Yellow Clown Goby

[Kinetic]

I went to the LFS last Sunday, and was looking for a yellow clown goby for my 5g pico tank. I know they're known for not eating, and dying of starvation, so I asked the employee to feed them so I could see which one was eating.

When I saw them, they all had sunken stomaches. The employee said they weren't eating. I saw a coupe take in some mysis, but spit them right back out.

I decided to take a chance (only $6) on one of them with the least sunken stomach, without ripped fins, who went for food (yet didn't seem to keep it in).

I've had him for 2 days, this is the third. I knew he probably wouldn't eat the first day, but tried anyway. Turned off the pump, used a pippete, and squeezed in a bunch of mysis/enriched brine into the corner he was hanging out in. He actually went for a piece or two, but spit them out. He might have eaten a small piece, not sure. THen he got scared and went under a ledge. I siphoned out all the uneaten food.

Yesterday I tried feeding him flakes, he went for the smaller of the pieces, but spit it right back out.

Sometimes I find him perched on the acrylic, sometimes under a ledge, and sometimes swimming like crazy in the current.

is this normal behavior? he's not very yellow, almost transparent. Will he make it? His stomach is sunken.

Any tips?


Today I will soak food in Seachem's Garlic Guard before feeding. I'll try mysis and brine again. I'm just afraid this is goign to pollute my water too much =( but I have to give it a try. Think it will work?

thanks.

 

[clord]

I have one that I just got and he eats everything. Try some cyclopeeze soaked in garlic xtreme and selcon to get him back into a healthy state. What you have said about his behavior mine does the same thing and I have had him for 2 weeks now.

 

[JENnKerry]

I got mine back in May last year. Maybe I'm just lucky with fish that are supposed to starve in captivity (yellow clown goby & blue cheek goby). I really don't do anything special. I feed a varied diet and he eats almost everything I put in there.

 

[Kinetic]

i'll go get some cyclopeez. I always those cyclopeeze pollutes the tank water a lot?

 

[clord]

I feed my whole tank cyclopeeze since corals love it too. You only need a little bit little tiny bit for a 5 gallon tank.

 

[Kinetic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6848834#post6848834 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clord
I feed my whole tank cyclopeeze since corals love it too. You only need a little bit little tiny bit for a 5 gallon tank.

In the 5g, there are only softies so they don't need cyclopeeze, nor do I think it would even help them that much.

I want to spot feed the goby to minimize pollution. I've just been siphoning back up the leftover flakes / shrimp I've fed.

I've tried really small pieces / shrimp, but he doesn't seem to see those, and the ones he does see, he spits back out.

My tank is crawling with pods, all over, do you think he'll eat pods? I have tons of copepods and amphipods.

 

[clord]

Hmm mine has never eaten any pods.. my clowns eat the pods on the glass. What do you have in your tank? I have a bubble coral, the big zoos and a frogspawn which all eat some cyclopeeze plus the pods and snails eat it all up too.

 

[Kinetic]

zoanthids, cloves, and a xenia.

 

[Kinetic]

Ok so here are the plans:

cyclopeeze (I'm guessing we're talking about the frozen bars? should I try the flakes?)

brine shrimp only

mysis shrimp only

formula 1 frozen broke into tiny pieces

all soaked in garlic.

we'll see what works. I should definately feed a variety of foods, though at first I just need this guy to get healthy.

 

[fishybusiness]

I had a yellow clown goby, and I currently have a citron clown goby. I got both to eat, sadly my yellow clown goby got sucked into a powerhead. To get my citron eating I trained it using a pipet with cyclopleeze and garlic. I did it twice a day. It was very hard, not because it wouldn't eat, but because I had a ravenous clown. Now it eats everything. It really likes the shrimp from the grocery store sliced up really fine. Till this day it hops around my nano.

 

[clord]

I always felt the frozen bars where better but more of a pain.

 

[Kinetic]

should I try with frozen bars or the flakes?

fishybusiness: that sounds really cool. I trained my clownfish in my 32g to eat from my hand, just because they're fearless. I don't know if this little guy will take the hint, if he's not even eating floating food.

I'll try to get him to feed from stuff floating out of my kent squirt feeder, and eventually he'll recognize the feeder as a source of food. maybe he'll come up to the opening over time.

Updates tonight!

 

[clord]

I would get the frozen bars to me they are smaller pieces of food. lets us know

 

[Kinetic]

I'll grab both just in case. flakes would be easier to siphon up. so I'll try those first. thanks for all the help!

 

[fishfanv]

both my yellow clown & green clown gobies eat frozen cyclop-eeze that's been mushed up a little, cheese-grated mysis & small fish formula pellets from spectrum.

 

[ACBlinky]

Ycgs don't often like flakes, IME you're more likely to be successful trying frozen. Cyclopeeze is something many fish can't resist, and brine seems palatable to almost every fish. I'd try those before anything else.
My ycg wasn't eating well when I got him, and it took months (yep, months) of constantly rotating foods and multiple daily feedings to get him taking more than a bite at a time. One day he up and decided to go for a pellet, and he's been putting on weight ever since. After seven months, he's finally fat and eating anything offered
Patience is key; try everything, and feed often. As long as he's otherwise healthy, he should come around.

 

[Kinetic]

I went to the store today, and they only had the dried cyclopeez, I called another before going, they also didn't have it. I ended up not getting any.

I went home, got some formula 1 flakes, crushed it up, soaked it in garlic, and the goby actually went for a flake, then spit it out and became disinterested. I gave up with the flake.

Then I got some mysis, thawed it out, fed with pipett, he was very interested, but took some in then immediately spit it out.

After siphoning all the junk out, I got brine, sucked up the littlest pieces, and fed him through the pipette, HE ATE IT! He held it in his mouth, spit out a small chunk, and then ate that one. He then went crazy and started eating all the brine I squeezed, though some were too big and he left alone. Then he got freaked out because I moved the pippette too much and stopped eating. THen he started going after all sorts of pods on the rocks. I have big amphipods, and he actually ate one. I think he's acclimating quickly now, he sits on top of the rockwork, and tries to eat anything that floats by! I think I reminded him that food is good.

His stomach is totally sunken in, but he's eating now

I'll keep feeding him brine, with a little mysis mixed in. Eventually I'll locate some cyclopeeze. Always good to give him a variety. But hopefully after feeding him reguarily, he'll fatten up. He may also start controlling my pod population, which is off the walls =P

 

[clord]

Nice job man.. mine does the same thing just sits on the rock and waits for something that looks like food and then he snaps at it.

Yeah cyclopeeze is always good to have on hand.