Can't find new fish- when should I start worrying?

Appaloosa1224 · Jan 19, 2009

I brought a fish home from work last night. He's a hi fin banded goby about 1.5 inches long. He has been at the store for a month or two and eats like a pig and seemed very healthy. i drip acclimated him last night for about 45 minutes and released him into the tank. He seemed fin and was not breathing heavy. He settled into a small hole towards the front of the tank. At this time i decided to feed the other fish in the tank (an ocellaris clown). He looked at the food, but did not eat any, but I did not expect him to. I looked at my clown for a few seconds and when I looked back at the new fish he was gone and I haven't seen him since. I know I'm probably worrying about nothing. It's a 34g and I'm sure a small goby could find lots of hiding spaces within the rock work. When do y'all start worrying about new additions when you can't find them?

TyreeUM · Jan 19, 2009

i wouldnt be to worried anytime soon, this reminds me of a tank I set up for someone a long time ago in boston and we put a marine betta in the tank that was never seen after he was released. 3 years later we broke the tank down and found the marine betta alive and well inside a small clay jar type ornament the owner had put in there. Anyhow, give him a few days at least.

mak060 · Jan 19, 2009

TyreeUM said:
i wouldnt be to worried anytime soon, this reminds me of a tank I set up for someone a long time ago in boston and we put a marine betta in the tank that was never seen after he was released. 3 years later we broke the tank down and found the marine betta alive and well inside a small clay jar type ornament the owner had put in there. Anyhow, give him a few days at least.

Yes! The same thing happened to me with a marine betta. Last week I bought an Orange-Spot Goby and haven't seen him since. I agree completely with TyreeUM, the shy ones can elude till you redo the tank. It's always such a shock when after you've forgotten about them you unexpectedly see them again.

Azurel · Jan 19, 2009

I had a hi-fin black ray goby and only seen him about 1-2 times a month. I think they tend to be very cryptic gobies....

TyreeUM · Jan 19, 2009

I think its kinda fun when you have things in your tank that you only rarely see, thats why I always loved having 2 or 3 bumble bee snails in my tank

reefermadness · Jan 19, 2009

I bought the same fish and I have not seen him since. I think he is in a burrow on the backside or crab bait.....

I would be worried when you see his skeleton on the circ pump like he was eaten by Heathcliff! I found a leopard wrasse in that condition after two days!!

cee · Jan 19, 2009

I bought a flaming prawn goby recently. Haven't seen it since adding it to the tank and don't expect I ever will. He was smaller than advertised at about 3/8". If he didn't get eaten, the next time I'll likely see him is when I tear the tank down. Same thing happened to a guy on RC after a little over a year. He thought he had lost the fish. Moral of the story is that some of those gobies are extremely cryptic. Pairing with a Randall's shrimp helped my high fin overcome his "shyness" when I owned one.

Dave

Russellaqua · Jan 19, 2009

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Some fish are naturally reclusive. Had a checkerboard wrasse that I saw once in 6 months! I don't know when the thing was eating. It never came out during mealtime.