Zestie, the Lemon Goby

[Kbud]

Hi everybody!

I am quite excited to officially announce my first marine fish: a lemon goby!!
Anyway, for a friendly and docile species from the Maldives, there isn't a lot of info on it. As a noob to the reef hobby, I don't have much of a food supply yet. I have just been giving him New Life Spectrum Marine fish 0.5 mm sinking pellets. Watching him eat is quite entertaining. He likes to grab his food and run with it. He always seems to chew on it for a bit, and then spit it out, before grabbing it again and repeating the process. Eventually he just spits it out and lets it float away. Does anyone else have fish who do this?
Anyway, processed foods are good and all, but I want to supply him with a more varied diet. Therefore, I am working on culturing him some brine shrimp. Will he eat the nutritious babies, or only the adults? I hear lemon gobies LOVE brine shrimp. Sadly, I have to epoxy some leaks on my homemade hatchery before I can put it into action. I am going to get that done as soon as I can. I was disappointed to see that he doesn't do too much grazing or sand-sifting.
In any case, his colors have been a bit more dull recently. Do you think this is because he needs a more varied diet? As mentioned above, I am working on implementing a brine shrimp hatchery.
Does anybody else have experiences with these great fish? I would love to learn even more about them and their behavior. Please share if you know anything!!!!!! Also, I read that gobies are sometimes not tolerant of other gobies. Does this mean that a rainford's goby is out of the question? I would love to get one for its grazing tendencies and sand-sifting nature.


Thank you Reefcentral Community!!!!!
Kbud

 

[Betta132]

You don't need to culture brine shrimp for gobies, just buy frozen food. I suggest a mix of foods or frozen mysis, though, frozen brine is mostly water.
Go to your local LFS and look for a food that'll offer a mix of frozen foods, preferably both meaty and plant-based. That's the best thing you can feed your fish without constantly raising live foods.
Looks like your 'lemon goby' is a variety of clown goby... They're usually okay with other gobies, just not other clown gobies. He looks like what's normally called a citrus goby, which is a variety of clown goby that tends to get a smidge larger than others. You better call him a clown or citrus goby in future, true lemon gobies are actually a rare species that's not commonly seen anywhere. If you google 'clown goby' or 'citrus goby' you should get a few more care results. They probably won't look like yours, but if they're the same shape the same care applies, yellow clown gobies are just a more unusual color.
In a 6g, though, I think you should try something other than a rainford's. You could try a neon goby, but they only live a couple of years. A Hector's goby may work, they're small and will nibble on hair algae and sift sand, basically a smaller, green-tinted rainford's.
Dulling colors can mean he needs more variety and nutrients, ie more frozen food, or it can mean his water is a little bit dirty and needs changing.
I'd suggest a cleaner shrimp of some kind, they're awesome to watch and can often be taught to come eat food out of your hands.
Have you considered mushroom corals? They're neat and hardy.

 

[Kbud]

A cleaner shrimp would be awesome! I will have to do some research on a Hector's goby - they sound pretty. The only problem is that I don't want to exceed my bioload or tank capacity. I know for sure that I am getting a pom pom crab, but I don't think they put in too much of a bio load if they are so small. I know my corals have little bioloads as well. With a 6 g., would a cleaner shrimp, pom pom and Hector's, along with my citrus goby?

Also, would live foods still work? I am thinking of maybe culturing brine shrimp every once in a while as a treat, but I do know that it isn't the water quality that is dulling his colors. All my key levels are fine, and I do partial water changes and tests every week faithfully.
I'll grab some frozens as soon as I can. Will San Francisco Bay Brand frozen foods work? They are pretty much the only brand around here.
Don't mushrooms get too big for nanos?

Thank you so much,
Kbud

 

[Betta132]

I particularly suggest scarlet skunk cleaners; they get reasonably large and their whiskers are pretty neat, but they have a very low bio-load and are reef-safe.
Hmm... I think that sounds like a decent stocking level, assuming you have a decent bit of rock. Hector's gobies usually stay under 2" long and are slim, so with weekly water changes you'd do fine.
I'd be mildly concerned about the crab's anemones, but you'll probably be fine.
You can use live foods if you want, sure, but after a day or two baby brine shrimp lose all their nutritional value and become basically flavored water, if that's what you're planning to feed.
Sure, that brand of food should work, just try to vary it a bit.
They can get big, but just a few mushrooms should be alright. Most of them aren't massive.

 

[Kbud]

That sounds great! All of those things would really complete the tank! I do water changes every week and have 4 pounds of live rock in my tank. The filter additionally contains bio balls and ceramic rings for additional housing for helpful bacteria. With all this in mind, I'm hoping the tank can support the inhabitants, so long as Maitinence is kept up and I introduce inhabitants gradually. What do you think?

 

[Betta132]

I think you'd be alright... I'd suggest no more than three critters every two months. Corals don't count as critters unless they're huge, so you can add thing like zooanthids whenever you'd like.
I'd suggest you try to add a bit more rock... As a general rule, you want at minimum one pound of rock per gallon, but more is better. The rings in the filter should help, too.
Good luck! This hobby really isn't that difficult if you know what you're doing, and you're definitely doing plenty of research.