Yellow watchman goby

[boboyo]

I purchased a YWM a few weeks ago.

forst day, he was chilling on a rock and I haven’t seen him since thinking he’s hiding in a cave. I have a peppermint, fire and cleaner shrimp so I’m not getting a pistol shrimp.

fast forward to yesterday, I was looking for my cleaner wrasse so I checked the overflow and found the YWM in there at the bottom. Took him out, put him back in the DT, all he did all day was swim at the top of the tank, occasionally chased his reflection on the glass and did not eat when I fed.

this morning, I can’t find him in the DT, checked the other overflow and there he was....

i suspect he was in the original overflow since I got him, about 2 weeks minimum.

Is there anything I should do? When he’s in the overflow he’s chilling at the bottom so I think he likes it there. I’m planning to give him away to a more experienced reefer if I can’t get him to be comfortable in my tank. I refuse to let anything suffer in my tank.

he seems to not like the flow, I lowered the pump intensity and even turned off all pumps for an hour but he still wouldn’t want to go down (he did look happier with pumps off tho). Parameters are good. I even added a generous dose of mb7 as I heard the slightest trace of ammonia would make these go crazy.

He has about 25 other tank mates in a 125g system

 

[NanoMan16]

I purchased a YWM a few weeks ago.

forst day, he was chilling on a rock and I haven’t seen him since thinking he’s hiding in a cave. I have a peppermint, fire and cleaner shrimp so I’m not getting a pistol shrimp.

fast forward to yesterday, I was looking for my cleaner wrasse so I checked the overflow and found the YWM in there at the bottom. Took him out, put him back in the DT, all he did all day was swim at the top of the tank, occasionally chased his reflection on the glass and did not eat when I fed.

this morning, I can’t find him in the DT, checked the other overflow and there he was....

i suspect he was in the original overflow since I got him, about 2 weeks minimum.

Is there anything I should do? When he’s in the overflow he’s chilling at the bottom so I think he likes it there. I’m planning to give him away to a more experienced reefer if I can’t get him to be comfortable in my tank. I refuse to let anything suffer in my tank.

he seems to not like the flow, I lowered the pump intensity and even turned off all pumps for an hour but he still wouldn’t want to go down (he did look happier with pumps off tho). Parameters are good. I even added a generous dose of mb7 as I heard the slightest trace of ammonia would make these go crazy.

He has about 25 other tank mates in a 125g system

How deep is your sand bed? They like to burrow under a rock and make a cave. If you sand bed is less than an inch that maybe one of the problems. If you have a lot of activity and such in your tank they don’t like it. They are typically shy and you normally only see their head poked out of their cave. They do great in reef tanks where fish are spaced out and have their own “sections” of the tank.

 

[Baldguy]

Don't let having those other shrimp stop you from getting a pistol. I've had multiples of all together for many years with no issues at all.

 

[boboyo]

The problem is that he doesn’t even try and go to the bottom. Today when I got him out of the overflow, I got him out of the bet near the bottom of the tank and he swam right up. Sandbed is 2-3 inches

 

[NanoMan16]

The problem is that he doesn’t even try and go to the bottom. Today when I got him out of the overflow, I got him out of the bet near the bottom of the tank and he swam right up. Sandbed is 2-3 inches

Don’t know what to tell you then. Sometimes you just get a dumb fish. Happened to me a few times. First sail fin tang I bought wouldn’t eat algae only ate shrimp and formula 1 pellets for carnivores. Did a trade out at my LFS and new one did as a tang should. Had a clown make my puffer it’s host before...lol.