Engineer Gobies

[Paul B]

Capn, there are probably 12 bottles in there. Only the good stuff like Grand Marnier, no cheap booze in my tank.

I put the lights on a couple of hours early to see how it looks. I do like it as it is very open and has a lot less of the smaller rock.
The fish are not awake so I can't find most of them. I really hope the smaller blue stripped pipefish is in there somewhere as he is my favorite and easy to lose when you remove rock.
Mated pairs of them are not easy to find.
The mandarin is up early and giving me very dirty looks as the two diatom filters, I am sure desimated the pod population.
He just stares at the rock, then stares at me as if to say,
"if I was only 180 lbs heavier I would show you what to do with that diatom filter"
I guess I will put some corals back in there as there are only a few now that I am sure I made the water problem a thing of the past (I hope)
Then I can get into your posts as to if I should tumble chaeto or not tumble it.
Oh I guess I need a fuge or sump for that. Oh well, maybe in my next life.
Now I need some time to get to the sea to dump some mud in there. It is entirely too clean looking and I need some tiny life.
I have to go to the marina this week to cover my boat so I will bring a net and see what is growing on the docks.

 

[Paul B]

That engineer gobi is on his way to a new home even as we speak, or type.
A fine young serviceman came to pick him up.
There hasen't been anyone in my home in uniform since, well never. I diden't live here when I was in the service.
He is a really nice guy and I haven't been called Sir in I don't know how long. My wife almost died when he called her Maam which I am sure she hasen't been called in a long time either.
It's a real pleasure to see someone in uniform especially such a nice respectful person. It made my day.

 

[Paul B]

sorry double post

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13746036#post13746036 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Paul B
That engineer gobi is on his way to a new home even as we speak, or type.
A fine young serviceman came to pick him up.
There hasen't been anyone in my home in uniform since, well never. I diden't live here when I was in the service.
He is a really nice guy and I haven't been called Sir in I don't know how long. My wife almost died when he called her Maam which I am sure she hasen't been called in a long time either.
It's a real pleasure to see someone in uniform especially such a nice respectful person. It made my day.

hope you are replacing the engineer goby with an "electric"ian eel:eek2: :lol:

I don't believe engineer gobies are on Peter thread of fish to avoid in the reef tank so I will add a link to this one

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13746959#post13746959

 

[Aquarist007]

I also add the information to this blog:

http://www.reefcentral.com/wp/?p=285

 

[mcrist]

I would not consider an engineer goby as a fish to avoid; I think you are misinterpreting what happened. If you keep any predator fish with other fish that they can eat of course you may have a problem.

I have several engineer gobies and never had any problems, but I keep them with similar size fish or larger.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13747115#post13747115 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcrist
I would not consider an engineer goby as a fish to avoid; I think you are misinterpreting what happened. If you keep any predator fish with other fish that they can eat of course you may have a problem.

I have several engineer gobies and never had any problems, but I keep them with similar size fish or larger.

you make a good point---it should have been stated more as a caution towards EG's--then to totally avoid them.

 

[jman77]

"I have several engineer gobies and never had any problems, but I keep them with similar size fish or larger."

Ditto , I have fish even smaller with him and no problems,

 

[Paul B]

Engineer gobies are a very nice, long lived reef safe fish but like any other fish they should not be kept with fish small enough to fit in their mouth. They are not very predatory but they usually eat in the dark and will sample anything small enough. They eat anything including flakes. I keep very small gobies and butterflies and lost about 5 of them. I am not sure if the engineer ate all of them but I saw it grab a gobi and drag it into a hole, the gobi was much too large for the engineer to swallow and I really don't know how he planned to eat her but he held her long enough to kill her. Any fish at least as wide as an engineer gobi will be fine with them.

 

[Aqua Keepers]

Paul B, I wonder if it had more to do with the fact that the Gobi was carrying eggs?

 

[Paul B]

The pregnant fish was definately not in great shape and could hardly swim. She was bloated from something besides eggs and was exhausted from being chased by other fish. I don't think the engineer could have caught her if she was in good shape as engineers are kind of slow moving, their only plus is that they can swim backwards as well as forwards.

 

[Bri Guy]

I had to hook my engineer out of my 30 and put him in a 55 FOWLR, very neat fish, but digs constantly, and unless you want to tear the tank like Paul did, I think hook and line is the only other option.

 

[Aqua Keepers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13750982#post13750982 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Paul B
The pregnant fish was definately not in great shape and could hardly swim.

That's something to be thought about. Like I said this is the first time I've heard of these guy's picking off other fish regardless of size.