How can I keep Sleeper Gold Head Goby alive???

[yfn20]

Hi,

I just wondered if someone can give me some advice on Sleeper Gold Head Goby.

I have just bought one 3" long Sleeper Gold Head Goby. It is actually my 4th attempt. All previous attempts were awful, they all ended up starved to death, because they just hid under the live rock as I think they were bullied.

This time I thought I would go for a bigger one, so that it would not be bullied as badly. It now hides behind my protein skimmer near the surface most of the time, and sometimes under the rocks. So far, I have only seen it took two mouthfuls of sands in the past two days. Also, it hides even further under the rocks whenever I walk past the tank.

I have already isolated the biggest bully. What else can I do? Please Help!!!

Thanks in advance.

Fai

 

[StripesTheEel]

Hey,

A hard fish to keep IMO. I have had two pairs. One quite large pair 5" and a smallish pair 3". The large pair starved to death, similiar to yours.. And the female of the smaller pair also lost alot of energy due to not eating and got sucked into a powerhead. Only the male is left of the smaller species and is doing quite well..

You really need to make sure they are eating at the LFS before purchasing. 99% of the time they are just plucked straight off the bottom of the ocean floor where there is plenty of food in the sand..

Theyre a tricky little fish; mandarin - pods, cleaner wrasse - parasites, golden head sleeper gobies - live sand..

Good luck with it, mix up your foods..

What is the tank size?
What are the tankmates?
What are you feeding?
NO3, trites and trate readings?

 

[yfn20]

What is the tank size?
What are the tankmates?
What are you feeding?
NO3, trites and trate readings?

Thank you so much for your reply.

The tank is only about 150 litres.

Tankmates:
Three Stripe Damselfish (currently isolated)
Yellowtail Damselfish
Clownfish x2
Blue Tang
Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp x2
Sally Lightfoot Crab
+ some snails

Foods (mixed):
New Line Spectrum small fish formula
TetraMarin Flask Food
Nutrafin marine complete food

Water quality was good when I tested a few days ago.

How can you distinguish male and female?

Should I use some sinking morsels and hope the goby will eat them?

Would other sand sifter gobies be easier to keep? How about the Diamond Watchman Goby?

 

[StripesTheEel]

return the damsels, and the blue tang is/or will become too large for that tank..

i'd feed mysis shrimp, plankton, bloodworms, nori.. anything.. u need to see what it will take..

males and females are distinguished by the colouration on their face.

diamond watch goby is good, but i wouldnt give up on the golden head yet..

 

[clownface]

i have had my golden head sleeper for about 2 months and i can tell you try some marine couisine soaked in any type of garlic,i do that and soak the food in selcon, freezed dried shrimp also has worked for me

 

[yfn20]

I have relased the Three Stripe Damselfish back into the tank, but it has chased the goby all day long ever since. The goby is now quite badly beaten. I have isolated the goby from the tank, so that it can have a good rest. What should I do now? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

To be honest, the Three Stripe Damselfish has such a bad temper, it basically bullies every single newcomer. I'm tempted to remove it from the tank and give it away.

Can the Diamond Watchman Goby handle such a bully?

 

[oyf709]

Ifu don't have arefugium already, I would suggest u have one and wait till ur refugium well populated with Pods then u can let the goby acclimate in the refugium first after it get use to ur water then see if u can move it to the main tank.
its just a thought but i think it could work, works fine with my 4 mandarines i kept and they even breed in my tank =)

 

[StripesTheEel]

Get rid of the damsel, nothing but problems for future fish you may add to your system.

 

[melosu58]

I agree the damsel will be problem

 

[yfn20]

I have given away the Three Stripe Damsel a few days ago. The goby seems a lot calmer, at least it does not hide behind my protein skimmer anymore.

However, everytime someone gets near the tank, it will zoom to the bottom of the rock. I don't mind it that much, but it might be a problem when it comes to feeding. When I feed, the goby will just stay under the rock. By the time, it feels more comfortable to come out, most of the foods would have been eaten, so I can't tell if it gets any foods at all. I guess there is nothing I can do, right?

BTW, how long can gold head goby stay alive for in an aquarium? I have spoken to a few people, they all said a few months at the most if you are lucky. Is that true? and why?

 

[djmpj2]

We have had our golby for quite some time now. In the beginning he was very shy but now he is the boldest in the tank. He loves when people come to look at the tank and swims around. He is quite an agressive eater. Not in a bad way. I just mean he gives the clowns a run for their money in the chase for the food. I feed frozen mysis and brine.

He is constantly sifting sand. But, when the lights go off he swims SO fast into his cave. He is like a shot. My husband has told poeple to watch because it's so funny. Also, another habit of our golby is he fills the small doorway to his cave with sand EVERY night to lock himself in and unblocks it every morning. He is extremely entertaining to watch. The worste things about him is when he goes on a cleaning frenzy and makes our tank look so smokey it looks like they had a smokey poker game in there. We have not found him hard to keep.

DJ