Drawing out a Green Clown Goby

iwishtofish

iwishtofish

Active member
I just introduced one to the small "tank" that is in my sump. Once it got its bearings, it went into hiding (sometimes perpetual, from what I read).

How can I get it to come out to eat? I have cyclopeeze (frozen), mysis, and Ocean Nutrition pellets (sinking, tiny).

Any tips?
 
They are happiest when SPS coral is available to perch in. They will remain out almost constantly when they feel confident. Not sure if your sump lighting will accommodate this, but it's the best environment for the fish.

Also, I've had great luck getting emaciated clown gobies to eat Ocean Nutrition gel food--the red one.
 
jayelblock said:
They are happiest when SPS coral is available to perch in. They will remain out almost constantly when they feel confident. Not sure if your sump lighting will accommodate this, but it's the best environment for the fish.

Also, I've had great luck getting emaciated clown gobies to eat Ocean Nutrition gel food--the red one.
Click to expand...

My sump lighting (LED spotlights) will support SPS. I plan to try to find some boring brown (and therefore cheap) colonies to put down there.

I appreciate the tip on the food. Does it just get strategically placed?
 
I squish a tiny bit between my fingers and let it stay in the water column. Clown gobies will dart out and grab food pretty aggressively when they're feeling good.
 
Excellent. I really don't like that food in general, but for some reason, reluctant feeders really like it. Maybe it's the red color, but clown gobies go nuts for it. After you get them eating well, they'll suck down anything.
 
Well, I just fished the fella out of my return section. He hid for a bit after that, and just now he was again swimming up the glass. I tried to catch him to plop him in my DT, but failed. He's now in the back corner of my sump, in a tight spot, just chilling. Isn't he supposed to be hiding or something? Maybe he thinks he is.
 
Lights out in my sump now, but I can see him on the bottom glass right by the front pane - no cover whatsoever. Usually behavior that looks odd is bad, IME. I hope I am wrong. If he is still alive tomorrow and out in the open, I'll try to get him to eat.
 
Ok, caught him out of my return section again. He was semi-hard to catch, meaning he isn't gravely ill and has some bearing. This time I plopped him in the DT, where I can better control flow and stand a chance of getting food closer to him later today. He did well fighting the strong flow, and is just perched on the rock now.

Breathing is more rapid than I'd like. I'm hoping that is from the stress of the latest incident. If I see him in better light, I'll look for visible signs of parasites.
 
I dropped a pile of mysis right in front of him. Didn't go for it. Sigh... Have to find that gel food somewhere. I wonder if Petco sells it.
 
The gel food is at Petco. I bought it as a last-ditch impulse item but it's worth tracking down for fish rehab--Formula 1.

I don't have great luck with mysis, although it's the go-to food for a lot of people. If you have a LFS that carries Rod's Food, get the fish eggs. They're expensive, but I've never seen a fish reject them. Once again, not a food for maintenance, but good for rehabilitation.

I keep mostly gobies, and mine get a daily blend of the following: shaved Rod's food, shaved mysis, Rod's fish eggs, rotifers, cyclops and oyster eggs. This maintains the following fish which are a combination of sand sifters and feeders from the water column: Rainford's goby, mandarin dragonet, two spot goby, yellow clown goby, y-bar goby, Hasselt's goby, flaming prawn goby, masked goby, tiger goby, plus Banggai cardinals, threadfin cardinals and even a bannerfish (butterflyfish). Something for everyone.
 
jayelblock said:
The gel food is at Petco. I bought it as a last-ditch impulse item but it's worth tracking down for fish rehab--Formula 1.

I don't have great luck with mysis, although it's the go-to food for a lot of people. If you have a LFS that carries Rod's Food, get the fish eggs. They're expensive, but I've never seen a fish reject them. Once again, not a food for maintenance, but good for rehabilitation.

I keep mostly gobies, and mine get a daily blend of the following: shaved Rod's food, shaved mysis, Rod's fish eggs, rotifers, cyclops and oyster eggs. This maintains the following fish which are a combination of sand sifters and feeders from the water column: Rainford's goby, mandarin dragonet, two spot goby, yellow clown goby, y-bar goby, Hasselt's goby, flaming prawn goby, masked goby, tiger goby, plus Banggai cardinals, threadfin cardinals and even a bannerfish (butterflyfish). Something for everyone.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this advice. I am going to go out to Petco shortly - I hope our local one has it in stock.

After being out and about for a while, the fish has found a hole he likes in my Marco Rock, and it took me a while to locate him. If I can see his head, he can see food. So, we'll see! :)
 
If you get down to your last option, hatch some live baby brine shrimp. They stimulate the feeding response with their movement, and they don't die immediately, so they don't foul the water.
 
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