Valenciennea Goby Experiences?

[happyclam]

I was thinking about getting one of the gobys for my 135 gal reef aquarium. In books I've read, they say their hard to keep, but on the LiveAquaria.com website, they say their easy-med. to keep? Whats you opinion on this? I plan on having a 2" sandbed in the tank, 1" being dry Aragamax & 1" being live sand. What is your experience with these fish?

 

[Moonstream]

the dificult rating is because they have a very hard to provide diet. they need a constant supply of small critters living in the sandbed, and are hard to wean over to frozen foods.

I would really recommend not getting one, they usually die in the first year, and depleat all pods and bristle worms and other good critters that should be in the tank.

 

[gbcichlids]

These fish are doomed from the start. Wholesalers keep them in a bare cubicle until sold to a LFS. So they rarely eat which is bad for an animal that needs a constant supply of small food.
I had a few over the years but never had one last more than a couple of months then watch it slowly die of starvation. Which is why I avoid these guys.

 

[ACBlinky]

They're best in pairs - many will pine away if they're kept as singles. I had a beautiful pair of V. sexgutatta (sixspots) that did well on a wide variety of frozen foods. I found the key was using a long pipette to inject the food (3 cubes worth daily - these fish are BIG eaters) beneath the sand, where the other fish can't get it. The gobies need time to sift it out at their leisure.

I lost my pair when a pair of saddleback clowns matured and suddenly decided the entire 65g tank belonged to them. Within a day, before I could remove either pair, the clowns had hunted down and killed both gobies. I bought the gobies when they were quite small, about 2.5" and 1.5", and when they died they were over 4" so we had them quite a while. I'm not sure how long they live, or how long it's possible to keep them in captivity, but I think if you start with a healthy, eating pair and feed them very well your chances of having them around for a long time are good.

 

[espocrespo]

i had a valencienna longipinnis and it ate brine shrimp, and even flakes, as-well as sand sifting he also ate hair algae which surprised me.

 

[Untamed12]

I have a pair of orange-spotted (V. puellaris?) that seem to be doing very well. Both take frozen food that I feed, and both spend the rest of the time sand-sifting. I have no idea if they are getting any nutrition from the sand bed, but they do keep it clean.

Male (larger?) tends to make large sand piles on top of the nesting area whenever the female disappears for days (assumably tending eggs somewhere under there)

Mind you...I just checked my records and I've only had them for 6 months now.