Blue cheak Goby real skinny

[Sea Turtle]

He is eating the sand very well, not as much as I used to see him though. He seems to hide a lot more than he used to. I don't understand why he is getting so skinny? Is there something that I should be feeding him?

 

[Ben1]

Will he eat pellet food? If so pellet food soaked with selcon should fatten him up. I would also feed mysis. If he isnt taking these and will only take live food feed him enriched live brine mixed with frozen mysis untill he will eat frozen mysis alone.

HTH

 

[ChrisRD]

I've never kept one, but have you tried frozen cyclopeeze or 'liquid life marine plankton' (squirt bottle with cyclopeeze in it).

Most of the smaller fish I've kept love the stuff and it's very nutrient rich...

 

[Sea Turtle]

I've never kept one, but have you tried frozen cyclopeeze or 'liquid life marine plankton' (squirt bottle with cyclopeeze in it).

Most of the smaller fish I've kept love the stuff and it's very nutrient rich...

I have tried this. I can't tell if he eats it or not. I just disloves into the water and blows all over the place.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Will he eat pellet food? If so pellet food soaked with selcon should fatten him up. I would also feed mysis. If he isnt taking these and will only take live food feed him enriched live brine mixed with frozen mysis untill he will eat frozen mysis alone.

HTH

I think that I will try the frozen mysis. Will he actually eat this stuff? I thought that they were maily filter feeders. I didn't think that they actually eat solids (brine, mysis, etc,).

 

[Sea Turtle]

I think that a main problem might be keeping the other fish from eating it up before he can get it. This seems to remind me of the mandarin fish that I had which didn't make it.....

 

[Sea Turtle]

Is this fish similar to keeping a mandarin fish?

 

[Anonymous]

Is he in a different place from the main feeding spot usually? Try looking at Melev's website - there's a section which desribes the Mandarin feeder he made. Might work for the jawfish, I'm not sure.

 

[Ben1]

It should eat Mysis or brine, mysis being the much better option. If it doesnt go for it you may need to ween it on frozen. In anycase, the goby in my sons tank eats anything from frozen to flake. That said he doesnt like my sons other fish so he wait untill some floats down by his face before he grabs it, the other fish in the tank are too aggresive of feeders for him so I always need to make sure enough food goes in so that he has some come his way.

The other option is the little red shrimp Arcti-pods from reef nutrition, they are bigger the cyclopeeze but smaller then the mysis and seems to be atrative to picky eaters.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Having very agressive feeing fish in the tank was the same problem with the manadarin fish. They not only eat all the food first but they scare the hell out of him.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I fed him tonight with a baster filled with brine shrimp. I shot it into his cave. I definently saw him eating the shrimp. I think that I'll go buy some mysis shrimp and chuck them into his hole. Let him suck on that! Thanks for the advice

 

[Sea Turtle]

Oh, by the way, my emerald crab "Emit" has decided that he is going to take over the goby's cave. Peace out blue cheak goby, there's a new sherif in town!!!

 

[Sea Turtle]

Well, here's an update. My blue cheek goby is eating frozen mysis shrimp and the emerald crab that was in his cave was pulled out of the cave by the goby and is dead. I have no idea what killed him. ANyway, I guess the goby is happy now.

 

[Ben1]

Cool glad to hear!

 

[Anonymous]

He is eating the sand very well, not as much as I used to see him though. He seems to hide a lot more than he used to. I don't understand why he is getting so skinny? Is there something that I should be feeding him?

as you've learned , it's not the sand, but what's in the sand, that counts

sleepers (both the valenciennea, and phalaena, and possibly/probably others) can decimate the typical amount of life/food found in a closed system right quick

(i seem to remember a billy joel tune 'all phalaena' )

get some other meaty foods in addition to the mysis to replace the brine shrimp with-(lower the frequency of the brine shrimp to 'snack/treats' level) -like chopped scallop, mussel,shrimp, etc etc and work/push/squirt them into the sand bed,(not too deeply-between the first 1/4 and 1/2 inch level is fine) in careful amounts (best to start small when feeding this way-hunger can be corrected more easily than polluting a sand bed )

hth

 

[Sea Turtle]

He is eating the sand very well, not as much as I used to see him though. He seems to hide a lot more than he used to. I don't understand why he is getting so skinny? Is there something that I should be feeding him?

as you've learned , it's not the sand, but what's in the sand, that counts

sleepers (both the valenciennea, and phalaena, and possibly/probably others) can decimate the typical amount of life/food found in a closed system right quick

(i seem to remember a billy joel tune 'all phalaena' )

get some other meaty foods in addition to the mysis to replace the brine shrimp with-(lower the frequency of the brine shrimp to 'snack/treats' level) -like chopped scallop, mussel,shrimp, etc etc and work/push/squirt them into the sand bed,(not too deeply-between the first 1/4 and 1/2 inch level is fine) in careful amounts (best to start small when feeding this way-hunger can be corrected more easily than polluting a sand bed )

hth

Thanks for the tip. I wil give it a try. I'm not so sure as to how well that will work as I have a cleaner shrimp, crabs, hermits and agressive feeding fish that will dig and devour it before my hand even comeout of the tank. They are routhless!! I did like the chopped scallop idea. This might very well work. That way all he has to eat is a chunk or two. I could trypushing it into his cave. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Just wanted to update everyone on this situation. The blue cheek goby is eating and well. Vitz, thanks for the advice on chopping up some scallop. I went to the grocery store and bought some collasal scalops. I cut little tiny strips of it and tried to hand feed the goby. I hold it infront of his hole and he comes out and eats it right out of my hand. It's so cool.

Now not only does he eat but he eats out my hand.

He keeps it up and he's gonna have to find a larger cave. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Good to hear! 8)

 

[Anonymous]

When he gets to that point, you must photograph him and make it into an LOLcat.

Something like this...

(Yeah, I'm quite amused by the danged cats.)

 

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to update everyone on this situation. The blue cheek goby is eating and well. Vitz, thanks for the advice on chopping up some scallop. I went to the grocery store and bought some collasal scalops. I cut little tiny strips of it and tried to hand feed the goby. I hold it infront of his hole and he comes out and eats it right out of my hand. It's so cool.

Now not only does he eat but he eats out my hand.

He keeps it up and he's gonna have to find a larger cave. :lol:

np -glad it's helping