How to fatten up diamond goby?

[Girthrockwel]

My Diamond Goby is looking a little skinny. I've been doing a little reading and found that lots of them are lost to malnutrition. I feed everything in the tank a rotation of flake, frozen mysis, frozen brine and pellets. The goby goes after all of the food aggressively but I'm not sure that he's retaining it, maybe just coming out of his gills. I watch him eat pellets from the sand bed and they seem to stay down it's just not much of a variety. Also doesn't seem to be putting any weight on him. What do you all recommend as far as a really good food for him?

 

[sbash]

If it is losing weight, then it likely depleted your sandbed of food... How mature is the tank?

That said, the only thing you can really do is continue target feeding. Actually, step up your target feeding for a couple weeks, you should notice an improvement. Increase your variety of food, give it spirilina brine, mysis, pellets and whatever your normal food is... You might need to feed it multiple times a day...

 

[Girthrockwel]

The tank is about 6 months old. I'm afraid the sand bed isn't offering him much. I have a pretty healthy population of copepods and amphipods. Do gobys eat them? I saw a thread somewhere that suggested trying to get the mysis and brine into the sand bed. I've been trying that with a turkey baster but my cleaner shrimp ends up eating it. What about vitamins? Would he benefit from anything like selcon?

 

[sbash]

Yeah, lol, the feeding dance... You might have to distract the other fish or shrimp on the other end of the tank, then target feed the goby...

Yes, the goby should eat pods, but if it is getting thinner, it is not eating the pods you have to offer!

I have read soaking mysis with selcon could help. I have no experience with this. I use a 10ml syringe and a balloon holder thing to target feed, it is more accurate than a baster:

 

[eatbreakfast]

Diamond gobies will get food. If you have amphipods and copepods, that is a lot of what it is eating when it sifts sand.

If it is eating foods offered but still skinny, he may have internal parasites. Treating with prazipro or metrozidanole.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

that's what I was going to say.. skinny and eating... he is either a bulimic super model or has parasites

 

[guttysreef]

Get copepods your can get them online they are good for everything. Feeding and helps keep rank clean

 

[Legal Reefer]

I use a long feeding tube with a bulb on the end to feed mine mysis. He charges out and chases after the tube every time he sees it getting close to the tank now. I put some pellets on the sand bed for him too. He has lost his shyness after tube feeding also.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

my diamond is an aggressive eater. I think if your is eating but not gaining weight it may have internal parasites.