Rainford's Goby

[aquadonkey]

Okay..... so I'm ready to hear a No on this one, but I thought I would ask.
I'm mulling over two different fish possibilities - one for the 7G (no fish - but no top either), or one for the 29G (occ. clown pair + yellow watchman goby - haven't seen the neon goby lately )
I've been looking into the rainford's goby because it looks like it's available captive bred, and..... it's so adorable!
Looks like they have special requirements though.
I know some of you guys have some experience with this fish - care to share?
The two problems with the 7G - not enough food & no top. I currently feed the tank twice a day; once with coral frenzy (Tiny pinch) and then something meaty in the evening.
Two problems with the 29G - also not enough food?? Possible aggression.
I don't feed the 29G much - 3 times a week maybe? But there's more rock in there.
I also dose phyto in both tanks.
Thoughts??

 

[sedorusc]

I tried two and have failed miserably with both. Looks like they starved. At least the second one did. The first one disappeared the first day (no cover) but I never found any remains.

 

[museumguy]

We had one at the museum for over a year. When we broke down the seahorse tank we moved it to the mini reef tank where it stayed a few months before vanishing and I like others never found remains of it. I would pick a different fish myself.

 

[pscott99]

Mine is a very happy little guy. Hides under the rock beside the brain shown here. Love to sand sift. Eats a little flake but mostly sifts. I saw him doing it at the LFS which is why I bought him. My sand is about 2 "

 

[5380]

I think there is a similar appearing Hector's goby that does better in captivity.

 

[aquadonkey]

Looks like the consensus so far is "no."
I thought that may be so, but didn't know if there was any different information on the captive bred variety.

 

[BoBilo]

I had one. Survived a month or two and was never seen again. They are really cool fish just hard to keep.

 

[zooman72]

Some believe that both Rainford's and Hector's gobies only do well in tanks with alot of small invertebrate fauna and some hair algae growth...whether they actually consume the algae or not is unknown. I really like both of those species alot, and at their size they would probably do best in some sort of nano, but I do not trust my ability to make sure they can survive on what I would offer for food. ARC had some of both species recently (saw them at the last swap), and I was really tempted because my 3g Picotope is fishless, but just could not convince myself to pull the trigger.

 

[aquadonkey]

Hmm..... I do have tons of crustaceans in the 7G. It's crawling with amphipods.

 

[EllieSuz]

I just Googled Rainford Goby and clicked on the link provided by Petco. They say the fish is "easy to keep". So, in spite of overwhelming information to the contrary, it seems you just need to buy one at Petco. lol

 

[Jacwil]

Petco.....only good for $1 per gallon aquarium purchasing and misinformation

 

[aquadonkey]

Gotta get me one of the Petco versions - good call Eileen!!

 

[zooman72]

Well, sort of brings up the "Mandarin issue" - will there be enough to support the fish more than a few weeks? These guys often (not always though...) seem to have the "hollow" bellies when found at a LFS, similar to mandarins, and I expect that it is due to the same cause - lack of appropriate food over time. I would be more comfortable with keeping them if I could determine that they would eat something I would normally offer.

Also, it might be advantageous to consider putting a top on that 7g - would help greatly with evaporation and keep any potential fish from leaping out easily. If it is a non-rectagular tank, and glass is too hard to obtain in a correct shape, you could try a Lexan top - I cut mine for my bow-front Picotope out of Lexan (Home Depot...) with a Dremel.

Maybe a neon goby would work better in the 7g? I had one in my 5g at my office for a couple of years and it was much easier to observe in that smaller tank. Even a small ocellaris or blue-tailed damsel would work in there too - come to think of it there are quite a few fish to try in that tank...good luck!

 

[jacksonpt]

fwiw...
I have one in my 30long and am very happy with it. I rarely feed my tank (maybe twice a week) so keeping fish is hard for me. The goby has been a wonderful addition though. He's always picking, usually at the sand bed, and is ALWAYS fat. I've had him now for about 4-5 months, and my tank is still crawling with pods. I don't foresee any issues keeping him fed.

 

[aquadonkey]

I am actually still curious as to whether anyone has tried one of the captive bred ones? It says on the blue zoo aquatics web page that they readily accept prepared foods. But..... it sounds like the captive bred dragonets are just as picky as the wild ones, so I was thinking it may be the same situation.