Goby Questions

Apollo7235 · Apr 28, 2021

Good morning all!

My husband has been bugging the crap out of me about when we are going to 'get some fish in the tank,' although I am happy sticking with corals for now

Buuuttttt, gotta keep him happy, so I have decided that I would like to go with a Yellow Watchman Goby and a Randall's Shrimp Goby for now, with the next additions being a Randall's Pistol Shrimp and a Bullseye Pistol Shrimp (Lord willing I can find them somewhere) so we can give that symbiotic relationship a shot.

Anyway, my questions are:

Is adding gobies as 'first fish' to the tank a bad idea in terms of territorial nature? I know that hawkfish, clowns, etc. should be added last to lessen the likelihood of them going on a murderous rampage, but I wasn't so sure if that's the case with gobies...?

Second question, can I quarantine these two gobies together? My QT is small (10-gallon) and I will be starting with the smallest of these fish available to me as I like to grow things out on my own rather than buying adults. I was thinking if I place 2 saucers of non-absorbent sand and 2 PVC elbows (one of each on opposite ends of the tank), then they should be okay or is it a bad idea?

Last question, as far as feeding these guys, I know that since my tank is new, I will need to spot feed them considering there won't be much of anything in the sand for them to eat initially. How many times a day should I do this? I already target feed my NPS a slurry of frozen mysis, baby brine, and Coral Frenzy at least once a day and I'm certainly willing to purchase an automatic feeder assuming the gobies would take flake or pellet food.

Thank you so much in advance!

vetteguy53081 · Apr 28, 2021

I would not add as a first fish as they are scavengers often grabbing foods that reach the bottom
The idea is to feed other fish and some will reach the gobyS feeding zone.
First fish:
Firefish goby
6 line wrasse
Twin spot blenny
Midas blenny
A clown

Uncle99 · Apr 28, 2021

Add from the shyest to the most aggressive.
The range depends on what size tank.
A juvenile clown pair is IMM, a great start, if larger than 40g.
Hardy, long life, and captive bred, tons of variations.
That being said, Ocellaris are usually the least aggressive in this group and take well to new additions.

Apollo7235 · Apr 28, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
I would not add as a first fish as they are scavengers often grabbing foods that reach the bottom
The idea is to feed other fish and some will reach the gobyS feeding zone.
First fish:
Firefish goby
6 line wrasse
Twin spot blenny
Midas blenny
A clown

Honestly, the reason I chose them as our first fish is because I have NPS that I have to target feed daily and, although my Nassarius Snails do their best, they can't keep up with the leftovers so I have to manually siphon out anything my corals miss.

vetteguy53081 · Apr 28, 2021

Apollo7235 said:
Honestly, the reason I chose them as our first fish is because I have NPS that I have to target feed daily and, although my Nassarius Snails do their best, they can't keep up with the leftovers so I have to manually siphon out anything my corals miss.

Nassarius don’t necessarily eat uneaten food. Most cuc don’t.

Apollo7235 · Apr 28, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Nassarius don’t necessarily eat uneaten food. Most cuc don’t.

That being said, do you think the gobies would help me out with that?

vetteguy53081 · Apr 28, 2021

They should. So Will Caribbean blue leg hermit crabs

Apollo7235 · Apr 28, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
They should. So Will Caribbean blue leg hermit crabs

I've heard bad things about the hermits, specifically that they eat or pick at corals and other inverts, so I've planned to stay away from them. Are these guys the exception?

vetteguy53081 · Apr 28, 2021

Apollo7235 said:
I've heard bad things about the hermits, specifically that they eat or pick at corals and other inverts, so I've planned to stay away from them. Are these guys the exception?

These are the tiny Caribbean ones. Yes you don’t want the regular ones

Apollo7235 · Apr 28, 2021

Uncle99 said:
Add from the shyest to the most aggressive.
The range depends on what size tank.
A juvenile clown pair is IMM, a great start, if larger than 40g.
Hardy, long life, and captive bred, tons of variations.
That being said, Ocellaris are usually the least aggressive in this group and take well to new additions.

I would like some clowns eventually, but I would like to wait until my tank matures enough to where I can successfully keep a Magnifica so I can give that symbiotic relationship a shot.

Can you tell I have a thing for functional relationships? Hahaha

I'm a difficult one to please, unfortunately. Just ask my husband