Flow requirements and yellow clown goby

[EchoPear]

I just picked up a yellow clown goby as first and likely only fish for my 5gal Marineland portrait pico tank. Upon temp and drip acclimation, in the new tank he settled down in a spot sorta between a rock and the glass at the sand bed. I left him alone overnight, in the morning I decided to feed some frozen mysis that my LFS uses for all their fish. He was still in the same spot. I turned down the filter flow for feeding, and almost immediately he began swimming and exploring again, almost like he was bracing himself against the flow the whole time! He didn’t really engage the food.

My question is this - when doing research it seemed like 20-40x turnover was good for a mixed softies/LPS tank. The hang on back I bought does up to 175gph, or 35x my volume. How do you get enough flow for your (future) corals, while not blowing around your nano fish?

TIA!

 

[Fish Fan]

I have never kept a Yellow Clown Goby, so others may know better, but I'd be willing to bet he's still acclimating to his new home. Give him a few days to a week or so, and see if he comes out more even with your 35x turn-over. As long as he's eating you're on the right track. Good luck!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

They don't really move or swim much, they are perching fish. They like to have corals to perch on, its what they do naturally, so if no corals in the tank, they will find a spot they like and sit there.

The flow is not bothering them, I wouldn't worry about that.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

just to give you a little additional info, clown gobies like to sit on acropora corals specifically if they are available, acro coral environments are very high flow environment, so this particular fish is used to high flow area.

A hob filter provides like a waterfall on the surface, but flow means pushing the water from one side of the tank to the other, which is accomplished with a powerhead. I have 2 strong powerheads in my 15 gallon and 3 clown gobies, the flow doesn't bother them.

It sounds like it was just sitting in a spot, which is what it does all day every day.

 

[shcrimps]

from experience they don’t really move much and have their spots
unless feeding or bullying bigger fish or the occasional stroll they kinda just chill
and sometimes eat coral

 

[EchoPear]

I have never kept a Yellow Clown Goby, so others may know better, but I'd be willing to bet he's still acclimating to his new home. Give him a few days to a week or so, and see if he comes out more even with your 35x turn-over. As long as he's eating you're on the right track. Good luck!

Thanks, I will try to get him to eat tonight!

 

[EchoPear]

just to give you a little additional info, clown gobies like to sit on acropora corals specifically if they are available, acro coral environments are very high flow environment, so this particular fish is used to high flow area.

A hob filter provides like a waterfall on the surface, but flow means pushing the water from one side of the tank to the other, which is accomplished with a powerhead. I have 2 strong powerheads in my 15 gallon and 3 clown gobies, the flow doesn't bother them.

It sounds like it was just sitting in a spot, which is what it does all day every day.

This is a really good point. For more context, I have my water line placed just at the end of the HOB “L” shaped output, so the water flow it’s actually relatively lateral.

Thanks for that info, gives me more confidence turning the flow up. I hear you on not having coral for him to sit on, I am loosely following the BRS 5min guide instructions of a 4-month-lights-off-with-fish-but-no-coral strategy since this is my first SW tank (yeah terrible size to start with)

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Forgot to mention, they have these tiny little suction cups on their chest, just between the fins. They 'stick' themselves down when perching so the high flow can't push them around.

 

[EchoPear]

Well, another day of him hiding out in the bottom corner opposite of the filter output. He came up and began perching higher on the rocks, tops of my heaters, etc. within 30 seconds of dropping the hang on back flow to the minimum. After I fed him I left it low for a while and he stayed high on the rocks. Then I turned the flow back up but only half way, and he jumped back down.

Is flow more of a visual thing versus numbers thing? The Marineland 5G portrait is not very deep, even with the AIO baffle removed (like I have). The water travels only about 8in until it hits the front glass and disperses from there. Wondering if the shape of the aquarium means lower gph will still give high enough flow for the coral? I have left the filter on at lowest flow for feeding and the food still floats around in a circular manner

 

[paragrouper]

I have a yellow clown goby. It moves from coral to coral and perches there before moving on. With respect to flow, you are running quote a bit more than I am in my 32, albeit I also have two Nero 3’s running as well (random, high 40%, low 18%) in the photo below, the goby is perched atop my rocks in the path of one of my power heads. This is one of it’s favorite spots to hang out.

 

[EchoPear]

I have a yellow clown goby. It moves from coral to coral and perches there before moving on. With respect to flow, you are running quote a bit more than I am in my 32, albeit I also have two Nero 3’s running as well (random, high 40%, low 18%) in the photo below, the goby is perched atop my rocks in the path of one of my power heads. This is one of it’s favorite spots to hang out.

Beautiful coral!

 

[EchoPear]

I think I found a happy medium… literally lol. With the HOB flow control set to the middle spot, he is comfortable perching up on the rocks and not just the corner on the sand. I may slowly try to increase the flow over time. Thanks everyone for the help and happy reefing!

The next challenge - get this guy onto some commercial flakes/pellets. His belly is a little sunken, I have tried feeding some frozen mysis but he mostly ignores it and will spit out any omega one marine flakes

 

[paragrouper]

I think I found a happy medium… literally lol. With the HOB flow control set to the middle spot, he is comfortable perching up on the rocks and not just the corner on the sand. I may slowly try to increase the flow over time. Thanks everyone for the help and happy reefing!

The next challenge - get this guy onto some commercial flakes/pellets. His belly is a little sunken, I have tried feeding some frozen mysis but he mostly ignores it and will spit out any omega one marine flakes

mine prefers TDO pellets (x-small) and frozen Brine Shrimp

 

[NanoNana]

I think I found a happy medium… literally lol. With the HOB flow control set to the middle spot, he is comfortable perching up on the rocks and not just the corner on the sand. I may slowly try to increase the flow over time. Thanks everyone for the help and happy reefing!

The next challenge - get this guy onto some commercial flakes/pellets. His belly is a little sunken, I have tried feeding some frozen mysis but he mostly ignores it and will spit out any omega one marine flakes

Especially if he’s young, he needs TINY food. Mine eats pods and very chopped up mysis or brine and is nuts for nutrimar complete. It’s a soft pellet that if rolled tightly between the and forefinger will drop really tiny particles. Mine spit it out the first couple of times but waits for it now.
I probably have the most swimmy yellow clown in the trade. It swims quite a lot. Eating pods in the water column.