Diamond Goby and Mandarin

[jc8745]

Will they be ok together in a 55g ?

And

Will they compete for the same food ?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

They should be fine. They won't directly compete for the same food. The Goby will sift the sand for food that 'pods eat (and some 'pods) which will limit the population density. If you do decide on this, I would recommend dosing large amounts of phytoplankon and a refugium to make sure that you keep the population of the 'pods as high as possible.

 

[jc8745]

I have DT's (liquid) and Cyclops (frozen)
I usually feed everyday, but alternate between these.

On the dt's i go with the directions, on the cyclops i go with 1/2 of a cube.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9513206#post9513206 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jc8745
I have DT's (liquid) and Cyclops (frozen)
I usually feed everyday, but alternate between these.

On the dt's i go with the directions, on the cyclops i go with 1/2 of a cube.

Should be sufficient enough. Do you have a refugium? How long has the tank been up?

 

[jc8745]

Yes on the Refugium, i have tons of chaeto too,

Everything has been up and going at my house since Aug, before that it had been running for an unkown period of time in kansas city. I would say it was at least 9 months. the guy mainly used it as a fish only tank, and i have been changing it over to a reef tank.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Well, with all that information, I really would be surprised if they didn't make it. How many pounds of rock do you have, and do you consider the rock dense or porous?

 

[jc8745]

i think i have a mixture on rock (pourous vs dense), maybe 60/40

i'm still adding pieces here and there usually a $25 - $45 peices
so i'm guessing i'm adding 3 -5 pounds each time,

Total, gosh i have no idea, but i'l' try and come up with that estimate tonight when i can sit down and look at it and the rocks.

I've had the mandarin since december, was thinking about adding the diamond goby, wife likes it.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I didn't realize you already had the mandarin (I didn't get much sleep). How is the mandarin doing? How is the life in the sandbed since that is what the goby will eat?

 

[jc8745]

Mandrin is doing ok, he got really skinny for a while not sure what happened, he seemed normal swam about, never got inactive or acted sick, seemed to be eating, just got skinny, he is starting to gain back, but still is skinny.

How do you tell what the life is like in the sand bed ?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9515214#post9515214 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jc8745
Mandrin is doing ok, he got really skinny for a while not sure what happened, he seemed normal swam about, never got inactive or acted sick, seemed to be eating, just got skinny, he is starting to gain back, but still is skinny.

I would definitely wait until he is nice and big again. This could be a few months.

How do you tell what the life is like in the sand bed ?

Look, silly I'm just pestering you. YOu can take a scoop of sand and spread it thin in a little tank water inside of a bowl and see if anything crawls around. Using a good magnifying glass would be really helpful. Most likely you're going to find more worms than anything, but the more the merrier

 

[TulsaReefer]

In a 55 I'd be careful about potentially depleting the natural live food supply for the mandarin. Another relatively easy way I've found to to check my pod population, wait a while after "lights out" at night, or early in the morning and check the tank with a flashlight. If you see a good number of "critters" running around the rocks and sand, your still doing well on a population of food for the mandarin. Many pods are more active at night, and some are actually attracted to the light if you hold it up to the tank in the same location for a while, typically a few inches off the bottom, in a corner where your current may not be so heavy. I've done this and had swarms of free swimming pod attracted to the light. I know my tank is infested with Gammaridean amphipods which you don't see as much during the day, but at night they swarm all over the tank and are much easier to spot. Easy to check the population at night, plus you never know what you might see if you aren't in the habit of looking at your tank after lights out, all kinds of interesting critters have a way of coming out at night.