SoFlo Reef
Community Member
Just wanted to share something I found fascinating. I have a 24g aio reef that at one point had a barber-pole goby (Stonogobiops Nematodes) in it. He was always very reclusive, but I would see him at the entrance to his cave during feeding every day. Well one day about 7 months ago he disappeared. Given the number of inverts and microorganisms in the tank that’s not uncommon for fish when they die, so I assumed he just died and was eaten. A month or so later I added a yasha goby and tiger pistol pair who have been doing well since. During this time I redid the scape, so I caught all fish, removed all rocks from the tank and drained it most of the way. Many of the rocks were out of the tank for an extended period of time.
Fast forward to yesterday, after lights out I was looking in the return chamber of my tank and there is my goby looking back at me. It seems that he may have jumped into the back chamber, and has been living there since. Either that or he was hiding in the tank and just jumped, although I think that is unlikely. The bottom of the return chamber connects to the bottom of my refugium chamber, so he could have been hiding underneath the grate below the chaeto. I have no idea what he has been eating to survive this long, as there is a filter pad at the bottom of the chamber that prevents pieces of chaeto from making their way to the return pump. He is very skinny, but alive and eating well.
I put him back in the main tank, we will see how he gets along with the yasha and his pistol shrimp. I am curious if anyone has experienced anything like this before, or any ideas on what he would’ve eaten to stay alive for such as long time without food.
Fast forward to yesterday, after lights out I was looking in the return chamber of my tank and there is my goby looking back at me. It seems that he may have jumped into the back chamber, and has been living there since. Either that or he was hiding in the tank and just jumped, although I think that is unlikely. The bottom of the return chamber connects to the bottom of my refugium chamber, so he could have been hiding underneath the grate below the chaeto. I have no idea what he has been eating to survive this long, as there is a filter pad at the bottom of the chamber that prevents pieces of chaeto from making their way to the return pump. He is very skinny, but alive and eating well.
I put him back in the main tank, we will see how he gets along with the yasha and his pistol shrimp. I am curious if anyone has experienced anything like this before, or any ideas on what he would’ve eaten to stay alive for such as long time without food.
