Goby won't survive in my tank

C

Cheech

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Jan 13, 2000
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Montreal, Canada
It's the third one I go through, they die after a few weeks.

Every other fish/invert are doing fantastic, but when I introduce a goby to the tank, it never lives longer than a couple of weeks.

Tank is my 90 G, established tank, few inches of sand, plenty of live rock.

About 8 months ago, I hit my thermometer on the inside glass of my tank, and a couple of drops of mercury fell on the sand. I manually removed what I could, but is there any chance that the mercury is causing the gobys to die?

I can't think of anything else.

Thank you
 
Ace25 said:
What type of goby? If it is a sleeper goby (Tiger/Diamond) then that just sounds par for the course.
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one was a sleeper,

the other was a goldhead,

and the third.... The third I can't remember.

Are gobies in general more delicate fish to keep in a tank?

Each one of the gobies had no problems in the tank... They started sifting the sand within minutes...

thanks
 
No, most gobies are pretty hardy, just the sleeper gobies I have found to be very delicate. I myself who went through a major goby phase couldn't keep a sleeper goby alive either and I tried at least 6. Several Tigers, a yellow head, and a couple diamonds.. either they would jump out or croak in the first few weeks but like you, all appeared to be looking and acting normal the first couple days in the tank. All my other gobies live many years. Just lost my 2 oldest last month, both 8 years old, Yellow watchman and Engineer goby.
 
Ace25 said:
No, most gobies are pretty hardy, just the sleeper gobies I have found to be very delicate. I myself who went through a major goby phase couldn't keep a sleeper goby alive either and I tried at least 6. Several Tigers, a yellow head, and a couple diamonds.. either they would jump out or croak in the first few weeks but like you, all appeared to be looking and acting normal the first couple days in the tank. All my other gobies live many years. Just lost my 2 oldest last month, both 8 years old, Yellow watchman and Engineer goby.
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Thanks ace, seeing how you've been through this, can you recommend hardier gobies that you did have good luck with?

I'll be adding Yellow Watchman and Engineer goby to the list . . .
 
Hardy gobies (9/10 hardiness).. Blue Spot, Pink Spot, Orange Spot, Yellow Watchman, Fusi, Engineer (not really a goby, research before you buy one as they get BIG like a small eel), yellow clown (not SPS coral safe), and I am sure there are many other "watchman" type I am forgetting.

Medium level gobies (4/10 hardiness)- Yasha, Twin Spot, Randalls, Firefish (Dartfish).. to name a few..

Difficult gobies (1/10 hardiness) - sleepers (diamond, yellow head, tiger) and their cousins the Jaw fish like the yellow headed and blue spotted jaw fish. Also from my experience any clown goby that isn't yellow which are green, red, and black, I have found are all very difficult, especially compared to the yellow. Never met a person yet able to keep a green, red, or black clown goby alive more than a month.

It is early and I know I am forgetting about 1000 other gobies right now. One thing though is you can't put 2 of the same type of goby in too small of a tank or they fight. 2 yellow watchman in a 50G is 1 too many (unless a mated pair). Watchman gobies have to be able to make a home in a cave far enough from other gobies to feel safe.

Engineers do like to be in pairs and they do dig under rocks and cause landslides. The engineer goby was the #1 reason I build a floating reef in my tank so I could avoid landslides that I experienced when I had the engineer in a different tank.
 
Thank you Ace, very much appreciated.

At least I know that there's nothing specifically wrong with my tank... That was my biggest concern.


I'll look into a hardier species.

I need something to sift through the sand, I'm hoping a hardy goby will do the trick . .
 
Unfortunately the real "sand sifting" gobies are the sleeper goby. The only exception would be a bullet goby, I don't think they are in the sleeper family, but I could be wrong. In order of dificulty within the "sand sifting" gobies I would put the odds like this:

Tiger Goby - 20:1
Diamond Goby - 10:1
Yellow Head - 7:1
Bullet - 3:1
Engineer - 2:1

Meaning the first number is how many you would have to buy 1 at a time until you get one to live more than a month. So you would need to buy 20 Tiger Sleepers to get 1 to live. Those are in no way scientific numbers, just numbers I made up from my years of experience. It is definately possible to get #2 try out of 20 on a Tiger to be the successful one.. just the odds are not in favor of that.

The hardy "watchman" type gobies do very little in terms of sandsifting. They clear out the area around their cave but that is about it, they don't do much like the diamond gobies do, taking mouthfulls of sand and sifting it all day long. So if your looking for something to do the job of sandsifting then IMO your best chances of success with a goby would be a bullet/dragon goby if you feel one is suitable for your tank. Personally, I don't like them (or sleeper gobies in general) because they are more "crop dusters" than sand sifters. Sure, they do sift the sand and keep it clean, but at the expense of dumping sand all over my rocks and corals.
 
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