New watchman goby

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PhylumCnidaria

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 10, 2018
Messages
47
A couple days ago I got a watchman goby and it was doing fine, then I went to dinner and came back, seeing the watchman goby nowhere, but found him under a rock the next morning in good health, but I have a 1 inch ocellaris clownfish and a 2 and a half inch coral beauty (don’t worry I’m upgrading from my 29g) that go crazy over mysis shrimp and attack the food as I bring the pipette under the rock to dispense the food and I don’t know if he is getting any of it, and, quoting the guy at my LFS “if you don’t feed it it will die” so I’m wondering if I should get sinking pellets to get into the cave that he’s in, or continue feeding him without knowing if he’s actually eating. I know that hiding for these watchman gobies is natural, especially since I have a pistol shrimp, but can you give me a more reliable method of feeding?
 
Water parameters are in check



This doesn’t really tell us anything. The only thing we know about your tank is there is a coral beauty in the system that will be moved to a larger system.
There are a lot of factors that can have pointed us in this direction. Without knowing the details, tank size, current parameters, tank inhabitants, and so on we won’t be able to even guess to point you in the right direction.
 
Ok I have updated parameters and info: water parameters aren’t as good, most recent test (2d ago) nitrates 20 ppm, salinity 1.021, ammonia 0.25 ppm, nitrites 0ppm, alkalinity 7.9, calcium 370. We put in a dose of reef code a and b. Tank inhabitants are one ocellaris clown, a coral beauty (around 2 inches), a 1” yellow watchman goby (?) a tiger pistol shrimp, duncan lps coral, gsp, hammer coral, zoanthids and a leather toadstool, and a war coral. For cleanup crew, I have 3 turban snails, one nassarius snail, and 4 hermit crabs. The ammonia and nitrate rise are supposedly from me accidentally disturbing the sand bed
 
Some stores keep fish in hyposalinity so a 20 minute drip acclimation could of not been enough.
 
I’m seeing a tank that isn’t properly cycled.
You earlier stated that you had ammonia and nitrite readings because you disturbed the sandbed? That doesn’t happen in a system that has a well established base of beneficial bacteria.
 
What bribo said! I like to check the store parameters, usually use a float container and add water for an hour before releasing. Slow and steady. Your system does not sound fully cycled as you should not be reading any ammonia. The nitrate reading doesn't seem all the high for fish, maybe sps though. And there is always the very real possibility of poor stock which is completely out of your hands. I've never seen a healthy looking watchmen at the Lfs, healthy by my standards anyways.. they are small and skinny. I actually just got a new one a couple months ago. He got his own hotel room for a month prior to meeting the rest of the crew. Wanted to see him eat and gain some mass first. He did... small and skinny when I got him.
 
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