Wanted a Diamond Goby - I give up...

[kswan]

I had a diamond goby that did a great job keeping my sand clean and was also fun to watch. Unfortunately I lost it during a velvet outbreak. I’m now restocking and have lost 2 this week from jumping. The first got through a hole barely big enough for my heater cord. I closed that gap and thought I had a QT tighter than Fort Knox. Then I woke up to this.

 

[kswan]

It jumped into the netting and got his head stuck. The picture is the lid flipped over. I don’t think I can do it again. I hate killing fish...

 

[Pntbll687]

If it's just a QT tank, maybe a glass top

 

[kswan]

That would probably do the trick.

 

[YellowFinsReef]

A glass top will still kill the fish. In the past I've seen fish that sustained head injuries and never recovered from having contact with glass tops. It seems the fish is a bit small. How about a goby that is slightly larger than the mesh you have?

 

[Idoc]

I had the same issue...lost 2 in quarantine to jumping.. even after thinking i fully secured every possible home. 3rd time worked finally... but i put in a plastic container full of sand for him to play in...plus a few small diameter pvc pieces. He took every bit of sand out of the container and covered the pvc pipes... and that's where he stayed. He came out to eat and that was about it. I think this gave him a sense of security and normalcy and he was content to stay on the bottom of the tank.

Also, instead of using nylon screen material on the egg-crate, use a thicker nylon mesh backing with 1/8" squares...attach this to the egg-crate with plastic wire ties. I got my mesh at a craft store like Jo-Ann Fabric.

This is the mesh closeup:

Don't give up... diamond gobys are awesome fish to have. Maybe look at getting one a little bigger as well.

 

[Idoc]

Oh, btw....my 2nd goby jumped on day one thru this little slit at the hob filter!

So, i made this little egg-crate piece to fill that gap!

Im no longer taking any chances... I'm using this lid/cover for all my quarantining now. Currently quarantining an exquisite firefish with success so far!

 

[CindyKz]

I had the same issue...lost 2 in quarantine to jumping.. even after thinking i fully secured every possible home. 3rd time worked finally... but i put in a plastic container full of sand for him to play in...plus a few small diameter pvc pieces. He took every bit of sand out of the container and covered the pvc pipes... and that's where he stayed. He came out to eat and that was about it. I think this gave him a sense of security and normalcy and he was content to stay on the bottom of the tank.

Also, instead of using nylon screen material on the egg-crate, use a thicker nylon mesh backing with 1/8" squares...attach this to the egg-crate with plastic wire ties. I got my mesh at a craft store like Jo-Ann Fabric.

This is the mesh closeup:

Don't give up... diamond gobys are awesome fish to have. Maybe look at getting one a little bigger as well.

This is how my qt is set up also. Have never lost a fish to jumping from it, including a daimond goby and a flasher wrasse.

 

[kswan]

I’ll see what I can find for smaller mesh. I can’t believe that he got his head through the stuff I have. I won’t give up but I really hate making these mistakes. If I try again I’ll change my net or wait until I find a bigger fish. Are there any other gobies that do as good a job with cleaning sand?

 

[Jesterrace]

I had similar problems with 2 Diamond Watchman Gobies. I have a glass top and they never got out (but one sure tried and ended up in my overflow). I gave up on them and switched to fighting conch snails. No more worries about jumping, deaths or sandstorms in the tank (I really don't miss the last one).