Fish acclimated poorly or just taking time to adjust?

[Reffetsevla]

Finally got rid of my aggressive TSB and picked up a Yellow Watchman Goby. I did a 2.5-3hr drip acclimation, then dropped him in.

I would love to get a QT setup done, but right now just not feasible with my little AIO.

Since introduction to the tank, he's done almost nothing but swim up and down aggressively at the glass. He's not "flaring" his fins or mouth in an aggressive manner like I would expect if he were trying to intimidate another goby, but maybe he's angry at seeing himself? I know I get angry looking at myself (other reasons I'm sure).

It's only been a day, but he hasn't really seemed too interested in food yet. Just swimming at the glass. He had a rough morning too as he got his small butt into the back of the AIO. Which required me to remove all equipment and spend 2 hours netting him. An old net has since been butchered to make nets for the intakes now.

Aside from a QT or dip treatment, should I do anything else during acclimation? Was I too quick and now he's unhappy?

FWIW I use a cooler filled with water, with a powerhead and pump plugged into my cars AC for livestock transport. It's kept at the same 78-79 I keep my tank, so the temp acclimation begins the moment I put him in the cooler. Then I did a few hours of drip acclimation to adjust to parameters once home while floating the bag as well.

Appreciate the input!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Finally got rid of my aggressive TSB and picked up a Yellow Watchman Goby. I did a 2.5-3hr drip acclimation, then dropped him in.

I would love to get a QT setup done, but right now just not feasible with my little AIO.

Since introduction to the tank, he's done almost nothing but swim up and down aggressively at the glass. He's not "flaring" his fins or mouth in an aggressive manner like I would expect if he were trying to intimidate another goby, but maybe he's angry at seeing himself? I know I get angry looking at myself (other reasons I'm sure).

It's only been a day, but he hasn't really seemed too interested in food yet. Just swimming at the glass. He had a rough morning too as he got his small butt into the back of the AIO. Which required me to remove all equipment and spend 2 hours netting him. An old net has since been butchered to make nets for the intakes now.

Aside from a QT or dip treatment, should I do anything else during acclimation? Was I too quick and now he's unhappy?

FWIW I use a cooler filled with water, with a powerhead and pump plugged into my cars AC for livestock transport. It's kept at the same 78-79 I keep my tank, so the temp acclimation begins the moment I put him in the cooler. Then I did a few hours of drip acclimation to adjust to parameters once home while floating the bag as well.

Appreciate the input!

Can you post a short video taken under white light?

What was the salinity change between the tank of origin and the destination tank?

You may want to dim the lights to see if that allows it to settle down.

Jay

 

[Reffetsevla]

I honestly didn't check the salinity in the bag. It's the same store I've gotten all my previous fish from and they've been 1.023/1.024 previously. I run 1.024/1.025 so pretty close historically.

I had the lights on extra long dim (blue only too) to try that, I turned them on to normal now and he's hiding in some rocks. So at least he's stopped the swimming. If he starts again I'll try to get a video of him doing it.

Seeming more like he's just getting used to the tank and unhappy about his inability to get to the rocks he see's in the glass.

 

[Reffetsevla]

https://youtube.com/shorts/5mS4v7IAQWY?feature=share

He's back to doing it some, not as bad as before. He seems alright otherwise. Color, skin, etc all look good. Hoping just little freaking out being moved to a new home.

Please forgive the hair algae. Been a battle between that or dino's for little bit. Had an algae outbreak, but in my fight to fix that I overdid it and stripped everything and got dino's. Now I'm bringing the NO3 and PO4 back up, algae to keep in check now. Few more snails added a little while back to help that. Getting there.

Thanks!

 

[HB AL]

Just make sure your water quality is excellent and give em time to settle down.

 

[Reffetsevla]

Just make sure your water quality is excellent and give em time to settle down.

Everything tested well two days ago. I am trying to raise PO4 so I planned on testing again today for Nitrate and PO4. I'll check the rest too.

I think it's just anxiety in the new tank, just never had one freak out quite like this one lol