Mandarin Goby- service announcement

[DJLiquid]

I just want to announce that my Mandarin Goby has died after 3 months of living in a 14 gallon nano bio cube. He basically (as the experienced have mentioned here) starved to death because of a lack of copepods available for him to eat. So, when your LFS rep. says that the Mandarin Goby is eating just fine, don't believe it. The Mandarin Goby's behaviour as I observed "appears" like it is always eating, because they do alot of "picking" of live rock and algae or substrate. But, if you look closely they aren't ingesting anything. Learn from me and others, that Mandarin Goby's only belong in large established aquariums with a large continuous supply of copepods to live long and prosper.

 

[rob28]

sorry to hear.

 

[melosu58]

Thank you for sharing your experience. One thing I would like to say is yes dont believe the LFS when he says it is eating but I would add that you can ask the LFS to feed the fish and see for yourself that it is eating no matter what the fish is. This is what I do before I buy a fish. I tell the LFS that I want to see it eat and he feeds them and I actually see it eat. That way you know and see what it is eating. Again thanks and you info was well taken.

 

[roka64]

Although it is an unfortunate experience for both you and your fish, it is a lesson learned and you can now pass this experience on to the newer members of the site. I am sorry for your loss.
This is the same thing that happened to my scotter blenny. I had him in a well established 55G and he appeared to be eating prepared foods. Like the madarin, they do tend to graze all day long. The same can be said of many other fish like a lw=awn mower blenny.
Thanks again for your honesty and personal experience!

 

[Fierro Nights]

ive had my scooter for a few months now, i feed it tubifex worms, blood worms, mysid shrimp, and brine shrimp. it eats everything, it will even go to my yellow polyps and eat any food that my polyps where able to catch out of the current before they ingest them.

i hope he makes it, he seems plump and i cannot see his bones like ones at the fish store.

i was looking at getting a LM blenny, i only have a few very tiny patches of algae for it, and alot of crud on the back glass but i was hoping it would eat the seaweed i put in the tank for the crabs, will that work out?

do those things eat coraline though? im happy to see a couple of patches of coraline on my glass, its exciting but i dont want to see them eaten.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

It's always interesting that people read about these fish, but always think "it won't happen to me" and truly believe their tank will be different. Guess it's just human nature.

Thanks for the post DJLiquid. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Fierro Nights]

my fish eats, my fish eats !