Yellow Clown Goby no color?

[Jarred Darque]

ok, normally the light schedule goes like this (not counting length of time, just order)

Night time, ALL lights off
Daylight in room
Room light comes on
Tank lights come on
---------------------------
Darkness outside
Tank lights go off
Room lights go off


Taht is normally how things go, but due to the time change and me being out of town this morning/afternoon, I came in after tank lights where off, so that is when the room lights came on, just for a few hours


ANYWAYS, my yellow clown goby has NO color, he is very pale whiteish color, is this typical when the lights go out and I have just never seen him before immediately after all the lights have been off?

 

[melosu58]

I think this is normal JD. When my lights come on my yellow tang is pale yellow and within an hour or two he is back to normal. What is he like a few hours later?

 

[Jarred Darque]

I wont know what he is like until tomorrow morn, my rom lights are already off again, only on long enough to set my laptop back up.

this is what I hoped, one of my FW fish, my african buterfly, goes from black/brown coloration to a sickly looking white at night, but I figured i would just check.

Is it a defense mechanism, or just energy saving or what?

 

[melosu58]

I dont really know what causes it except I dont think it`s saving energy. I`ll have to research.

 

[Sadielynn]

Fish can lose color if stressed ..On the other hand they also can lose color while sleeping to blend a bit better into thier surroundings I believe that a female will go to a grey color right before mating (refrenced on wet web media) ... it is normal but he should color up a bit after
"waking" up ... Just keep an eye on him make sure he is eating and that the water perameters are up to par ..
Ammonia 0
NitrIte 0
NitrAte less than 20
Ph is stable 8.0- 8.4
Salanity is not swinging stable 1.023-1.025
and that your temps are stable not swinging more than 2* in 24 hours

 

[melosu58]

it is normal but he should color up a bit after
"waking" up

If he`s doing this you should be OK

 

[Sadielynn]

I referenced this from several sources...
but here is what I found. When they are a "pair" the female generally turns grey , did they have more than one in a tank it is possible that she was "pairing" and getting ready to mate . This has been noted on many different gobies species. Through experience I have seen them lighten their color at night time which makes it hard to see them at night . This I believe to be a defence mechanism . I can not say for absolute that it is not something other than , but of all the gobies that I have had most would return color after the tank "woke" up generally about an 1 hour or so .Is the goby displaying any other behaviors such as "mouthing" . What other inhabitants do you house in the tank . Is there more than one goby in the tank ?
How long have you had him/her ?
My feeling is that you should be ok , keeping in mind that most gobies are wild caught with cyanide , and that when they eat it is not processed signs of this is a concaved belly , as an added measure you may wish to add 1 or 2 drops of selcon to the food , soaking it in it for about 5 minutes to boost immunity . I am going to say that he is stressed and night time is stressing as they are more vulnerable at that time. Give him/her time to settle in and you should see that once they are comfortable in their surroundings that they don't lose that much color but do color down a bit at night . Just keep him/her well fed and the parameters in check and he/she should come around ...All in all I think he should be fine ..

 

[austinsdad]

keeping in mind that most gobies are wild caught with cyanide

I'd like to see any reference to that notion if you can, otherwise we shouldn't say things like that. Sorry if I'm just uninformed, but I'd like to confirm that.

THX

 

[Scoot]

I think its pretty normal.

My clown goby goes almost clear in the dark. Brightens up right away.

My blue tang pales really fast when its lights out, and my YT pales a lot too, and has a wide white stripe down its side.

 

[melosu58]

My yellow tang has been doing it every nite for nine yrs now

 

[Jarred Darque]

OK thanks guys! The Goby looks fine this morning, and tank lights arent even on yet, tank has a little bit of ambient light from outside and my room



(BTW my tank normally only sees 4 or 5 hours max of complete darkness, is this ok? The rest of the time there is at least some ambient light on somewhere)




Well, I did have my first death lastnight some time, a Hermit crab, cause unknown, I dont now where his shell is, so it may havbe been another hermit looking for a larger home, I guess I need to get some extra shells asap. Irelaly dont think the camel shrimp did this, may have ben the misc. mithrax (I think it is a banded clgining crab, i.e. anemone crab) but he is missing his larger claw, so I would think that his abilities to kill large stuff is limited :/

 

[Sadielynn]

Watch with cammel shrimps as they will pick at zoas and other softies. As for the hermit it may have been a molt they look like the real thing it is a defense mechanisim against prey till their exoskeleton hardens . The ambient light should not create a problem . But if you want to darken it a bit you may wrap a towel or something around it .

 

[roka64]

Rereading your original post. It could be the lighting is confusing him. I would go to Wal-Mart and invest in a timer, to keep the lighting consistant. They should run around $12-15. I have a forktail blenny that would change colors when stressed or sleeping.

 

[Sadielynn]

Austinsdad , There is still alot of research supporting cyanide capture, of course this depends on location of the fishes capture . Some areas have outlawed this practice however there are areas such as the philipines that still observe this practice. With out an autopsy on the fish it is next to impossible to say with 100% certianty that this is the cause to the demise of any fish not just gobies. Here are a few links that verify that this is still a used practice there are far more links to verify this but these are all that I had time to go through . You can certianly be your own judge on this but it is still a widely used practice .
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/eb/index.php
http://www.thekrib.com/Marine/cyanide.html
http://www.spc.int/coastfish/News/LRF/5/5Cyanide.htm
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-01/sp/index.php
The continuing use of cyanide in the collection of marine fishes by Bob Fenner is also one such writing .

 

[Jarred Darque]

There is a timer on the lights already

Problem is is that my schedule makes me have te tank lights turn on at around noon and turn off at 10pmish

The dead hermit is def not a molt, there is meat attatched to the legs, and the legs are the normal colloring, red tips and everything.. dead hermit :/

As for the camel shrimp, I know, He has not messed with the mushrooms or the single polyp in the tank thouhg....kinda wish he would go after the apastia since I havent gotten a peppermint for that yet.

 

[roka64]

I run my lights from 2-10PM, so I can have some viewing time when I get home at 7PM. I have seen my hermits molt and it looked exactly like the real deal. You can get a lot of cheap shells at a craft store.

 

[Jarred Darque]

ok, I will continue to count hermits, so far I have only counted 6, I have 7....

BTW turns out I have another death too :/ seems one of my hermits removed a nessarius to get a new home. down to 2 snails...need ot get some more.

 

[Sadielynn]

Camels are not known to eat aptasia, their cousins the peppermint are .The species Lysmata wurdemanni is the one you want not Lysmata californica they are said to not be as good at eating aptasia . http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/aiptasia/aippepshrpfaqs.htm

 

[Jarred Darque]

I know sadie I was just saying,

 

[austinsdad]

Austinsdad , There is still alot of research supporting cyanide capture,

Yep. I'm with you on that, but I thought it maybe a little off base to say that "most gobies are caught" with it. That's all.

Thanks for the links.