Newly Built 29 Gallon Tank Up And Ready

[carey]

My watchman started out bright yellow but due to stress he has changed to a greyish white. They all should be yellow. lol

Just watch him and he should change back to yellow when he gets over whatever his issue is. Mine has been this color for at least a week.

He did look like this

Now he looks like this

 

[Lioness2]

Holy crazy! He looks just like mine LOL with that silver color. I got three different answers at the lfs about how he is a baby and will change yellow when he grows, that it is female so its silver, and that there are differnt species of watchman. Its good to know whats reallt wrong now!! How often do you feed? I fed mysis shrimp last night and I didnt see him eat a thing.

 

[carey]

Mine def changed due to stress. Whe I did a water change it took him about 3 days to go back to yellow. Then I added some new fish and crabs and a shrimp about 2 weeks ago and he hasnt changed back yet. :-(

Mine eats frozen brine and mysis mostly, I squirt some into his area as he is not the most aggressive fish when it comes to food. Mine alos sifts the sand sometimes looking for food too.

When I remove the clowns from that tank I think he will change colors back, I think the clowns always swimming around everywhere has him confused. lol

Do you have a pciture of yours? Maybe he is in fact a different species of watchman. I have a white and pink one in another tank for instance. Just to be sure.

 

[Lioness2]

Aww that's so sad! He was such a pretty color. I hope he changes back!

I think I figured out why mine has been that silvery color. When we picked him up from the lfs all he had in the tank was a rock, nothing else. Probably stressed the life out of him.

I tried to take a picture of him but he wasn't being very photogenic today! All he wanted to do was hide his back end in the hole and open his mouth at me! LOL. I added a couple pictures of what I could get of him but he really didn't want his picture taken (not that I blame him!).

I've been giving him mysis and a bit of brine shrimp but when I use the feeding tongs I don't think he gets to it fast enough. I have to do a bit of reading on other ways of feeding for him.

 

[carey]

i use a regular turkey baster and shoot the food at mine;s little burrow. Works remarkably well for all my special needs fish.

And yep, thats defintiely a yellow watchman, not some other species. You can tell by the frown he has, they all have this grumpy old man look to them.
lol

Just be gentle with him and keep things stable and maybe his color will come back. thats what I;m hoping will happen with mine.

Mine also eats the teeny tiny pellets that new life sells, I pout themin the frozen food mixture and shoot them in there too. I laso add a few drops of garlic extreme to help my other fishies eat. The mandarin is a pain to get to eat so I figured it can't hurt. Plus garlic is a good antioxidant, supposed to be very good for fish.

 

[Lioness2]

Lolll he does look old and grumpy. I think that's part of his cuteness. I hope he will do better than he was in the store. When I turn the lights out he swims around the whole tank and near the top as well sometimes. I'm hoping that having the pistol with him might help too.

Thanks for the idea with the turkey baster! It's def. more cheap than the coral feeders. I've been feeding every other day. Would that be too little for him? I've been reading that he should eat 2-3 times a day.

 

[carey]

If he isnt really eating I would feed him everyday. At least to get him started. I feed my tank 2X a day cause of the scooter and my mandarin so I'm way overfeeding. lol

Overfeeding can wreak havoc on your water parameters so try to feed as little as possible just enough so you know he is eating something.

Just my opinion. It should help. Plus fish do take days sometimes to get into the eating thing so just be patient. I've been lucky in that all my new arrivals usually eat on the first day but each fish is different.