Overactive goby?

Lycanthropic

Lycanthropic

AC Members
Jun 29, 2009
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Alberta
I know this is going to sound crazy....
I have a dragon/ violet goby. He's a doll, I love him, He makes my day all the time.
I have him in a 30 gallon right now... and he is in brackish... on the low side because I just changed the gravel to sand.
For the last 2 days, he has been swimming alot near the top.. I just checked the nitrates and it says they are fine...
I'm just confused as he has never done this before now?
Any suggestions as to why?
 
This may sound vague, but it means that there is something wrong with the water. That said, it could be ammonia, nitrites, pH (maybe), a change in water temperature (such as there might be during a water change), or maybe even something else.
How long ago did you switch from gravel to sand? Did you keep some gravel or filter media in the tank so it wouldn't have to re-cycle? Were you sure to not move the specific gravity more than .002 per week to avoid killing your bacteria?

BTW, pretty soon you're going to need something much larger than a 30 gal with that fish.
 
I'm with the above poster, something may not be right with your water. Swimming near the top is quite abnormal for these fish, at least from my limited observations.

Tankmates?
Exact ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings?
Specific gravity?
How exactly did you change substrates?
 
Swimming to the surface isn't abnormal. It's just a bad sign. They swim to the top to breathe air because something's wrong with the water. Other eel gobies, like Odontamblyopus do it too. It's not surprising, given their relation to mudskippers.
 
No no no..... I dont think I explained properly. I changed to gravel yesterday.
He wasn't gasping at the top, he was swimming up against the glass, not at the top, but close to it.
Tankmates? 5 guppies, 3 are babies, 2 are pregnant females
Specific gravity? around 1.08 last time I checked
How exactly did you change substrates? I followed a guide I found on here about changing substrates

He's fine though now. I think he was just frantic about losing his gravel. He has since calmed down and is sitting at the bottom of my tank and making sand dunes.
Thanks everyone
 
Oh. OK. Maybe he was just upset about the activity on the bottom, and was trying to get away from it.
Glad to hear he's doing better now.
 
Get ready for lots of sand dunes! For a while, I was having a decorating war with my goby. He has won, I now leave his dunes alone, otherwise he will just make a new one and throw a bunch of sand into the filter.
 
LOL, funny. Mine has been content so far with his caves, I set my BW tank up with the hopes to someday get a Violet. When I originally decorated the tank I made a bunch of rock caves for my future beastie.

Kristina
 
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