How long do I wait before calling my new goby a goner?

[Petrichor]

What do you do when your new goby vanishes and never reappears?

I have a 24 gallon AIO nano tank and added a green clown goby about a week ago (float then drip acclimation). He immediately made a beeline for my liverock and that was the last I saw of him. The only other tank inhabitants are 4 snails and a pajama cardinalfish. I will admit my liverock is arranged with a ton of caves and crannies, but I haven't seen any movement inside the rockwork during feedings (frozen, pellet, and freeze-dried foods), and I've looked long and hard. I even checked the filter and pump area behind the tank to no avail.

Parameters are:
Salinity 1.26
PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 (probably high due to purposely overfeeding to attempt to draw the goby out/make sure it has food if alive, water change and vaccuum this weekend)

I've seen threads with people talking about fish that stayed hidden for way longer (usually wrasses), but those were in much larger tanks compared to the size of the fish. So how long should I wait until I call the goby a goner and buy a new fish? I would probably not buy another clown goby just on the off chance the first is alive to avoid aggression issues.

 

[Dragon52]

I have gobies that disappeared for over a month before I saw them again. 2 of them just reappeared after being missing for 2 wks. i don't know what they ate but they survived.

 

[btmedic04]

Check your back chambers thoroughly. I thought I had lost my green clown goby after not seeing him for a week when I first got him. Turns out he was in the back chambers munching on algae living his best life back there. I ended up having to buy innovative marine overflow fish guards to keep him out of there

 

[Pbh-reef]

I have gobies that disappeared for over a month before I saw them again. 2 of them just reappeared after being missing for 2 wks. i don't know what they ate but they survived.

I lost a goby back there too so definitely check. @btmedic04 Have you noticed the fish guard lowering flow in the tank? I glued some plastic canvas to stop the goby from getting back there again and it has definitely lowered the flow through the back chambers and makes the tank a little noisier, so I’m wondering if the IM fish guard would be worth getting

 

[mort]

In nature green gobies are evolved to be very hard to spot. They live deep in coral heads and hide and seek is something they've mastered. I'd guess it's fine but is just tucked in somewhere you haven't found yet. They will probably be living off all the natural food in the tank so I wouldn't worry yet.

My personal longest time I've gone without seeing a fish I added was about 8 months. Added a yellow watchman and tiger pistol, that dissappeared in seconds. I could hear the pistol was still alive but no sign of the goby until they both appeared at the front of the tank all those months later.

 

[btmedic04]

I lost a goby back there too so definitely check. @btmedic04 Have you noticed the fish guard lowering flow in the tank? I glued some plastic canvas to stop the goby from getting back there again and it has definitely lowered the flow through the back chambers and makes the tank a little noisier, so I’m wondering if the IM fish guard would be worth getting

I did not notice a decrease in flow, but I did notice that my ato stopped turning on when snails walked over the overflow. One small change I had to make was to visualize where the water was on the horizontal bars then remove them as surface skimming wasnt happening. Now they're perfect

 

[Pbh-reef]

I did not notice a decrease in flow, but I did notice that my ato stopped turning on when snails walked over the overflow. One small change I had to make was to visualize where the water was on the horizontal bars then remove them as surface skimming wasnt happening. Now they're perfect

Thanks I clicked on your build thread and saw the pics of what you did there too!

 

[LisaMarie]

I had a Goby hide in a biocube 32 for months. It gave up all hope of finding him alive.....until one of my grandchildren saw him hiding in the rocks.

 

[Petrichor]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I triple checked my back chambers, then made a little barricade to keep fish out just in case the goby, or others, decide to jump.

I still haven't seen him, but I've been trying to spend more time in the same room as the tank to get him use to movement, so hopefully he decides to venture out when he feels safer. Fingers crossed!

 

[Petrichor]

Just in case anyone was interested, look who popped out during today's reef roids feeding (fast/bad pic as I wasn't sure how long he'd be out)!

Turns out there's a nice little vertical cave of sorts right behind that cylindrical piece of live rock. I can barely see it even knowing it's there! Anyway, he looks healthy and bright, so I'm glad he's finally venturing out.