seems fine, hell swim around and stuff or chase off my corie cats if they try to scavenge under his plant. Also he seems to be afraid of humans. If he's swimming around the tank and I get up or walk by, he swims over to one of his favorite plants and sits on the gravel underneath it. I was wondering if I should maybe try some sinking food and see if I can observe him eating that. Thanks for all your help by the way.
 
I have some rockwork and bogwood that my knights like to hide out in. They do spend a lot of time out of sight. If your goby has staked a hiding place, try spot feeding it with some sinking shrimp pellets or other food that will stay sunk. Use one of those feeding tongs so you avoid putting your hand in that tank and disturbing it. As a sidenote, some of the food you are feeding to the rest of the fish might not be recognized as food to the goby.
 
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