On the Neon Goby thing, they do fine in the normal reef aquarium at normal reef temperatures. Mine are kept in the 79-81 range. They are naturally short-lived though and may only last about a year naturally.
As mentioned, they will also take prepared foods like flake, brine shrimp, etc. as long as it is fairly small. I personally haven't tried cleaner shrimp and wrasses, because I have heard that they will not necessarily take other foods and will die when the parasites are gone.
In my one experience with neons and disease, several fish including my hippo came down with something that was introduced on a new fish. It was not quite ick, but similar. There were spots, but they were fuzzier than normal ick and amost looked like a form of velvet. In this instance, the neons cleaned up any signs of the disease within a few days and all affected fish recovered just fine. That was a couple of months ago and the way that the apparently healthy fish still seem to enjoy visiting the cleaning station for a once over makes me think that the neons will definitely help to prevent any new major outbreak of parasites whether it be ick or something else. Since I find it basically impossible to catch fish in my tank for treatment, I am happy to potentially find a more natural method of disease control.
The only fish in my tank that seem to really enjoy the cleaners attention and go to the station to be cleaned are the tangs and I wonder if they perhaps naturally have a stronger bond with cleaners in the wild as well.
--- Ken
As mentioned, they will also take prepared foods like flake, brine shrimp, etc. as long as it is fairly small. I personally haven't tried cleaner shrimp and wrasses, because I have heard that they will not necessarily take other foods and will die when the parasites are gone.
In my one experience with neons and disease, several fish including my hippo came down with something that was introduced on a new fish. It was not quite ick, but similar. There were spots, but they were fuzzier than normal ick and amost looked like a form of velvet. In this instance, the neons cleaned up any signs of the disease within a few days and all affected fish recovered just fine. That was a couple of months ago and the way that the apparently healthy fish still seem to enjoy visiting the cleaning station for a once over makes me think that the neons will definitely help to prevent any new major outbreak of parasites whether it be ick or something else. Since I find it basically impossible to catch fish in my tank for treatment, I am happy to potentially find a more natural method of disease control.
The only fish in my tank that seem to really enjoy the cleaners attention and go to the station to be cleaned are the tangs and I wonder if they perhaps naturally have a stronger bond with cleaners in the wild as well.
--- Ken
