Watchman goby

[rjcranor]

What's a good supplement food for them, mine has cleaned the sand, want to make sure it stays healthy?

 

[rjcranor]

Anybody????

 

[rjcranor]

No suggestions at all?

 

[debincalif]

I had a yellow watchman in my previous tank and he ate pretty much any food that I fed the other fish which included frozen shrimp, marine flake food, and pellets.

 

[motojoe1988]

I have success with some pellets, sinking invert food dropping right in front where hes burrowed for the day and also with mysis shrimp turkey baster blasted his way. HtH

 

[rjcranor]

So far it has been eating some of the food I feed my clowns and green chromis. Didn't know if it would be enough? I use frozen brine and mysis shrimp, and flakes!

 

[planedoc]

Mine eats brine ,mysis or what ever else I put in tank. I have one in each of my two tanks. I have noticed that once they start eating fish food the cut back on the sand moving.

 

[rjcranor]

Mine still sifts the sand and also picks at my rocks and coralline algae

 

[ehaleyjr18]

You are correct to ask for additional nutrients since they will actually starve to death. Our watchman was always sifting and getting smaller instead of larger. Added additional food just for him and we still lost him. I have since learned that this is fairly common.

 

[rjcranor]

Thanks that is why I wanted to see what might be best to supplement, to keep it healthy

 

[jechew2]

I had a yellow watchman in my previous tank and he ate pretty much any food that I fed the other fish which included frozen shrimp, marine flake food, and pellets.

+1 I have had a pair of yellow watchman gobies for 2 years and they eat everything. They'll even come up into the water column amongst all of my aggressive eaters to get their share. They also eat parts of nori sheets that my other fish tear off. So, in my opinion, you shouldn't need to supplement at all as long as you feed a variety of foods to your other fish.

Also, my ywg's sift the sand very infrequently. I don't know if it's because I feed heavily or not?

Just want to make sure that we're not referring to a yellow-head (or golden head) sleeper goby though. I had one of those once and they sifted the sand non-stop but died fairly quickly presumably due to starvation. Those gobies can be difficult to keep but I think ywg's are fairly hardy.

 

[falconut]

It sounds like you have a sand sifter not a watchman. The watchman will eat from the water column or close to the bottom. Probably best to add a photo, so you can get the best information. My two watchman have been very easy to care for.

 

[rjcranor]

It's white with yellowish orange spots on it. It doesn't burrow its self in the sand. It gets a mouth full then comes out of gills. It eats also off the rocks and glass. Does look thinner than when I got it a month ago.

 

[rssjsb]

You have to feed it. I'm not even sure that the sand sifting you're seeing is a feeding behavior. They move a lot of sand around.

Fortunately, they're not usually picky. Sinking pellets like New Life Spectrum Thera-A work very well. Mysis is also very good.

I would skip the brine - it's virtually useless.

 

[rssjsb]

Sorry - double post.

 

[rjcranor]

Thanks for the input!

 

[falconut]

Sounds like this is the guy you've got. This is a diamond goby, it's of the sand sifting species. Unfortunately, I've read that most starve over time. I've also heard that some people bury some food in the sand so it can sift and eat it. No idea if this works. I have no experience with them, if this is what you have.

 

[rjcranor]

That is what I have!

 

[gusmanda]

I used to have one of these, he would eat food what I gave the others

 

[rjcranor]

Oh it does eat the food I give the others, was just checking if there was a specific food to help keep it healthy!