hi fin goby question

[Mavrk]

I got a Hi Fin Red Banded Goby (Stonogobiops nematodes) on Sunday and he is still hiding in his burrow. I was wondering how long it takes for them to feel comfortable and come out more often.

Also, is there a way to encourage them to move to a different spot. The place it chose is not terrible, but is not ideal either. I don't want to stress him now, but I was thinking about trying to get him to move later.

[Snowboarda42]

I'd give it more time. Most new fish that are shy (such as this) will take time before they get used to seeing you and whomever else walking around the tank, as well as other inhabitants.

Don't try to get him to move to another spot, it will only make matters worse with more stress, and even delay him from coming out into the open.

Just make sure you drop some food in front of his burrow during feeding time and he will eventually start to come out more.

Keep us updated!

[pledosophy]

Mine was always kind of reclusive even though the tank had no other fast swimming fish in it.

Just the nature of the speices IME

They are a cool little fish. I wish myself they came out more.

[BangkokMatt]

They rarely swim around outside the burrow. He may hang around or just poke his head out. Is t eating?

[Mavrk]

It is eating fine. I have been spot feeding outside the burrow. I can see a little bit into the burrow and sometimes I catch a glimps of it. Sometimes it comes out a little to eat.

I would not think of trying to get it to move any time soon. I was just wondering if it is possible to do. The spot is not bad if he decides to come out the front instead of the back, so I always spot feed to the front I have seen it go out the back a couple times. I don't mind if he sits out of the burrow and does not swim around (I don't really expect it to swim around, but I have seen some that will come swim around during feeding time). In fact, I'd be happy if he sat outside his burrow for longer during feeding time.

I know it takes time, I was just wondering about other's experiences. Thanks for the replies. I'll keep you updated.

[Sk8r]

mine are always out mooching...it depends a lot on what's in the tank with a lot of small gobies, or even the largest ones.

You can see my fish list below. Having 3 is an accident: I recovered a sump-diver weeks later. They fussed around for a week [there is a pair] and finally took to mostly the same burrow with 2 exits. They get along well with the pearly jawfish and stole her burrows one after another until they found one they like.

If your tank is such that you can keep a candycane pistol shrimp out of the sump [they're tiny] you might embolden your goby, but be sure to have all the gobies you want before you introduce a pistol, because there is a report of a tiger pistol attacking a spare YWG, and one would hate that to happen here.

Feeding frozen cyclopeeze helps, because it persists in the water and makes them come out for an extended time.

Your clowns may be part of the reason this fish is staying hidden, but a pistol would slow down any aggression against it.

[Mavrk]

Originally posted by Sk8r
mine are always out mooching...it depends a lot on what's in the tank with a lot of small gobies, or even the largest ones.

You can see my fish list below. Having 3 is an accident: I recovered a sump-diver weeks later. They fussed around for a week [there is a pair] and finally took to mostly the same burrow with 2 exits. They get along well with the pearly jawfish and stole her burrows one after another until they found one they like.

If your tank is such that you can keep a candycane pistol shrimp out of the sump [they're tiny] you might embolden your goby, but be sure to have all the gobies you want before you introduce a pistol, because there is a report of a tiger pistol attacking a spare YWG, and one would hate that to happen here.

Feeding frozen cyclopeeze helps, because it persists in the water and makes them come out for an extended time.

Your clowns may be part of the reason this fish is staying hidden, but a pistol would slow down any aggression against it.

Thanks for the tips. I have been meaning to get some cyclopeeze. I am planning on more gobies, so I will avoid the pistol for now. I think the YWG is my next fish.

[Mavrk]

BTW, I haven't seen any agression, I think it is just being careful.

[Mavrk]

I haven't seen my hi fin for a few days. It either moved to the other side of the tank or it is gone. Before I got him, I wanted to rearrange the rock work on the left side of my tank to allow for better circulation. But I never got around to it. Since the hi fin decided to take up camp there, I decided to forget about it. Now that I don't see him I think I will go ahead and move that side around. If I see him, I will stop so I don't disturb his lair.

If he truly did not make it, then I don't have any idea why. I drip acclimated for a long time (2.5 hours) because the salinity at the LFS was so low. He was fine for 5 days even though he did not come out. My water parameters are stable:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5-10 ppm (this was at 0 until a couple weeks ago, but I don't have corals yet so this is fine for now)
Salinity 35 ppt
Calcium 420
Alkalinity 8-9 dKH
pH 8.0 (has been this low since Winter started as I expected, during summer and fall it was 8.3-8.4)
Temp 80 F

[Mavrk]

Well, he wasn't in his spot, so maybe he moved to the other pile (or he disappeared). If he died, the bristle worms, shrimp, and nassarius snails would have made short work of him so I wouldn't know.

I hope he lived. Mysterious fish deaths are the worst. At least if my parameters were off there would be a reason.

[BangkokMatt]

There is a good chance he will turn up. They check out lots of different areas. They can be gone for weeks before you see them again.

[Mavrk]

Originally posted by BangkokMatt
There is a good chance he will turn up. They check out lots of different areas. They can be gone for weeks before you see them again.

That's encouraging. I can only hope. Of course with my rock rearrangement there are lots of new places to hide so it may be a while if he is still alive. I am planning on adding a YWG next week (if the LFS gets some in). I know they tend to be out more.