who has a Rainford's Goby?

[treesprite]

If so, what is it eating? Is it taking food out of the water column when you feed, or does it eat only by sand sifting and picking?

I got mine about 3 weeks ago. He is still plump, but I'm not sure if he is actually eating since coming home with me. He doesn't appear to eat anything out of the water column, but picks and sifts through the sand a lot. What is the likelihood that he is actually eating the food I put in, not just sifting it back out with the sand through his gills?

I mostly use Rods Food and mysis, but yesterday got some shrimp roe which drove my fish nuts. Sometimes I dip/shake macros and rocks from the refugium into the display tank for the pods. The competition for things in the sand are a pair of scooter dragonettes which I've had for several months and they seem to be eating just fine.

 

[AHDOnline]

We have kept several of these with mixed results. Most of the time we would have them in a separate tank and have some sort of algae in the tank with them (live) but a lot of times the rod herbivore would be enough that we could see ours eat.

I my personal experience the rainfordi's are so small you will notice in a few days if its not eating the gut will sink in fast.

They don't seem to be aggressive eaters so if it doesn't come to them or they have to fight for it, they wont eat it.

 

[spieszak]

My hector's goby acts the same. He doesn't seem interested in anything I put in the tank, but I have caught him eating NLS pellets off the sand bed... He does LOVE nori though. I wrap it on a rigid airline tube suspended in the back of the tank... Its almost like he's picking at the rocks when he picks at it and he goes through about a half sheet a week....He's the only fish in the tank, so while snails may be getting some of it (harder for them to get it because of the "suspend in the back of the tank" thing) he is getting the majority of it... I've had him for about two months, and he's fat and happy so far...

 

[small alien]

I've had a rainfords and now have a hectors. Both would eat prawn roe. But, as with yours, they didn't really gobble up the food. Mine also pick at turf algae on the overflow and power heads. I would just continue to introduce foods. Try nutramar ova prawn roe. Good luck. My favorite gobies.

 

[nonimmigrant]

I understand from the literature that these guys are huge hair algae eaters. I've had mine in my SPS tank for about 2 years now and i've never seen it eat anything other than algae.

 

[Sk8r]

They apparently eat film algae, and are often sold in emaciated condition. Not easy to keep. I'm surprised that one thrives in the hyperclean waters of an sps tank, but that's the way of these fish. Their diet does not seem easy to provide.

 

[NatureNerd]

I had one for three years. Never saw it eat anything other than picking on rocks. This is the fish that would disappear for months at a time in my tank. I would be sure it was dead and gone and then it would just show up again for a few months before disappearing again. It was always a mystery to me how it fed itself and where it hid.

 

[Aaarrrggg]

I think I read somewhere that they eat pods. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it could explain what it's been picking at.

 

[nonimmigrant]

They apparently eat film algae, and are often sold in emaciated condition. Not easy to keep. I'm surprised that one thrives in the hyperclean waters of an sps tank, but that's the way of these fish. Their diet does not seem easy to provide.

I've quite a bit of algae growing in the sps tank on purpose; mainly to serve as a foraging spots for my dragon face pipes that are in that tank (works well IMO). The goby essentially forages from a few growth spots in the tank. I agree that many starve to death.

 

[small alien]

I do see them come in skinny a lot and I'd always thought of them as difficult. However, my Rainford's did awesome for a year until a nasty run-in with a bristle worm led to its untimely demise. It was fat the whole time I had it. The Hector's I have now is similarly plump and seems easy. I have a pretty "dirty" tank so that my help. Great fish. The hovering swimming style, the sand sifting and just the general looking cool makes them a group of fish of which I'll always have one in my tank.

 

[wdt2000]

My breeding pair of hector's eat hikari mysis, they manage to stay nice and fat even when reproducing.