DIY Goby Cave

redfishbluefish · Jun 28, 2016

Has anyone put together a goby cave to try to keep your goby from undermining your corals / rocks.

I picked up a Diamond Goby and did not know that they were cave builders. I've only seen them eat sand and spew it out their gill slits. Never saw one that actually built a cave. Well within two days mine has moved a bunch of sand from under a large Frogspawn causing it to now lean over into the glass. He has a partial cave...but looks like he's still mining around the Frogspawn. I'm not concerned about my rock becuase that was put directly on the glass before the sand was added.

Anyway, I was thinking about picking up a PVC conduit elbow and maybe some plumbing 45 elbows for the ends to try to build an artificial cave for this guy....open on both ends. I have no idea if he'd go into it and that is why I'm now inquiring. Has anyone tried something similiar? This is what a conduit elbow looks like:

jlanger · Jun 29, 2016

A while back, I built a cave from small pieces of rubble rock for a jawfish.
I glued the pieces of rock together and then added some sand to the areas where I could see the glue. After the glue cured, I added the cave to the tank and the jawfish went right inside. After time, the rocks were covered with algae and such to blend in with the existing rock work; much better than a pic pipe.

I now use the cave for a pair of gobies.

redfishbluefish · Jun 29, 2016

Thanks @jlanger , I like that. I've got a bunch of rock, let me see what I can put together.

bmac16 · Jun 29, 2016

revhtree · Jun 29, 2016

bmac16 said:

Very cool idea!

MCooper · Jun 29, 2016

I tried this years ago, go figure they didn't use it!

Reefrookie220 · Jun 29, 2016

@jlanger what gobies are those?

redfishbluefish · Jun 29, 2016

Thanks for the ideas. Here's what I'm going to try....a combination of rock and pipe. I used one inch pipe. Might add a little more rock, but here it is:

jlanger · Jun 29, 2016

Reefrookie220 said:
@jlanger what gobies are those?

Wheeler's Goby (Amblyeleotris wheeleri)

Bloody.Knuckles · Jun 29, 2016

Great work! I just picked up a 6 inch engineer and he has made himself a cave in the tank I adopted and it looks stable, but I will keep this idea in case I want to re-'scape

ludnix · Jun 29, 2016

Great improvised solutions! Love the rocks and barnacles opening! I also really like the rubble glued together with sand covering the glue, I'll steal that technique for my next nano.

redfishbluefish · Jun 29, 2016

Here is the cave in place. I documented the installation over in my Tank build HERE, post # 96.

20LogR · Jun 29, 2016

I just did this for a pair of yasha goby and pistol. I put the pistol shrimp in the tank a few days before the goby were scheduled to come out of QT. Even though i used 1/2" PVC I think it was too big for the shrimp and he would just close up the entrance of the PVC and never come out. I had hoped that when the gobies where added he would stop permanently blockading the entrance all day....

Instead he just trapped the the of them inside the PVC house until I pulled it out of the sand and just dumped them in the tank. He's in the process of building them a proper home as we speak. I think if it was just the goby pair they would have been fine with the PVC as that is what they were happy living in during QT.

Cullyisgully · Jun 29, 2016

Looks cool man

Sharvey103 · Jun 30, 2016

Great ideas! I'll watch my jawfish to make sure they don't undermine anything. If they do, I'll try these ideas out.

klp · Jun 30, 2016

I am not very creative but love the ideas from those of you who are. Stimulating approaches!

Stitchaholic · Jun 30, 2016

20LogR said:
I just did this for a pair of yasha goby and pistol. I put the pistol shrimp in the tank a few days before the goby were scheduled to come out of QT. Even though i used 1/2" PVC I think it was too big for the shrimp and he would just close up the entrance of the PVC and never come out. I had hoped that when the gobies where added he would stop permanently blockading the entrance all day....

Instead he just trapped the the of them inside the PVC house until I pulled it out of the sand and just dumped them in the tank. He's in the process of building them a proper home as we speak. I think if it was just the goby pair they would have been fine with the PVC as that is what they were happy living in during QT.

Did you try filling the pvc mostly with sand first? That way he can take as much as he wants out and it wont be too big for him?

Just a thought.