Help my goby!

Brandon Rush · Sep 30, 2017

So I just put in a pair of clowns in my tank with my firefish goby and when I go to feed them (new life spectrum pellets) the clowns devour all the food before the goby can even get a bite. The goby is obviously more timid and scared of his own shadow. Anyone have this problem? Afraid my goby is gonna starve.

Maritimer · Sep 30, 2017

Would it be possible to put some food in at both ends of the tank, so that the goby can get some before the clowns clean up the other end?

~Bruce

tdileo · Sep 30, 2017

Just feed enough until the clown is full and then the rest will go to the firefish

he will also come out more in time, and I doubt he will starve if you have a decent amount of copepods in your tank

LionFishLover07 · Sep 30, 2017

The same thing would happen with my lion fish and cinnamon clown. I would take a lid or a net and block my clown so my lion fish could eat. They were...special.

Brandon Rush · Oct 1, 2017

tdileo said:
Just feed enough until the clown is full and then the rest will go to the firefish he will also come out more in time, and I doubt he will starve if you have a decent amount of copepods in your tank

Won't they just keep eating?

GoPitt88 · Oct 1, 2017

Brandon Rush said:
Won't they just keep eating?

I’m thinking yes, they’ll probably just keep eating. Fish are opportunistic eaters, not knowing when their next meal will be.....it’s instinct. I’m thinking the above idea of feeding both ends of the tank is a pretty good idea [emoji106]

Brandon Rush · Oct 1, 2017

GoPitt88 said:
I’m thinking yes, they’ll probably just keep eating. Fish are opportunistic eaters, not knowing when their next meal will be.....it’s instinct. I’m thinking the above idea of feeding both ends of the tank is a pretty good idea [emoji106]

Actually just gave it a try this morning and put quite a bit of food in there on both sides. Believe it or not the clowns seemed full after going crazy and left it alone while the goby came out and grabbed a few. Thanks for the help.

GoPitt88 · Oct 1, 2017

Brandon Rush said:
Actually just gave it a try this morning and put quite a bit of food in there on both sides. Believe it or not the clowns seemed full after going crazy and left it alone while the goby came out and grabbed a few. Thanks for the help.

Cool.....but you might want to keep an eye on your nutrient input, IMHO

tdileo · Oct 1, 2017

My fish stop eating when they’re full. That goes for my clowns, tangs, blennies, chromis, everything.

Rakie · Oct 1, 2017

Yep. Two things to always keep in mind for fish in general.

1) At heart -- All fish are kinda jerks
2) Fish are fat, inside and out

Those two things answer like 90% of questions relating to fish. "Why is my ___ picking on my ____" because #1 -- "My other fish don't get to eat because ___ eats everything, or chases away anything that tries to eat when he's eating" because #1, and #2.

So don't worry about your fat little jerks. Just feed a bit more haha

GoPitt88 · Oct 1, 2017

Yikes, if you feed enough till they are "full" and stop eating, that's too much! My guess you'll start having algae issues. Please keep that in mind.

Rakie · Oct 1, 2017

GoPitt88 said:
Yikes, if you feed enough till they are "full" and stop eating, that's too much! My guess you'll start having algae issues. Please keep that in mind.

My first hand experience is the opposite, but every tank is individually a little different. It's my belief that algae doesn't take over simply from nutrients alone -- I significantly overfeed my fish, and dose nitrates/phosphates and have not had algae come into my tank naturally. I have been foolish and not cleaned a frag being really lazy, and let bryopsis flourish -- No algae before or after in the last 2.5 years though.

GoPitt88 · Oct 1, 2017

Rakie said:
My first hand experience is the opposite, but every tank is individually a little different. It's my belief that algae doesn't take over simply from nutrients alone -- I significantly overfeed my fish, and dose nitrates/phosphates and have not had algae come into my tank naturally. I have been foolish and not cleaned a frag being really lazy, and let bryopsis flourish -- No algae before or after in the last 2.5 years though.

What kind of nutrient export equipment do you use? Do anything else like vinegar dosing? Just curious cause I'm learning as I go along too. I've had a saltwater tank for just 2 years now and learn things every day, that's why I love this forum [emoji16]

tdileo · Oct 1, 2017

Rakie said:
My first hand experience is the opposite, but every tank is individually a little different. It's my belief that algae doesn't take over simply from nutrients alone -- I significantly overfeed my fish, and dose nitrates/phosphates and have not had algae come into my tank naturally. I have been foolish and not cleaned a frag being really lazy, and let bryopsis flourish -- No algae before or after in the last 2.5 years though.

Same here. I have a tiny refugium and a pretty good cleanup crew. I feed my fish until they’re full usually twice a day and always have nori in there, plus I feed my corals. No algae issues here except for some bubble algae in the substrate but it’s not covering stuff, just lives there lol.

Rakie · Oct 1, 2017

GoPitt88 said:
What kind of nutrient export equipment do you use? Do anything else like vinegar dosing? Just curious cause I'm learning as I go along too. I've had a saltwater tank for just 2 years now and learn things every day, that's why I love this forum [emoji16]

Well every tank is different, but I need to make clear I feed mostly Frozen food -- This food is MUCH less nutrient rich, and you will have a MUCH harder time fouling your water. That said, I feed very heavily. As for nutrient export I'm only using a skimmer. To keep my nutrients up I actually have to dose no3/po4 or my tank will get to Zero/Zero. I keep my nutrients higher than most people on the forums for an SPS keeper, but my tank is also less mature.

The more mature a tank is, the easier time people have running low nutrients. When you first start a tank, in my experience, running low nutrients can be detrimental to your aquarium. It was in my case -- All my corals started paling out, and getting unhealthy.

That said, you don't need to run your nutrients too high. Id say most people end up happy with no3 around 5, and po4 around .05, and that's a good starting point to see how your corals react. All corals are also slightly different in their wants/needs, such as flow, lighting, nutrients, etc etc.

GoPitt88 · Oct 1, 2017

Rakie said:
Well every tank is different, but I need to make clear I feed mostly Frozen food -- This food is MUCH less nutrient rich, and you will have a MUCH harder time fouling your water. That said, I feed very heavily. As for nutrient export I'm only using a skimmer. To keep my nutrients up I actually have to dose no3/po4 or my tank will get to Zero/Zero. I keep my nutrients higher than most people on the forums for an SPS keeper, but my tank is also less mature.

The more mature a tank is, the easier time people have running low nutrients. When you first start a tank, in my experience, running low nutrients can be detrimental to your aquarium. It was in my case -- All my corals started paling out, and getting unhealthy.

That said, you don't need to run your nutrients too high. Id say most people end up happy with no3 around 5, and po4 around .05, and that's a good starting point to see how your corals react. All corals are also slightly different in their wants/needs, such as flow, lighting, nutrients, etc etc.

Thanks [emoji106]

Brandon Rush · Oct 3, 2017

I've got some diatom algae growing, but I think it's from the end of my cycle. My CUC seem to be handling it though. I just fed the clowns yesterday until they were full and the goby seems to be coming out quicker knowing if he doesn't, he'll never eat.