Diamond Gobies keep dieing

[Ccarroll57]

I picked up a diamond goby two weeks ago. He went into my Qt with a Midas Blenny, Royal Gramma and purple Firefish goby. He lasted about two days and died. I went out yesterday and picked up another. My new one was dead when I looked in tonight.

Any suggestions here? My water parameters are ok and the other fish seems fine. It's. 20g QT.

 

[Aquat]

Saying your water parameters are 'ok' doesn't really help. We need more info

 

[Ccarroll57]

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5-10
PH - 8.4
Temp 80
salinity - 1.024

 

[Slystone]

You may need to put a sandbox in your QT.

 

[Ccarroll57]

I did put a little dish of sand in there as I figured they would need one. I never saw either one of them go near it though.

 

[Aquat]

Could also be your nitrate. 10 seems a bit high for a reef.

 

[SweetTang]

Nitrates of 10 is perfectly fine for fish. My experience with diamond gobies is hat they should be left in the wild. They have a very high metabolism, and quickly deplete the sand bed of its micro fauna. Once the sand bed's micro fauna is diminished, they slowly starve to death......even when the appear to be eating prepared foods with your daily feedings. Many times, they are already starved by the time you purchase them from the LFS. This, on top of being stressed and potentially exposed to parasites, makes them a tough species to successfully keep.

 

[rjallen]

I have Diamond Goby. Yes they have very high motors and yes they make a mess of your sand bed. But I've very good luck with them. Current one has been in my tank for 4 months and has more than doubled in size. Years ago, I kept one for four years. He died in a winter storm multi-day black out along with the entire tank. The present one has taken a toll on sand fauna but there are areas he rarely goes I see much life there. You do need a sand box with at least 3 inches with some cover in your QT. The same minimum sand depth in your DT plus a good tank cover. I believe the small fellow is not appropriate for nano set ups a they need space to forage.
I feed ground table shrimp & fish, brine, mysis shrimp & krill. They do need large chunks just small enough to fit in their large mouths. I understand black worms are good for them. I feed at least 2x day. I've enjoyed my two.
I any case something else is going on. I know they can cower in the corner- that's why pvc pipe or equiv. in QT is a must. Dark QT tank would help too.