Clown Goby

[Jennie]

Has anyone kept one of these, and if so, what was your experience with them?

 

[Jennie]

Oops, where did I post that?

Any comments anyone?? I've got till 5o today!

 

[djconn]

You posted in the General Section. No biggie.

I think clown gobies are awesome. They are small, non aggressive and I think pretty hardy. I'm trying to find a few for my tanks as well but they've been hard to come by recently for some reason.

 

[Jennie]

The little LFS in the next town over got one in, it's so tiny. From what I've read it only gets about 1 1/2". With it being 10.00 I told him I would probably pick it up today, after I read up on them some.

 

[djconn]

Yeah, $10 is a pretty good price. I've seen them as cheap as $6. As long as you don't have any other really aggressive fish in your tank, I think he would be a great addition.

Incysor is the fish expert. Maybe he will chime in as well.

 

[ExiledInfidel666]

as iv been informed by insycor they like to perch on acro's until they kill the acro off, if you have a lot of acro's youl be better off because it should move around them and theil have recovery time

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

they also may have a tendency to pick at coral polyps.

 

[djconn]

Interesting. Never heard that.

 

[incysor]

I haven't seen them pick at corals, but then I don't have SPS. It's possible that they'll pick at that, but most of the negative things I've read about them with SPS has been about their perching on the coral keeping the polyps from extending. If you don't keep SPS in your tank, and you don't have another clown goby I can't think of any reason not to get one.

I would ask the guys at the store to feed the tank and see if it eats. My wife and I have bought 4 different ones in the last 2 months and none of them made it because they never ate. (It's one sign that they might have been caught using cyanide.)

And before you ask, my wife bought 3 at once. Then I tried again a few weeks later with one. I'll probably try again, but not unless I see the little bugger eat at the store.

 

[djconn]

That is disappointing. :cry:

I've been having problems finding a healthy one as well. They all look way too skinny.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Talking about clown gobies, mine has finally started to feed off of brine shrimp, flakes and mysis shrimp. For the longest time I had a problem that he simply wouldn't eat.

I watched him for weeks always chubby put never eating. Finally found out he ran out of copepods to eat and was forced to join in with the other fish to eat, my hand outs...

Man was finally pleased to see him eat...

Mike

 

[incysor]

I got one Monday night that ate brine in the shop. I saw it go after food last night when I fed the tank, so hopefully my unlucky streak is over.

:?

B

 

[opihi]

they do perch in SPS corals, inhibiting polyp extension. IME, they're best in larger tanks with multiple SPS colonies for them to choose from. if you just have a few colonies, they'll get so much "perch time" that you'll rarely see your polyps.

clown gobies are also highly territorial and don't do well in groups. if you try to keep more than one, they should really have about 3 feet of space for each fish. *sometimes* they will be okay if they're a male/female pair, but i've read that they will rub off tissue from the bottom of SPS corals and lay their eggs there.

hth