I picked up a diamond goby this afternoon who is acting strange. I acclimated in the bag over a period of about 30 min using the same procedure as always (adding about a cup every 5 min). After I let him go in the tank he just sat at the bottom for a few minutes, and then he went to the surface and started swimming around and poking his head out of the water. He's already jumped out once, so I covered all the areas around hoses and stuff. Luckily the mesh material over most of the tank is too small for him to fit through. Is this normal goby behavior or is it a sign that he wasn't acclimated properly? Is there anything I can do?
Poorly acclimated goby?
- Thread starter Zappo
- Start date
Amazon4
Premium Member
It doesn't sound normal by any means. Did you check the bag water salinity to yours? 30 minutes is pretty quick. Takes me at least an hour. Many LFS tend to keep their salinity lower than our reef tanks, so it's a big adjustment.
Acclimating is not a process you want to rush. Find a way to keep the bag/container warm, and airated (I used a battery operated airstone) and change out a small portion of the water about every 10 minutes until you've matched the tank water. (what I do is add water every 10 min until the specimen container is full...remove half...do that again and check the water. It's usually ok.)
For comparison, I had a fish shipped to me by Foster & Smith recently. I followed thier instructions to the letter. It took me four hours
This was probably excessive - but considering their gaurantee, I can see why.
How is he doing??
Acclimating is not a process you want to rush. Find a way to keep the bag/container warm, and airated (I used a battery operated airstone) and change out a small portion of the water about every 10 minutes until you've matched the tank water. (what I do is add water every 10 min until the specimen container is full...remove half...do that again and check the water. It's usually ok.)
For comparison, I had a fish shipped to me by Foster & Smith recently. I followed thier instructions to the letter. It took me four hours
This was probably excessive - but considering their gaurantee, I can see why.How is he doing??
Wow. Four hours? The odd thing is I've recently purchased 2 other fish from the same place and didn't have this kind of trouble with acclimating either of them. I expected the tang to be the problem fish, not the goby! Next time I'll try following the directions on the DFS site for acclimation.
Today the goby is just sitting on the sand in front. He moves from time to time and won't let the cleaner shrimp near him. That's a good sign I suppose. I'll try soaking a few different foods in garlic and see if I can find something he's interested in tonight. Is there anything else worth trying? I feel really bad for the poor fish.
Today the goby is just sitting on the sand in front. He moves from time to time and won't let the cleaner shrimp near him. That's a good sign I suppose. I'll try soaking a few different foods in garlic and see if I can find something he's interested in tonight. Is there anything else worth trying? I feel really bad for the poor fish.
Amazon4
Premium Member
It sounds like he calmed down at least.
I was thinking about it more...when we were moving out fish to a new tank, our gramma was doing something similar in the trasfer bucket. He was bobbing, sticking his head up, opening his mouth. Really weird. So maybe it was stress and not the actual acclimation?
That was 2+ years ago...so he's ok
The only thing I'd advise is to have a way to compare the salinity of the bag water to your tank water. This way you can gauge how long it should take.
I was thinking about it more...when we were moving out fish to a new tank, our gramma was doing something similar in the trasfer bucket. He was bobbing, sticking his head up, opening his mouth. Really weird. So maybe it was stress and not the actual acclimation?
That was 2+ years ago...so he's ok
The only thing I'd advise is to have a way to compare the salinity of the bag water to your tank water. This way you can gauge how long it should take.
I was thinking about it more...when we were moving out fish to a new tank, our gramma was doing something similar in the trasfer bucket. He was bobbing, sticking his head up, opening his mouth. Really weird. So maybe it was stress and not the actual acclimation?
That was 2+ years ago...so he's ok
This is what I was hoping for. He was strong enough to attempt 2 escapes (only one successful) last night so my hope is that it was just normal goby behavior as they contemplate jumping out. He had just arrived at the store the day I bought him so he went thought a lot in a short time. I saw him take a few mouthfulls of sand just now (and dropped the sand right where he found it... YAY!) so hopefully he's getting better.
BTW, I checked and the store's salinity is only 1.017. So it was a huge difference in salinity. Mine is 1.024. Next time I think I'll try to float the bag in the refugium under the tank to keep the temp steady while doing a slow drip over a few hours.
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