Can't get Yasha to eat...

[Cigar Sherlock]

Good afternoon,

I just purchased a Yasha goby and tiger pistol shrimp last night. They were drip acclimated at my house for 40 minutes before being added. The shrimp did excellent and immediately went to town making a new home for himself. The Yasha drifted in the flow and settled on the sand bed. He did not move for awhile but is breathing. He finally move over near the shrimp after I put some moonlight on this morning at 1 am. When I got up he was sitting really close to the live rock and just breathing. I offered flake and garlic soaked mysis today but he didn't even budge for it. Anyone have any further ideas to get him eating? I also have a large abundance if amphipods on the rock for food.

 

[Dowtish]

No reason to freak out yet. I have had fish not eat for up to 7 days before they felt comfortable enough to. Did you ask to see it eat where you purchased it?

 

[gmoney243]

Yea that's all pretty standard. I've had fish take 2 weeks before eating food I fed.

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[Luckfish]

Other than lack of eating how does he look? Is he still hanging out near the shrimp.

 

[M@!]

I'd be more concerned he's out sitting on the sand. When I purchased my pair I didn't see them for about week.

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

He is not with the shrimp now but tucked next to some rock just sitting there. I bought from another hobby person who orders fish so I got them in the bags they were shipped in. Not freaking out yet just concerned and want this little guy to pull through. I'll update tonight with any progress. I've named them pen and teller.

 

[k2parkstar]

Give him time to get over the new home. Leaving the lights off for a little longer should help as well. It may take him a couple day to find/pair up with the pistol. Mine Yasha eats mysis and pellets. Hope he settles in for you, they are beautiful fish.

 

[dwilliams87]

I've had my pair for about 3 months now. I've only seen the shrimp probably 5 times, and maybe the yasha once every two weeks. I've never seen it eat! But he's alive and kicking.

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

Daniel, yours never comes out when you feed? Very odd...I'm just being overly concerned, never had a goby before and reading about them only goes so far.

 

[dwilliams87]

Nope, I guess he eats whenever though, otherwsie I don't know how he's here 3 months later.lol

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

My pink spotted watchmen went for three weeks without eating or at least I thought but one night after light out. I seen it behind the rock work cleaning up in a low flow area. Every morning it was in the same spot.

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

Update: Today he was in the same spot as yesterday, all curled up next to the liverock. So I decided to prompt him alittle bit and put 4 straws together with a bendy tip end. I then just tapped near his tail and he swam over to the shrimp area and stood his ground like a champ. He then began to look like a fish, turning left and right, reacting to his surroundings and taking a nibble of the mysis i threw in. I'm no longer worried about him but I feel like the prompt from the straws took him out of his trance and now he acts normal. Weird.

 

[gmoney243]

Didn't we tell you about the on switch? Guess u found it :p

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[pelagic]

I'm glad he's doing ok. He's a cool fish.

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

Indeed, thanks again Cheng!

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

Update: R.I.P. Yasha Goby :( 06/04/2012 Never took to any food and only swam around the tank once even trying. Seller was very understanding and is giving me credit back.

 

[Dowtish]

I hate to hear that man. dont let it get you down. very cool of the seller btw

 

[gmoney243]

Dang sorry bro

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[BarbH]

Sorry to hear about the Yasha, but kudos to the seller for giving you credit. From personal experience I know that not are all like that :(

 

[mcarroll]

Sorry to hear it too.

Doubt there's anything you did or could have done - Yasha's are quite sensitive to shipping stress in my experience.

If you try again, I would suggest a much shorter acclimation time - about 10 minutes should do it - unless the bag water he comes in has vastly different salinity than yours. E.g. The shipper is a "low salinity genius" who thinks 1.010 water will prevent disease. Even 1.020 water. In a scenario like that I might slow down the acclimation to 20 minutes tops.

Problem is that ammonia will be building up in the bag water from the moment he goes into the bag to the moment acclimation is done. Extending his time (or any fish) in that water is almost always a bad idea. (Sometime no acclimation is best, in fact - done this many times over the years.) A little, relatively delicate fish like the Yasha doesn't have a lot of tolerance for stress like this. The Yahia, Gresingari and the Tangaroa's all actually seemed more delicate than the rest.

I know it's not the same, but FWIW we always had a lot better luck with High Fin Banded gobies - seem to be the heartiest small goby - than we did with Yashia's. We had better luck with almost any of the other shrimp gobies, in fact.

-Matt