Missing Goby

[Mr. Red]

Hello, new here and new to the hobby (6 months) and I have an issue.

I just recently put a standard reef cleaning pack (scarlet hermits, dwarf red tips, and margarita snails) in my tank and so I have a question about the crabs ability to eat tank mates.

I have had a Diamond Watchman Goby for a long time who lived under a rock due to the presence of a neon dottyback who would bully him. Well, a few days ago I moved some rocks in order to catch this dotty back and give him to someone else so he would stop picking on the goby (I didn't move the goby's rock). Anyway, during the catching period my wife noticed a crab or two retreating into the goby's hole (maybe to get away from what was going on, I don't know) and ever since then I haven't seen my goby. I noticed a scarlet hermits leg in the cave the next day and so I've been wondering if the goby could have been eaten. After a concerning period I went ahead and moved his rock to see if he was under there and found nothing, not even the crab. I examined the rock and he wasn't there either. There is no sign of him anywhere inside or out of the tank. Thought he may have dug out another home under a separate rock but there is no sign of that either.

Losing this fish has been very disturbing so If someone who is familiar with these crabs and fish could let me know the possibility I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[thelawnwrangler]

I am not sure on crabs- scarlet hermits are supposedly extremely low risk

how big or the crabs - this is like the movie Snatch when Brick Top tells them how fast pigs can eat a body

If you don't have a body odds are it has a new hole no?

ps goby in picture I have had for all of a day so not a ton of experience

 

[peasofme]

all crabs can kill. if its a small scarlet, probably not. if it's a big one, could definitely happen. the fish could be hiding. watchmens are good at that. also depends how big the goby is. if you don't have your tank top fully covered, he could've jumped. fish can jump through pretty small holes. gobies jump when spooked.

 

[FCSAquatics]

I purchased a diamond goby a few years ago because, it a previous tank, it was my favorite fish. I put him in the tank and he disappeared immediately. After two weeks I started searching under rocks to see if I could find him. I couldn't find him anywhere and, since it was my favorite type of fish, I went and bought another one. Literally the next day, they are both out, on opposite ends of the tank doing great. They would just raise up every once in awhile and check out the other one at the other end of the tank. It was a large tank and could support two of them... but I couldn't believe that the day after I gave up on the first one and bought another one, out he came.

 

[T Haynes]

My goby got big and fat real quick. He doesn't back down from much and fast as hell to get away. If he got got by a crab he was likely sick.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

If your hermits are in fact scarlet legged hermits then no, they won't kill anything. There are some other hermits that are red, but they're not true scarlet legged hermits.

Your wife said she saw two crabs scurry under a rock. You wouldn't see any hermit do this, especially scarlet legged hermits. I'm pretty sure any crab with a shell on it's back isn't going to scurry under a rock unless it's a cave type setup.

Did you purchase live rock to start your tank? If so where did it come from? You could have some bad crab hitchhikers or something else.

 

[Sk8r]

Gobies tend to move house when disturbed, and by moving rock you risk trapping him. I've had them disappear for months. I have (I think) 2 in my 105 gallon right now that may or may not appear by May---=they're new, they're small, and we're hoping they didn't go into the overflow, but it's perfectly in character to pick a quiet spot and stay there for months on end.

 

[Marchillo]

My diamond was very active and got spooked and went into the overflow. After putting him back in he disappeared for 3/4 days. He probably got spooked. It's a crapshoot at this point as hitchhikers, trapping the goby etc are good possibilities. I think it's hiding out if I had to guess.